THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 11 DECEMBER 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014976
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: December 11, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
December 11, 1975
2
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E0. 11652
exemption category, 5B(
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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December 11, 1975
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Prime Minister Karami announced last night
that his extra-governmental "security commit-
tee" had agreed to still another cease-fire.
(Page 1)
Indonesia - Portuguese Timor: Indonesia's Asian
friends are trying to undercut criticism of
Jakarta by other third world states and are
seeking a compromise resolution at the UN that
all sides can accept. (Page 3)
Angola: The Popular Movement's drive to the north
seems to have stalled; morale among forces of
the National Front has deteriorated badly.
(Page 4)
USSR-Angola-Zaire:
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Portugal: Major Antunes, a key member of the Rev-
olutionary Council, says the military is pre-
pared to give civilians a larger political
role, but he ruled out an early return to
civilian rule. (Page 6)
Spain: The government is preparing for an exten-
sive cabinet reshuffle which will bring in
some individuals willing to nudge the coun-
try toward a more open political system.
(Page 7)
Japan-Korea-Vietnam: Japan and South Korea praised
your speech in Honolulu this week; North Korea
denounced it, and Vietnam took a critical
stance. (Page 9)
Notes: China; Iran; Rhodesia (Page 10)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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LEBANON
Prime Minister Karami announced last
night that his extra-governmental "secu-
rity committee" had agreed to still an-
other cease-fire. However, the committee,
which contains representatives of Lebanon's
principal Muslim and Christian political
factions, including the right-wing Pha-
langes Party, has no representative of the
radical left.
The radicals have been the Phalan-
gists' chief opponent in the widespread
clashes this week and will attempt to
keep the fighting going.
Karami came under great pressure to negotiate
a new cease-fire yesterday when socialist leader
Kamal Jumblatt joined Ibrahim Qulaylat and other
radical leftists in charging that the army had in-
tervened to rescue right-wing Phalangists in the
hotel district. The army had in fact prevented
either side from making significant new gains but
had failed to reduce the level of fighting.
According to press reports from Beirut, as
many as 850 army commandos and other troops have
taken up positions in the city's commercial center.
This represents the most extensive army involvement
in internal security functions since the state of
emergency in May 1973. Despite the call for another
cease-fire, fighting continued in most of Beirut
last night.
If the fighting should continue at a high level
or become still worse, the army might not be able
to provide much additional help. The 18,000-man
force includes only about 3,600 infantry troops who
could be used for security duties.
An estimated 2,000 of these troops have over
the past several weeks been detailed to the govern-
ment's exhausted 6,000-man internal security force.
They have been guarding government buildings in
(continued)
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Beirut, patrolling the periphery of the city, se-
curing the road to the airport, and manning buffer
zones between opposing factions in the Tripoli-
Zagharta and Zahlah areas.
The army's effectiveness in wider hostilities
would be limited by the likelihood that its units
would divide along religious lines. Because the
force so far has been used primarily for patrol
duties and has seen little sustained combat, this
has not yet become a significant problem.
Karami's willingness to have the army help en-
force the new cease-fire despite leftist criticism
apparently reflects the generally constructive at-
titudes of the Syrian government and leaders of the
Palestine Liberation Organization. The Lebanese
branch of the Syrian Baath Party has been one of few
groups to reaffirm its support for Karami this week.
Palestinian leaders have helped by avoiding
criticism of the army and endorsing the latest
cease-fire.
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INDONESIA - PORTUGUESE TIMOR
Indonesia's Asian friends are work-
ing to undercut criticism of Jakarta by
other third world states and to work out
a UN resolution on Timor that all sides
can accept. Indonesia's partners in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations--
Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and
Thailand?have joined other Asian states
at the UN in seeking a compromise resolu-
tion that will avoid condemning Indonesia
for aggression.
The problem is particularly delicate for the
Australian government, which is in the midst of a
bitter election campaign. Left-wing trade union-
ists supporting the Fretilin cause are being joined
by usually conservative veterans of World War II,
who served in Timor and feel an emotional tie to
its people. Australia hopes to work through the UN
for a compromise resolution that "deplores" Indone-
sian action without going much further, but Canberra
is doubtful that a resolution can be so limited.
Even Jakarta's severest critics do not seem to
believe that Fretilin is a viable government. Both
China and Vietnam have denounced Indonesian aggres-
sion, but neither has recognized Fretilin's declara-
tion of independence. As the self-proclaimed leader
of the third world, Peking undoubtedly felt obliged
to criticize Jakarta, but People's Daily expressed
China's "hope" that the Timor issue would not become
an obstruction to Peking's continuing efforts to im-
prove relations with Jakarta. Hanoi took the oppor-
tunity to blame Washington for encouraging the
Indonesian attack.
Indonesian troops on Portuguese Timor are now
operating from both the Dili and Baucau areas, and
additional forces have been sent to the island.
Indonesian troops there now total over 15,000.
