MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A002100010002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 1, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 3, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Confidential
NOFORN '
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Confidential
No. 0877/75
November L975
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Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
(WNINTEL)
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
DISSEMINATION CONTROL ABBREVIATIONS
NOFORN- Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals
NOCONTRACT- Not Releasable to Contractors or
Contractor/Consultants
PROPIN- Caution-Proprietary Information Involved
USIBONLY- USIB Departments Only
ORCON- Dissemination and Extraction of Information
Controlled by Originator
REL... - This Information has been Authorized for
Release to ...
Classified by 010725
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E.O. 11852, exemption category:
111513(1), (2), and (3)
Automatically declassified on:
Date Impossible to Determine
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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.
Mozambique: After Four Months of
Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
India: Court Cases Continue . . . . . . . . . 4
Nov 3, 1975
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CONFIDENTIAL
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Mozambique
After Four Months of Independence
In a recent general assessment of Mozambique
four months after it became independent, the US
consulate in Lourenco Marques concludes that the
regime, controlled by the Front for the Liberation
of Mozambique, has shown an impressive ability to
organize and clamp down on the population. In
nearly every school, firm, market, or other in-
stitution, party militants play a key role. Military
and paramilitary forces have been expanded and
a new security police force with virtually unchecked
powers to arrest, detain, and confiscate has been
established.
The government has jailed or exiled opponents
of the "revolutionary process," usually without
charges; some have been held for months without
knowing if or when their cases will come to trial.
Under a new law a crime is virtually anything the
security police say is illegal.
The regime is lashing out at religious groups.
Some religious leaders have been jailed and many
missionaries have fled. The anti-religion
campaign is having an impact; some Catholic churches
have reported a 70 percent drop in attendance.
A major propaganda campaign is an important
part of the government's effort to mobilize and
indoctrinate the country. The main vehicle is the
simple bulletin board with messages praising
President Samora Machel and the ruling Front. The
messages tell people just how bad they had it under
colonialism and warn the populace to be vigilant
against "unseen forces" backed by imperialism
and capitalism.
(Continued)
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Despite government claims of wanting to build
an "anti-racist" society, the regime's nationalization
measures since independence have spurred the exodus
of whites from the country. There are only an
estimated 80,000 whites remaining out of a pre-
independence white population of 200,000, the vast
majority have opted for Portuguese rather than
Mozambican citizenship.
There is no significant organized. resistance
to the regime, but a declining economy has caused
some dissatisfaction and triggered a riot last
month in the port city of Beira. Rapid inflation,
a liquidity and credit crisis, a shortage of foreign
exchange, and increasing government intervention
in the economy have contributed to the decline.
The continuing flight of technicians has also been
a problem.
The departure of white farmers has led to
some food shortages in the cities. Unemployment
in urban areas has led the government to launch
a campaign to return people to the countryside,
where they will be involved in building communal
villages. These villages are being touted as the
instrument to end all of Mozambique's problems.
Foreign Relations
Mozambique has particularly close ties with
Tanzania and Zambia, and strongly supports the
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.
China is ahead of the USSR in their competition
in Mozambique. Machel has indicated that relations
between Mozambique and Portugal will depend on
the nature of the government in Lisbon, but con-
siderable trade is still going on between the two
countries and Mozambique is actively recruiting
doctors and technicians in Portugal.
(Continued)
Nov 3, 1975
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Despite Mozambique's tough public stand
against the white minority regimes in Rhodesia
and South Africa, it has quietly adopted a
business-as-usual approach toward Salisbury and
Pretoria. Officials from both countries are
operating discreetly in Lourenco Marques. Rhodesian
and South African goods continue to be exported
from Mozambique's ports, and more Mozambican workers
than ever before are signing up to work in South
African mines.
The US is attacked daily in Mozambique's pro-
paganda as the number one threat to the revolution.
Virtually all news about America is slanted to
exaggerate the negative. (CONFIDENTIAL)
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India
The Indian Supreme Court has still not issued
its verdict on the legality of a recently enacted
constitutional amendment that would, among other
things, clear Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of a
lower court conviction for campaign violations in
1971. The court also continues to deliberate on
whether parliament acted within constitutional
limits when it amended India's electoral laws during
a brief legislative session last August.
The possibility has now arisen that the justices
may avoid ruling on either matter by simply over-
turning a 1973 Supreme Court decision which held that
parliament cannot amend the "basic structure" of the
constitution. Last month, the court announced it had
decided to review the 1973 decision in connection
with pending cases unrelated to Gandhi's case or the
issues that arose last summer. A reversal of the
1973 decision would provide the court a face-saving
way to automatically terminate Gandhi's court cases.
The composition of the court today increases
prospects for a reversal of the earlier ruling. It
was decided by a 7-6 vote and only one of the justices
who voted for the restriction remains on the bench.
He and four of the justices who voted against the
decision form a panel that is currently reviewing
Gandhi's cases.
A favorable ruling for Gandhi, whether on purely
legal or political grounds, would remove one of the
few remaining hurdles she faces as she moves to con-
solidate her power. It is widely anticipated in
India that she plans eventually to curtail the powers
of the judiciary in favor of parliament, which is
controlled by her Congress Party. (CONFIDENTIAL)
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CONFIDENTIAL
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Confidential
Confidential
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