CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/02/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03161997
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: February 20, 1957

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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20 February 1957 /
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CONTENTS
1. BEN-GURION ASKS FOR UN COMMITTEE TO SETTLE
GAZA AND SHARM AL-SHAIKH QUESTIONS
(page 3).
�'2 PATHETS MAKE ACCEPTANCE OF CHINESE COMMUNIST
AID CONDITION FOR SETTLEMENT (page 4).
3. SUKARNO REPORTED READY TO NAME COUNCIL, NEW
PREMIER (page 5).
4. MOROCCANS PRESS FOR BEGINNING OF AMERICAN BASE
NEGOTIATIONS (page 6).
\95. ALBANIAN CHIEF RENEWS 1948 CHARGES AGAINST TITO
(page 7).
6. JAPANESE EXPANDING ECONOMIC INFLUENCE IN SOUTH-
EAST ASIA (page 8).
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DEA TIAL
1. BEN-GURION ASKS FOR UN COMMITTEE TO SETTLE
GAZA AND SHARM AL-SHAIKH QUESTIONS
Prime Minister Ben-Gurion of Israel
has requested a postponement of UN
discussions and the formation of a
committee of a "few impartial states"
to go to Israel and, "if necessary," also to Egypt in order
to try to reach a settlement on Sharm al-Shaikh and the
Gaza strip.
Ben-Gurion said "withdrawal under
present circumstances would spell disaster for us!' He
said sanctions by the UN, supported by the US, to compel
withdrawal would be an historic injustice and "what may be
a fatal blow" would have been struck at the moral founda-
tions of the UN.
Comment Ben-Gurion is probably attempting to
promote delays in the belief that the longer
a vote on sanctions against Israel is postponed, the fewer sup-
porters such a move is likely to find. The Israeli prime min-
ister's "eleventh hour" appeal contains no indications of will-
ingness to compromise on any significant point.
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2, PATHETS MAKE ACCEPTANCE OF CHINESE COMMUNIST
AID CONDITION FOR SETTLEMENT
Pathet Lao chief Souphannouvong told
Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma that
the Pathets will agree to any guaran-
tees the Laotian government demands
if Laos will request aid totaling $74,000,000
mmui1iist China,
The proposed aidprogram would include a hospital
and cement factory as well as financial support for the Laotian
army and those Pathets integrated into the army and adminis-
tration.
The American ambassador in Vientiane
comments that proposals for such aid would represent a bold
Chinese Communist move to eliminate rather than supplement
American aid, thereby ending Laos' tie with the United States
and reducing it to a political vassal of China.
Comment Souvanna Phouma, whose policy has been
settlement at almost any price, will prob-
ably argue that aid can be received safely from both East and
West, citing Cambodia as an example. The cabinet and crown
prince, however, will probably reject such a proposition, fear-
ing the loss of Western support and consequent Laotian depend-
ence on Communist China. Army leaders would oppose accept-
ance of Chinese Communist support for the army as imperil-
ing their freedom of action. Souvanna may find himself isolated
and forced to resign.
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3. SUKARNO REPORTED READY TO NAME COUNCIL,
NEW PREMIER
Indonesian president Sukarno will prob-
ably establish his "advisory council"
and form a new cabinet under a new
prime minister in the next few days,
according Secretary General Subandrio of the Indonesian
Foreign Ministry. Sukarno has been persuaded not to in-
clude Communists in the next cabinet, but will include them
in the council.
Subandrio says Sukarno has invited
former vice president Hatta to be vice chairman of the
council, and that Hatta reportedly is disposed to accept.
Sukarno himself will be chairman, but will not attend
every session.
Comment Although Sukarno's plan for an "advisory
council" and a "guided democracy" ini-
tially ran into considerable opposition from political parties,
this report indicates that he has won sufficient support to per-
mit him to implement his essential ideas. If Hatta, who is
strongly anti-Communist, agrees to participate, the plan will
probably be acceptable to disaffected Sumatran provincial gov-
ernments which have demanded the resignation of the Ali cab-
inet.
20 Feb 57
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4 MOROCCANS PRESS FOR BEGINNING OF AMERICAN
BASE NEGOTIATIONS
Moroccan foreign minister Balafrej em-
phasized to Ambassador Cannon on 16 Feb-
ruary that it was now time to "regularize"
the status of American bases in Morocco.
e amDassactor comments that the favorable Moroccan atti-
tude toward American interests will change rapidly if Morocco
does not obtain a definite response.
Comment
In Balafrers discussion of the subject in
Washington last November he made clear
that the Moroccans wanted bipartite negotiations. France,
which has legal title to the American bases, wants tripartite
negotiations.
The opening of base negotiations would
probably bring nationalist demands for an exorbitant rental.
Last spring French officials thought Morocco might seek
$200,000,000, iimhirc enough to cover its expected annual
fiscal deficit.
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5. ALBANIAN CHIEF RENEWS 1948 CHARGES
AGAINST TITO
Comment on:
The report of Albanian party chief
Hoxha to a plenary session of the cen-
tral committee on 13 February renews
virtually all of the accusations leveled
against Yugoslavia in 1948 and indicates
Moscow may now have removed any re-
straints it had put on Satellite anti-Tito
moves. Hoxha explicitly stated that the
1948 charges were valid. He accused
Belgrade of working against Albania with all the means at
its disposal during the 1948-1953 period, and also accused
the Tito regime of mistreating the Albanian minority in the
Yugoslav Kosovo region. He equated Yugoslav ideological
views with practically all the Communist heresies of the
past.
This is the most violent official state-
ment against Yugoslavia by a Soviet bloc state since Khru-
shchev's visit to Belgrade in 1955.
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6. JAPANESE EXPANDING ECONOMIC INFLUENCE IN
SOUTHEAST ASIA
a firm Japanese offer
to Indonesia of $200,000,000 in repara-
tions, $500,000,000 in private loans and
investments for economic development,
and cancellation of $100,000,000 of
Indonesia's trade debt. Japan insists,
however, on "assuming the whole re-
sponsibility for management for a cer-
tain length of time" of many of the eco-
nomic development projects.
The Japanese government reportedly
decided on 18 February to conclude economic aid pacts
with Laos and Cambodia featuring technical assistance in
agricultural and fisheries development and immigration of
Japanese to those countries.
Comment One of Japan's primary foreign policy
goals is improved diplomatic and eco-
nomic relations with Southeast Asia. Reparations agree-
ments have already been concluded with Burma and the
Philippines and preliminary talks are under way with South
Vietnam.
Japanese investments and aid offer com-
petition to Communist economic programs in the area.
:20 Feb 57
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