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SO &-H-WEST AFRICA
(Inteational Territory)
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ANGOLA
The offensive launched by the Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola last
week against Ambriz, the headquarters of
the National Front for the Liberation of
Angola, appears to have stalled some 50
miles south of its target. The National
Front has been destroying bridges as it
retreats to Ambriz and farther north. The
Popular Movement's supply lines from Lu-
anda probably have slowed down because of
the onset of the rainy season.
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In the fighting southeast of Luanda, forces of
the National Union for the Total Independence of
Angola yesterday retook Mussende from the Popular
Movement, which had captured the town the day before.
The National Union had used Mussende as an opera-
tional base in its now-stalled drive to take Malanje.
A National Union spokesman announced in Lusaka,
Zambia, last weekend that Union forces had "launched
an offensive" against Henrique de Carvalho, the Pop-
ular Movement's major stronghold in eastern Angola.
The extent of the fighting in that area cannot yet
be determined.
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USSR?ANGOLA?ZAIRE
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PORTUGAL
Major Ernesto Melo Antunes, a key
member of Portugal's Revolutionary Coun-
cil, has announced that the military is
prepared to allow civilians a greater
role in running the country, but he
ruled out an early return to civilian
rule. Antunes' statement was in re-
sponse to recent demands by both mili-
tary and civilian political leaders
that the Armed Forces Movement relin-
quish power and return to the barracks.
Antunes conceded at a press conference on Tues-
day that the Armed Forces Movement--which has dom-
inated Portugal for the past 20 months--may have to
surrender its role as the vanguard of the revolu-
tion. He confirmed that a revision of the pact
signed with the political parties last spring is
under way, but he stressed that a precipitate with-
drawal by the military could endanger its program
for leading the country to socialism.
Among the officers who are pushing the mili-
tary to withdraw from politics are a number of pro-
fessional soldiers who believe the people should be
allowed to decide whether or not they want social-
ism. The strength of this faction is not known,
but several of the officers are believed to have
played a key role in putting down the leftist mili-
tary rebellion of November 25 and 26. There is
evidence that the group's influence is growing and
that it may continue to press the Antunes faction
to alter both its gradualist approach toward re-
turning power to civilians and its insistence on
socialism as an unalterable goal.
The Azevedo government, meanwhile, has sur-
vived a split in the centrist Popular Democratic
Party. The party's congress reached a compromise
over the weekend on Communist participation in the
cabinet, thereby assuring that the sixth provi-
sional government can continue in office.
With the defection of some of the members of
its left wing, the Popular Democratic Party has
lost many of its most effective organizers and has
narrowed its appeal exclusively to the right.
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SPAIN
The government is preparing for an
extensive cabinet reshuffle that will
bring in leaders willing to nudge the
country toward a more open political
system.
The new government, which could be sworn in as
early as Friday, may retain only three members of
the present 19-member cabinet
Whatever the composition of the new govern-
ment, it will face a baptism by fire. The local-
ized strikes that are taking place this week are
likely to be forerunners of more serious labor un-
rest this winter.
A number of important collective bargaining
contracts are due to expire December 31, and last
month the government extended the wage freeze--
introduced early last summer--for one year. The
(continued)
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_ _ _ _ _ _
extension has angered most workers and will make
the labor movement more receptive to Communist at-
tempts to politicize the country's economic dif-
ficulties and organize a paralyzing general strike
early next year.
The government also will have to cope with an
increasing number of potentially violent demonstra-
tions as the opposition steps up demands for com-
plete amnesty for political prisoners, legalization
of all political parties--including the Communists--
and an opening up of the government labor organiza-
tion.
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JAPAN-KOREA-VIETNAM
Japan and South Korea have praised
your speech in Honolulu this week. North
Korea strongly denounced it, and Vietnam
has taken a critical stance.
The Japanese are pleased at the reaffirma-
tion of an active US role in Asia and the im-
portance of the US-Japanese alliance. Both your
trip and your address were widely publicized in
Japan.
Tokyo also is pleased that US relations with
Peking remain on course and by indications of a
flexible US approach to Indochina. The Japanese
view your visits to Jakarta and Manila as important
symbols of continued US involvement in Southeast
Asia.
South Korea has focused more narrowly on Wash-
ington's determination to maintain its commitments
to allies in Asia. North Korea denounced US policy
as aimed at perpetuating the division of Korea.
It criticized the US-Japanese alliance and ignored
your remarks about improving US-Chinese relations.
Hanoi rejected your expression of good will
toward Vietnam, stating that the US still refuses
to address the issue of compensation for war dam-
ages.
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_
NOTES
China
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Joshua Nkomo, the leader of a major faction
of Rhodesian black nationalists, announced yester-
day that formal negotiations with Prime Minister
Ian Smith aimed at achieving a constitutional set-
tlement will begin today.
Nkomo says he will lead a 12-man delegation
to the talks. The delegation almost certainly
will not include Nkomo's most prominent rivals,
Ndabaningi Sithole and Bishop Muzorewa, who have
denounced from exile the Smith-Nkomo meetings.
Settlement talks will be prolonged and difficult,
and ultimate success is far from assured. In any
event, Smith can be expected to employ tactics
aimed at avoiding a final settlement for as long
as possible.
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Top Secret
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