MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001100270002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 5, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 11, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01100270002-0
Secret
No Foreign Dissem
urL\LFO Kng
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Secret
No. 0690/75
June 11, 1975
-.27
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01100270002-0
 Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01100270002-0
No Foreign Dissem/No Dissem Abroad
Background Use Only/Controlled Dissem
Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 005827
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E. 0. 11652, exemption category:
? 513 (1), (2), and (3)
Automatically declassified
on: Date Impossible to Determine
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO0110Q270002-0
 Approved For Release 2001/08/08 "
MIDDLE EAST - AFRICA - SOUTH ASIA
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Middle East - Africa Division, Office of Current Intelligence,
with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
Syria: Local Communist Leader Criticizes
Asad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Uganda-UK: Amin Threatens to Execute
Briton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . 3
June 11, 1975
SECRET
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Syria
Local Communist Leader Criticizes Asad
Syrian Communist Party chief Khalid Bakdash has
recently been highly critical of certain policies
.of President Asad, both publicly and privately.
Writing in the party newspaper, Bakdash criticized
a government decision last month to award off-shore
prospecting rights to a US oil company.
he has accused Asad of duping the Syrian eop e s
Council into approving the contract.
More importantly, Bakdash is said to believe
that Asad is cooperating too closely now with
Egyptian President Sadat in the belief that a peace-
ful settlement in the Middle East is still possible.
The Communist leader denied that Asad's agreement to
an extension of the UN forces' mandate on the Golan
Heights for a full six months was intended to demon-
strate his independence from Egyptian policy.
According to Bakdash, who claimed that his judgments
were based on discussions with senior Baath Party
officials, Asad and Sadat resolved their major dif-
ferences at their meeting in Riyadh in April.
Asad's decision to extend the mandate was almost
certainly based on a mixture of considerations. He
has always felt constrained domestically to justify
his extension of the UN role because of the lack of
progress in negotiations. If he had extended it
last month until only the end of July, when the
Egyptian mandate runs out, then he would have had
to come up with another excuse before the Geneva
peace conference reconvenes.
Asad may well have found it convenient, there-
fore, to play up his differences with Egypt as well
as his dispute with the Baathist regime in Iraq to
justify accepting a longer renewal. He may also have
argued that the si;: month extension frees Syria to
pursue a wider range of options and does not prevent
him from resorting to military action at a moment
of his choosing.
(Continued)
June 11, 1975 1
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SECRET
Uganda- UK
Amin Threatens to Execute Briton
President Idi Amin announced on June 10
that Denis Hills, a university lecturer and
UK citizen, will be executed within ten days
unless London meets six conditions. Hills
has been accused of seditious activities and
tried before a military court because of Amin's
displeasure over his manuscript dealing with
the role of whites in Uganda.
Amin's demands on London include cessation
of "malicious" propaganda about Amin, the ending
of alleged efforts by the UK to dissuade other
countries from giving aid to Uganda, and the
expulsion of Ugandan political exiles from the
UK.
The erratic Amin might go ahead with the
execution, but it seems more likely that he will
pardon Hills at. the last minute. Amin is most
anxious to have nothing mar the OAU heads-of-state
meeting scheduled for Kampala in late July. The
execution of Hills might strengthen th hand of
those African leaders who would like to hold the
meeting somewhere other than Uganda. (SECRET/
NO FOREIGN DISSEM/CONTROLLED DISSEM)
June 11, 1975
SECRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865A001100270002-0
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Secret
Secret
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO0110Q270002-0