THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 11 AUGUST 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014872
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: August 11, 1975

Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/14 : CIA-RDP79T00936A012700010052-9
The President's Daily Brief
August 11, 1975
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Exempt from general
declauification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category5B(11,f 21(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
August 11, 1975
Table of Contents
Portugal: The anti-regime document released last
week appears to be drawing widespread support
from military units throughout the country.
(Page 1)
Angola: The fighting has created a serious refu-
gee problem. (Page 3)
Note: USSR (Page 5)
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
PORTUGAL
The anti-regime document released
last week by dissident members of the
Armed Forces Movement appears to be
drawing widespread support from mili-
tary units throughout Portugal. The
decision of the ruling three-man di-
rectorate to suspend the nine original
signers from the Revolutionary Council
may cause more of the military to sup-
port the document.
A communique on the suspensions, issued last
night by the internal security forces, says that
those officers holding purely political posts were
ordered to report to their general staffs for re-
assignment. Those who held military positions,
namely the commanders of two of Portugal's three
military regions, will retain their commands.
General Otelo de Carvalho, chief of the se-
curity forces, has publicly denounced the dissi-
dents' document, but is waiting to see
how much support the document gets before finally
committing himself. The security forces' com-
munique is being interpreted as an indication of
Carvalho's support for the dissidents.
Army units, according to press reports, met
yesterday to decide how to react to the suspension
of the nine.
majority of reactions
so far supports the docu-
ment drafted by former foreign minister Antunes.
At least 400 officers and some entire units 25X1
have signed the document. Two of the 25X1
three military regions approv 25X1
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The original signers had requested that mili-
tary personnel make their position known by today.
Final assessment of support may be delayed beyond
today's deadline, since circulation of the document
has been slowed, in part because pro-Goncalves sup-
porters have threatened to take legal action against
those who circulate the document.
(continued)
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President Costa Gomes reportedly agrees with
most of the document, but does not approve of the
timing or the way it was presented. He told Am-
bassador Carlucci on Saturday that the new Gon-
calves government will have a "short life" since
it is no more than a transitional government, de-
signed to give the military more time to set up a
viable government machinery.
Costa Gomes said he intends to initiate meet-
ings this week with political party leaders to dis-
cuss the formation of a more broadly based govern-
ment.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
ANGOLA
The fighting has created a serious
refugee problem. As whites crowd into
Luanda waiting to get out of the terri-
tory, blacks are fleeing the capital and
other major towns for the safety of the
countryside. Another wave of blacks,
who had left Angola during the fighting
against the Portuguese, is now streaming
back into the territory.
Portuguese capabilities are clearly not up to
the task of airlifting 270,000 whites to Portugal
between now and the end of October. Fuel shortages
and lack of personnel to process the refugees have
already cut the evacuation from the planned 3,000
a day to an average of 1,200.
Many whites in Angola suspect Lisbon is de-
liberately slowing the airlift because it fears the
effect of a large influx of refugees on Portugal's
economic and political problems. Some whites are
seeking alternate ways out of the country; several
thousand have organized convoys to Namibia, where
the South African government is setting up tempo-
rary facilities to receive them. The US consul be-
lieves few whites will actually change their minds
about leaving.
Unsettled Blacks
The US consul estimates that the black refugee
problem will reach a peak of some 500,000 people.
The largest group of refugees so far totals some
200,000 who have returned to northern Angola from
Zaire since the transitional government was estab-
lished last January. They were attracted by the
prospect of independence and wanted to return to
their traditional lands from which they had fled
in the early 1960s.
Some of these refugees have resettled on their
own lands; others have taken jobs on coffee planta-
tions; most are simply squatting. Food, clothing,
and housing are scarce.
(continued)
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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Angola
recently estimated that a proper relief program for
the territory's uprooted blacks would cost as much
as $50 million, and no such amount is in sight.
For the time being, the UN, the Red Cross, and the
Catholic and Baptist churches are reacting on an ad
hoc basis. They have been unable to come up with
comprehensive programs because of the lack of funds
and the unsettled conditions in the countryside.
Even when funds are available, supplies are not.
The transitional government still has respon-
sibility for coordinating the refugee relief pro-
gram. Most government officials have disappeared,
however, and the few who remain are incompetent or
corrupt.
Economic, Social Dislocation
The blacks who are reclaiming their lands in
northern Angola will break up the large plantations
there on which the north's past prosperity was based.
In addition, the whites, who formerly held these
estates, are taking away with them needed technical
expertise. Even if a political solution should be
found soon for the territory, it is doubtful that
a significant number of technically trained whites
would be willing to return to Angola.
Perhaps the only positive aspect of Angola's
refugee problem is that the white departure leaves
large numbers of semi-skilled and unskilled jobs
available for blacks. Under the colonial regime,
such work as loading and construction was restricted
to whites. Such jobs will not be filled, however,
until some semblance of normality returns to the
country.
Luanda was quiet yesterday following a new
round of fighting earlier in the weekend between
the Popular Movement and the National Front. Fight-
ing broke out early Saturday morning when Movement
troops attacked several offices and residences of
Front officials attached to the territory's now
virtually defunct transitional government.
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NOTE
The Soviet press has begun carrying pessimistic
reports on prospects for the nation's grain harvest.
Both lzvestia and Pravda have reported that the
summer drought and poor preparation for the harvest
are taking their toll on crop yields. The stories
cite instances in which corn, originally intended
for grain, has had to be harvested for silage and
green fodder. The reports also note some loss of
grain from shattering in areas hardest hit by the
drought.
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Top Secret
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