THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 DECEMBER 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014977
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: December 12, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
December 12, 1975
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t 25X1
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of EU. 11652
exemption category, 5B( 11,0),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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December 12, 1975
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Radical leftists last night announced
their conditional acceptance of Prime Minis?
ter Karami's latest call for a truce. (Page 1)
Spanish Sahara: Morocco is continuing to strengthen
its security forces in northern Spanish Sahara
in anticipation of a rapid Spanish withdrawal
from the territory. (Page 3)
Notes: North Korea; Iceland?UK; Australia; Spain
(Pages 4 and 5)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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LEBANON
Radical leftists yesterday announced
their acceptance, with conditions, of
Prime Minister Karami's latest call for
a truce. They say they will decide after
meeting with him whether to negotiate a
durable cease-fire.
One of the leftists' conditions is that Karami
meet with them to explain the government's use of
the army in Beirut's commercial center this week.
They also want an explanation of a speech by Pres-
ident Franjiyah on Wednesday, which the leftists
believe placed undue blame on them for the contin-
ued fighting.
Leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion played a role in the leftists' decision on a
cease-fire. One of the PLO leaders, Zuhayr Muhsin,
told newsmen the Palestinians had been able to me-
diate because, as he put it, "they are not a party
to the conflict."
Muhsin is head of the Syrian-controlled Saiqa
fedayeen group. His involvement in negotiations
and recent attempts to keep his followers out of
the fighting are part of Syria's behind-the-scenes
effort to end the clashes.
Palestinian and Lebanese groups closely al-
lied with Syria, unlike the independent or Iraqi-
supported leftists, have cooperated from the start
in Karami's efforts to stop the fighting.
Representatives of the two largest Christian
political parties, the Phalangists and the National
Liberals, have said their groups will respect a
cease-fire. A Phalangist representative has also
pledged his party to allow an official inquiry into
the causes of the killing of Muslims last weekend
that set off the current round of fighting.
(continued)
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The US embassy foresees serious consequences
within weeks if the country's leaders remain unable
to reduce the fighting through political negotia-
tions.
Among the consequences foreseen by the embassy,
in ascending order of importance for the US, are:
--The resignation of Karami and Franjiyah.
--The collapse of the Lebanese government.
--An army coup.
--Efforts by ultra-conservative Christians to
partition the country.
--Syrian and Israeli intervention in Lebanon.
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RANCE
ATLANTIC
OCEAN Ceuta ehlta Algiers
(S17.1,C:77-? Sp.)
OCCOb
Canary Is.
ALGERIA
SPANI
SAHARA
Spanish Sahara
14
MAURITANIA
Nouakchott
TENERIFE
-26
Santa Cruz
GRAN
CANARIA
eLANZAROTE
IFUERTEVENTURA
as Palmas
Sidi MI'
Tarfaya
CANARY ISLANDS
(sp.)
ATLANTIC
0.CEAN.
Daora
EL AA N
Lem
Guelta
Zemmur
Villa Cisneros
.Bir Enza in
Aargub RIO DE
.Ausert
Zouirat
rt-Gouraud
-2
Giiera
Bir
Gandiis
Por Etienne
50 100 Miles
0 50 100 Kilometers
558944 12-75
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SPANISH SAHARA
Morocco is strengthening its security
forces in northern Spanish Sahara in an-
ticipation of an early Spanish withdrawal
from the territory.
A Spanish Foreign Ministry official recently
said all Spanish troops and civilians will be out
of Sahara by December 20; the withdrawal had been
scheduled to be completed in February. The Spanish
want to avoid involvement in hostilities between
Morocco and the Polisario Front or its sponsor,
Algeria.
Yesterday, the first Moroccan army units ar-
rived in El Aaiun, the capital, and were greeted
by Moroccan officials already on the scene. Mo-
roccan police units have been stationed in El
Aaiun for several weeks and are beginning to move
into some outlying towns.
King Hassan's forces are continuing operations
in the northeastern part of the territory against
guerrillas of the Polisario Front. The Moroccans
will not easily suppress the guerrillas, who are
now using mortars, machine guns, and grenade
launchers.
Algiers is as opposed as ever to a Moroccan-
Mauritanian takeover of Spanish Sahara and has
undertaken a limited military build-up in south-
western Algeria adjacent to Sahara. The govern-
ment is staging demonstrations throughout the
country designed to whip up anti-Moroccan senti-
ment and, we believe, to develop domestic support
for increased Algerian assistance to the Polisario
guerrillas.
Debate on Spanish Sahara in the UN General
Assembly has ended with the adoption of two con-
tradictory resolutions. Algeria was unable to get
a formal UN disavowal of the Spanish-Moroccan-
Mauritanian agreement that provided for partition
of the territory between Morocco and Mauritania.
3
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China
Komar-class Guided Missile Boat
North Korea
Tasa-ri
KOREA
BAY
P'yongyang
e
?
Northern ou
Limit Line
South Korea
,.Kosong-up
SEA OF JAPAN
0 50
Miles
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NOTES
North Korea has shifted two of its east coast
Komar guided-missile boats to a base less than ten
miles from the east coast Northern Limit Line.
This parallels a similar move earlier this
year on the west coast. These moves together give
the North Koreans a stronger naval presence in areas
of possible confrontation with South Korea.
The incident yesterday in which an Icelandic
patrol boat was rammed by two British support ships
inside Iceland's 12-mile limit is a major escalation
of the fishing dispute.
British officials had hoped to avoid serious in-
cidents during the NATO foreign ministers' meeting
now under way in Brussels. London feared that an
incident at sea would embroil NATO directly in the
dispute. Iceland reportedly intended, in fact, to
make a relatively moderate plea for support. This
incident, however, will increase pressures on the
Icelandic government to seek support from its NATO
allies. The Icelandic cabinet decided last night to
submit a complaint about the ramming to the UN Secu-
rity Council.
The Liberal-Country caretaker government appears
likely to win control of both houses of parliament
in the election in Australia tomorrow.
Late public opinion polls, which have a good
record in Australia, give the Liberal-Country coali-
tion a 14-point lead over the Labor Party. Labor
leader Whitlam's vigorous campaigning could win back
a few votes, but he has been hard put to explain
away charges of serious economic mismanagement dur-
ing Labor's nearly three years in office. Liberal
leader Fraser has been sufficiently confident to con-
fine himself to generalities.
(continued)
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The new Spanish cabinet, which is to be sworn
in today or tomorrow, promises a break with the past.
It is liberal in Spanish terms, as King Juan Carlos
and Prime Minister Arias try to take some of the
wind out of the opposition's sails.
Manuel Fraga Iribarne, the new interior minis-
ter, and Jose Maria de Areilza, the new foreign min-
ister, favor an early and fairly extensive liberal-
ization of the political system. Most of the other
posts are filled by men who favor gradual, but sig-
nificant, change. The cabinet will have to move
quickly to deal with demonstrations and strikes or-
ganized by the left. Thousands of industrial workers
struck yesterday as labor action spread from Madrid
to other industrial areas including Barcelona, the
northern Basque country, and the Asturias coal mines.
5
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_
Top Secret
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