MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A002200150002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 21, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865A002200150002-1
Secret
NOF07
21
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Secret
No. 0884/75
November 21, 1975
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865A002200150002-1
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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/Consu Rants
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. 11552, exemption category:
? 58(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.
Mauritania: Another Saharan Liberation Group . . 1
India: New Round of Criticism of US . . . . . . 2
Nov 21, 1975
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Mauritania
Another Saharan Liberation Group
The newspaper of Mauritania's ruling party
announced on November 17 the creation of a new
Saharan liberation organization, the Front for the
Liberation and Reincorporation of the Sahara into
Mauritania (FLRSM). The group, clearly a creature
of President Moktar Ould Daddah's regime, is said
to be composed of prominent Saharans from the
southern part of Spanish Sahara and former members
of a now defunct Spanish-supported Saharan party.
Nouakchott's purpose in forming the new group
is to ensure that it has an organized voice within
the territory that will support union of at least
the southern sector with Mauritania when the Spanish
leave. Existence of the FLRSM provides Mauritania
with its own organization of controlled nationalists
in the event the consultation with Saharans envisaged
by the recent tripartite agreement between Spain,
Morocco, and Mauritania takes the form of a referendum.
The group will serve to counter the Moroccan supported
Liberation and Unity Front.
Mauritania's action presumably is designed in
part to strengthen its bargaining position in future
negotiations with Morocco over dividing the Sahara.
Rabat and Nouakchott have agreed in principle on
partitioning the territory but they have probably
yet to agree on where the line is to be drawn.
(CONFIDENTIAL)
Nov 21, 1975 1
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India
New Round of Criticism of US
Criticism of the US by Prime Minister Gandhi
and other top Indian officials, a recurrent phenomenon
that recently has been in a quiet phase, has risen
again since mid-November. Both domestic and
foreign policy concerns may account for the new
round.
IA Gandhi, in remarks directed primarily at the
US, spoke out several times last week against
"some countries" which, she said, have complained
about setbacks to democracy in India while working
in other countries to overthrow democratic governments
and support authoritarianism. Foreign Minister
Chavan, speaking at the opening of a Communist-
sponsored "International Conference Against Fascism"
in Calcutta, warned of dangers posed by "imperialists
and their agents."
Government press censors, meanwhile, allowed
the Communist press and a newspaper that supports
Gandhi's Congress Party to claim last week that
the US was involved in the political upheavals
that have wracked neighboring Bangladesh since
August. The pro-Congress paper accused the US
ambassador in Dacca of playing a "significant
role" in the coups there.
Except for Gandhi's critical reaction in
September to comments on India by President Ford,
the current criticism is the first of any consequence
since several leading Congress Party leftists--but
1~l not Gandhi--made anti-US statements at another
"anti-fascist" convention last May.
one or
more owing actors may account for the
Prime Minister's current pique:
(Continued)
Nov 21, 1975
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--She may genuinely suspect the US was somehow
involved in the events in Bangladesh, or
she might be claiming foreign involvement there
in order to provide a justification for possible
Indian intervention in the months ahead.
--She may be unhappy about American criticism
of her domestic policies. She may also feel
that the general improvement in US-Indian
relations over the past couple of years has
not yielded sufficient benefits for India.
--She may be setting the stage for a new
effort to discredit her domestic opponents
through claims that they have foreign links.
--She may believe that allegations against the
US will help her reinvigorate domestic support
for the state of emergency.
there has lately been a slackening o
the pu is enthusiasm that marked the first months
following declaration of the emergency last June.
(SECRET)
Nov 21, 1975 3
SECRET
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Secret
Secret
Approved For Release 2001/08/08 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO02200150002-1