STAFF NOTES: MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000400010045-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2005
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: March 6, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

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gulp~ ROUEN
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
State Dept. declassification & release instructions on file
Secret
134
No. 0440/75
March 6, 1975
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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
'ntelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
Israel: Rabin On Israel's Borders . . .
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Africa: ECA Ministers Meeting in Nairobi
East African Community: Troubles Getting
More Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mar 6, 1975
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Israel
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Rabin On Israel's Borders
Speaking before a Zionist group in Tel Aviv on
March 5, Prime Minister Rabin addressed the question
of Israel's borders in a manner suggesting that he
personally remains committed to a pragmatic and
flexible approach to the issue.
Israel's central concern, he reportedly observed,
should not be the question of borders, but rather
how to preserve and strengthen the substance and
content of its Jewish values. He appealed to his
listeners not to make the question of Israel's bor-
ders a "sacred problem;" he said he considered it
a tactical problem that changes from time to time.
To illustrate his point, Rabin pointed out
that there have been times when no Jewish group
included the Golan Heights as part of its political map of
a Jewish homeland. There were also Jewish groups
that had claimed a Jewish state was not possible
unless both the west and east banks of the Jordan River
were included.
Rabin's personal leanings in this matter are not,
however, likely to be decisive in determining official
policy. For one thing, Rabin must consider the views
of conservatives in his ruling coalition who oppose
significant changes in the borders of present Israeli-
controlled on religious or security grounds.
Mar 6, 1975
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Africa
NCA Ministers Meeting in Nairobi
African ministerial delegates to the UN's
regional Economic Commission for Africa, at their
biennial meeting last week in Nairobi, strongly
endorsed Algeria's sweeping proposal.s for a new
economic order that would give, developing countries
a more "equitable" share of the world's wealth.
The ministers also gave their stamp.of approval to
the "Declaration on Raw Materials" agreed on last
moneh in Dakar by representatives of nonaligned
nations led by Algeria.
The ministers' stand in favor of more economic
power for developing Afric,!--.n countries is likely to
be adopted with few changes at the OAU summit meet-
ing in Kampala this sun:,ner. It also will be presented
as Africa's position at bhp UN General Assembly's
special session on world economic issues later in the
year. OAU Secretary General Eteki, who attended the
Nairobi meeting, was given a mandate at.last month's
OAU foreign ministers' meeting in Addis Ababa to
prepare a common African position with the economic
commission.
Black African delegates in Nairobi expressed
growing urgency over the need to cut worldwide in-
flation and to give developing states more control
over world trade and finance. The hard-driving
Algerian delegation encountered little organized
resistance to its militant positions and won active
backing from Tanzania, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone,
and Gabon. Only Nigeria and Kenya tried to put forth a
more moderate point of view.
(CONTINUED)
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The Nigerian position prompted some verbal
sparring between the Nigerians and-Algerians. After
the meeting, the Algerian delegate,. called Nigeria's
plan for concessionary oil sales to African countries
"unworkable" and contrary to OPEC's pricing policy.
In a subsequent press conference, the.leader of the
Nigerian delegation responded by defending the Nigerian
plan and attributing Africa's present economic dif-
ficulties, more to ncreased.oil prices than to Western
exploitation. I I
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East African Community
Troubles Getting More Attention
At least one member of the three-nation East
African Community appears to be'making ari'attempt
to overcome some of the organization's internal
disputes and many other problems,, Last week,
Tanzanian President Nyerere sent a delegation to
Kenya bearing a message for'President Kenyatta.
According to the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, the
make up of the delegation, which included First
Vice President Jumbe and the Tanzanian finance
minister, suggests that Nyerere's message concerned
the community's financial difficulties. Working
level. officials from Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda,
the third member of the community, have been trying
to resolve the organization's financial and debt
repayment problems since last fall. The visit of
the Tanzanian delegation improved the :.atmosphere a
bit--?Kenya't'_,ta expressed a desire to ma. a a future
visit to Tanzania--but the community's Formidable
problems are still a long way from solu,'.ion.
The EAC is the most ambitious attempt a?'-.
cooperation among African countries. Despite its
difficulties, the community still provides the
member-states with important services, such as
transportation.
The origins of the EAC extend back more than
fifty years to institutions set up by Br;tish colonial
authorities. The present basis for the community
is a 1967 treaty, which adjusted-an existing organi-
zation to balance the interests of Kenya--in which
many community facilities had been concentrated--and
the two less-developed member states.
The 1967 treaty provided for a common market
and a customs union; the community subsequently
negotiated concessions from the European Economic
Commuri`.y. At the heart of the East African organi-
zation have been four corporations that run the
railways and some highway and water transportation
facilities as. well as civil aviation, harbors, and
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posts and telegraphs. The treaty also provided for
joint customs and excise tax collection and a variety
of organizations dealing with matters of mutual con-
cern. It also set up community level political insti-
tutions, including a secretariat, legislative and
judicial bodies, and, at the apex,, the'East'African
Authority consisting of the leaders of the three
member-states.
Nationalist pressures have steadily reduced the
scope and effectiveness of the community since 1967.
In addition. adverse economic factors in recent
years--including rising costs of petroleum products--
have sharpened differences among the three East
African countries.
The corporations providing rail, air, harbor,
and communications services are still functioning.
Member states, however, have taken control of some
of the community facilities loc ited. within their
borders. They have also held on to receipts and have
been slow in making payments due the central
authority.
The railways and the airline--East African Air-
ways--are in debt and have serious management problems.
The railways have suffered from the competition of
private trucking firms, inefficiency, and a lack of
cooperation among rail users. In spring 1974, for
example, Kenya refused to let tank cars cross into
Tanzania unless the Tanzanians returned an empty'car
in exchange. Last month, the Kenyan press reported
that railway passenger services within Kenya had
ceased and would be suspended for several months.
East African Airways' international operations
are profitable. The airline is in the red, however,
partly because it, is obliged .to provide some unecono-
mic local services, and partly because of overstaffing
and incompetence.
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From time to time, politicians in the three
countries criticize the other members and call for
abolition of the EAC. While arguing that revision
of the 1967 treaty is in. order,, more responsible
leaders in Kenya and Tanzania favor maintenance of
the community. The usually-impetuous President Amin
of Uganda tends to be restrained, on the subject of
breaking up the community,, 'Secau se. his landlocked
country is totally dependent on community harbors
and rail lines running through:Kenya.. The community
confers advantages on. each. cif. its; members, and the
difficulty of dividing up its assets reduces the
likelihood of total dissolution.
Prior to 1971, intra-community problems were
ironed-out at reasonably cordial meetings among
Kenyatta, Nyerere, and 7-min-'spredecessor, Milton
Obote. Since then, personal and ideological dif-
ferences among Kenyatta, Nyerere., and Amin have tended
to exacerbate community problems.
Nyerer-~ is, for example, strongly antagonistic
to Amin. Since Amin came to power in January 1971
there have been no meetings of the East African
Authority. Nyerere and Kenyatta have been able to
work out some community problems- between them, but
for the last year or so. relations. between the two
leaders appear to have been cool.
The imperious Kenyatta has been rankled by
i--eiled criticism in the Tanzanian-press of high-level
corruption in Kenya and by assertions that the
country's capitalist system does not advance the
interest of most Kenyans. Although a consistent
advocate of the community, Nyerere contends that
Kenya puts private business interests ahead of
community facilities such as -`-he railway.
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