THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 30 OCTOBER 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006466885
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 30, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
October 30, 1976
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Exempt from general
declasstficatton scheduk of E 0 11652
rx.ha MegMY, 5B(1).12),(3)
declassified only on appmval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
October 30, 1976
Table of Contents
USSR-Egypt: Egypt has responded to Soviet overtures to improve
state-to-state relations. (Page 1)
Egypt-Libya: Egypt apparently is continuing to plan subversive
action against Libyan President Qadhafi. (Page 2)
Lebanon: Syria seems to want to develop a balance between the
Palestinians and the Christians in southern Lebanon as a
means of gaining greater control over both groups. (Page 3)
Italy: Communist chief Berlinguer is raising the price for fur-
ther Communist cooperation with Prime Minister Andreotti's
Christian Democratic minority government. (Page 4)
Notes: South Africa; East Germany; Canada; North Korea - Scan-
danavia (Pages 6, 7, and 8)
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USSR-EGYPT: Egypt has
responded to overtures
from the USSR to improve
state-to-state rela-
tions.
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Several days after that meeting,
it was rumored that Foreign Min-
ister Fahmi--who has argued in the
past that Egypt should try to im-
prove its ties with the USSR--was
trying to arrange a meeting with
Gromyko. An Asian diplomat has
reported that the meeting will
take place in early November, al-
though Egyptian officials in talks
with US counterparts continue to
deny knowledge of such a meeting.
A Soviet trade delegation will ar-
rive in Cairo in late November or
December to discuss a new trade
agreement. These negotiations
could lead to a resumption of talks
on rescheduling Egypt's military
and economic debt totaling $5 bil-
lion.
* * *
1
--continued
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EGYPT-LIBYA: Egypt
apparently is contin-
uing to plan subversive
action against Libyan
President Qadhafi.
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Qadhafi, for his part, has been
trying for some weeks to mend
fences in an effort both to fend
off the military threat from
Egypt and, lately, to break out
of the more isolated position in
which the Egyptian-Syrian rap-
prochement has left him.
* * *
--continued
2
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620610 10.76
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
LEBANON: The Syrians
apparently are trying
both to ensure Pales-
tinian cooperation and
to rein in their Chris-
tian allies by allowing
some Palestinian guer-
rillas to move south
into the Arqub.
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Syrian Foreign Minister Khaddam
met separately with Lebanese
Christian and Palestinian leaders
Thursday in Damascus to encourage
both sides to stop fighting in
southern Lebanon. Khaddam re-
portedly tried to allay Christian
apprehensions that Damascus had
shifted its support to the Pal-
estinians, and he again advised25X1
the Christians to limit their
dealings with the Israelis.
Syria actually seems to want to
develop a balance between the
Palestinians and the Christians25X1
in southern Lebanon as a means of
gaining greater control over both
groups.
3
--continued
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*
ITALY: Communist chief
Berlinguer is raising
the price for further
Communist cooperation
with Prime Minister An-
dreotti's Christian
Democratic minority gov-
ernment.
*
*
Over the past week, Berlinguer has
mounted a campaign to force the
government into more formal and
open consultations with the Commu-
nists, at least on economic policy.
Berlinguer sent an open
letter to Andreotti, Christian
Democratic chief Zaccagnini and
the leaders of the four parties
that--along with the Communists--
permitted Andreotti's installation
by abstaining on his confidence
vote in August. Berlinguer stated
in his letter that the austerity
measures suggested so far are not
adequate to deal with Italy's prob-
lems and called for roundtable
conferences of all the parties and
the government to thrash out eco-
nomic policy.
Berlinguer probably sees several
advantages in such conferences.
They would help him to deal with
rank-and-file Communist dissent
that has developed over his sup-
port for an austerity program by
demonstrating that the party is
making progress toward a larger
role in national policy making.
In addition, they would spread re-
sponsibility for the harsh meas-
ures that Berlinguer seems to
agree the government must adopt.
4
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In Lombardy, meanwhile,
the Christian Demo-
cratic - Zed regional
government agreed this
week to a consultative
relationship with the
Communists of the sort
that Berlinguer wants
in Rome.
The Christian Democrats have yet
to respond to Berlinguer's letter.
In a comment that suggests an at-
tempt at compromise, however, one
Christian Democratic spokesman
said that at the maximum the party
would favor a "formalization" of
meetings that are held to estab-
lish a parliamentary agenda.
5
)
--continued
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Militant black students
in Soweto township out-
side Johannesburg, South
Africa have called for
a five-day strike next
week by the area's
black industrial work-
ers. Notices for the
work stoppage report-
edly urge blacks to
avoid confrontations
with police.
East German party chief
Erich Honecker had him-
self named head of
state yesterday in a
surprise shake-up of
his regime.
NOTES
The last black work stoppage,
which occurred in mid-September,
lasted three days and kept some
three fourths of the black indus-
trial workers in the metropolitan
area away from their jobs. Two
strikes in August were marked by
violence between police and stu-
dents.
* * *
Honecker now has both of the posi-
tions held by his predecessor,
Walter Ulbricht. All party chiefs
in the East European Warsaw Pact
countries are now also heads of
state except for Hungary's Kadar
and Poland's Gierek.
Honecker also removed Horst Sinder-
mann from the post of prime minis-
ter and replaced him with Willi
Stoph, who had been chairman of
the Council of State--head of
state--since 1973. Sindermann was
given the largely ceremonial post
of president of the Parliament.
Sindermann's sudden fall from
power may have resulted in part
from East Germany's growing eco-
nomic problems. After record
trade deficits with the West in
1974 and 1975, East Germany exper-
ienced this year both disappoint-
ing results from its "export of-
fensive" and reduced agricultural
output as a consequence of the se-
vere drought.
6
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North Korea is trying
to limit damage from
the highly publicized
expulsion of diplomatic
personnel from the Scan-
danavian countries this
month for trafficking
in narcotics, duty-free
liquor, and cigarettes.
* * *
North Korea has acknowledged pri-
vately that some of its represen-
tatives engaged in illegal ac-
tivities. The North Koreans have
withdrawn ambassadors and staff
members as requested, refrained
from retaliatory acts against Scan-
danavian officials in Pyongyang,
and replaced the ousted diplomats.
7
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Activities similar to those uncov-
ered in Scandanavia have been re-
ported on a smaller scale in Ma-
laysia, Burma, Switzerland, Egypt,
and Argentina. The illegally ac-
quired funds have been used to
help defray operating expenses for
North Korea's embassies and trade
missions as well as to finance in-
telligence and propaganda activi-
ties abroad.
The Scandanavian countries have
noted that they do not wish the
expulsions to disrupt good rela-
tions with North Korea.
8
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