CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/04/28

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995611
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: April 28, 1956

Approved for Release: 2019/10/21 CO2995611
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
28 April 1956
Copy No. t03
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OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
1. INDIA CRITICIZES US-SPONSORED ASIAN REGIONAL
NUCLEAR CENTER (page 3).
2. INDONESIAN CABINET DECIDES TO FORM WEST IRIAN
"PROVINCE" (page 4).
3. SOVIET-BRITISH COMMUNIQUE
:page 5).
4. USSR MAY SUPPORT D7CUSSIONS OF CYPRUS QUESTION
IN SECURITY COUNCIL (page 7).
5. SAU7 ARARTA PHRCHASING LARGE QUANTITIES OF
ARMS (page 8).
28 Apr 56
THE ARAB-ISRAE:LI SITUATION
(page 9)
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1 INDIA CRITICIZES US-SPONSORED ASIAN REGIONAL
NUCLEAR CENTER
India may hope to see the Asian regional
nuclear center in Manila turn into a
basically US-Philippine project so that
it can later disown the project and de-
velop a "real" Asian center of its own,
according to American nuclear experts
now visiting in India.
Comment
The USSR has expressed willingness to
aid India and other Asian nations in nu-
clear development. An Indian nuclear center, making use of
Soviet scientific knowledge, would be a valuable asset in New
Delhi's drive for the leadership of Asia. It would also have
considerable appeal to some of the Asian countries disap-
pointed by their failure to get the US-sponsored center lo-
cated within their own borders
India has two atomic reactors already
under construction and one more is planned. It also possesses
large monazite deposits, a source of thorium, and Dr. Bhabha,
head of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, estimates that
India will soon have 700 trained nuclear scientists.
28 Apr 56
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2. INDONESIAN CABINET DECIDES TO FORM WEST
IRIAN "PROVINCE"
The Indonesian cabinet decided on
25 April to draft a bill making a
"province" of West Irian (Netherlands
New Guinea), according to the Ameri-
can embassy in Djakarta. Prime Min-
ister Ali told an embassy officer that
west Irian =airs are being handled for the time being
through his own office.
Comment
Indonesia is unlikely to make any further
effort to negotiate its claim to Nether-
lands New Guinea following the failure of the Dutch-Indonesian
conference in December 1955 and Indonesia's subsequent de-
cision to abrogate all existing agreements between the two
countries. The decision to establish a provincial government-
in-exile was publicly announced in parliament on 9 April.
These steps probably mark the beginning
of an intensified diplomatic and propaganda campaign in sup-
port of Indonesia's claim to West Irian. They also foreshadow
a resumption of paramilitary operations.
It is likely that Indonesia's claims to West
Irian will be emphasized by President Sukarno during his forth-
coming visit to Washington.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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Sith
3. SOVIET-BRITISH COMMUNIQUE
Comment on:
The failure of the British and Soviet
leaders to reach agreement on any of
the major topics discussed is reflected
in the joint communiqu�f 26 April and
the statements of the Soviet leaders at a press conference
on 27 April. The communiqu�ndicated no agreement on
disarmament or European security. In an annex to the com-
muniqu�the British reaffirmed their position on German
unification.
Khrushchev stated at the press confer-
ence that the USSR would be willing to join in a UN ban on
arms shipments anywhere in the world, implying that any
agreement to curtail arms shipments from the Soviet bloc
to the Arabs would be contingent on an agreement by the West
to curtail such shipments to Baghdad pact members.
Moscow's agreement to join in seeking a
solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute on a basis acceptable to
both sides is another attempt to emphasize its "impartiality"
in the dispute, but does not preclude Soviet support for the
Arabs in any future negotiations. The statement reaffirms
that Moscow considers the UN Security Council the proper
body to seek a solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute.
The Soviet claim, contained in the joint
communique, that the USSR could increase its imports of
British goods to about $2,800,000,000 during the next five
years in the absence of trade restrictions was apparently de-
signed chiefly to undermine Western trade controls The
USSR implied that ships would account for a substantial amount
of the proposed Soviet order. To reach this level, Soviet im-
ports would have to increase about sixfold and British imports
from the USSR would also have to increase subdtantially
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Nit
While it is unlikely that Soviet imports will approach
$2,800,000,000, a substantial increase is possible, since
the USSR at present exports to Britain about twice what
it imports.
In an agreement on increased exchanges
with Britain,the USSR has gone farther than in the past in
committing itself to supporting freer exchange of informa-
tion and visits. Although the USSR refused to include in
the communiqu� reference to jamming or to the artificial
ruble exchange rate, British officials are hopeful that Mos-
cow will make some concessions on these questions.
(Concurred in by O.RFL)
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Aft fir-5Irritt7.
4, USSR MAY SUPPORT DISCUSSIONS OF CYPRUS QUESTION
IN SECURITY COUNCIL
the USSR may be consider-
ing supporting a move to bring the dis-
pute to the Security Council,
the developments in
the Middle East crisis made it "logical to promote also a solu-
tion of the Cyprus question." Such a move,
would be most successful when Britain could no longer insist
on "the need for protection of its interests by an occupation
of Cyprus?'
despite Moscow's support for op-
pressed peoples, the visit of the Soviet leaders to London
"constitutes a significant political event which naturally will
somewhat limit the freedom of the Soviet government's actions."
The USSR's exact intentions in regard to
Cyprus are not clear. However, now that Bulganin's and
Khrushchevt visit has ended, Moscow may not be deterred
by its concern over British reaction from supporting any Greek
move to take the Cyprus question to the Security Council.
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ur rrii
5. SAUDI ARABIA PURCHASING LARGE QUANTITIES
OF ARMS
Comment on:
Saudi Arabian arms negotiations with
Egypt and several European nations in-
dicate that Saudi Arabia, while continu-
ing to refuse Soviet bloc arms, may
contemplate less reliance in the future on the United States
as a source of arms and combat aircraft.
$30,000,000 worth of arms
of British manufacture, including 25 Vampire jet fighters,
are being procured from Egypt.
Under the agreement for the use of the
large Saudi air base at Dhahran, due for renewal in June, the
United States has been the principal supplier of arms and
equipment in furtherance of King Saudis program to create
a small modern army and air force. The quantities of arms
and equipment obtained from Egypt, and now being sought in
Europe, appear to approximate the requirements in many cate-
gories of Saud's military development program. If Saudi
Arabia acquires arms from these sources, the Saudi posi-
tion will be strengthened in the forthcoming talks with the
United States for renewal of the Dhahran base agreement.
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Ara I UP"Sbefik74
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 27 April)
According to a United Nations truce
observer, Syria agreed, after much discussion with Secre-
tary General Hammarskjold, to an unconditional cease-fire
agreement, rather than the conditional agreement as announced
in the press. Ambassador Moose comments, however, that
Syrian officials continue to consider the question of a cease�
fire inseparable from that of Israeli intentions regarding re-
sumption of the Banat Yacov canal project even if these two ques-
tion q have,been separated for purposes of negotiations.
destroyers are to be
delivered to Egypt in May. Earlier evidence indicated that Egypt
had contracted for at least two destroyers and that Poland is to
be the ostensible supplier. Two destroyers have also been pur-
chased from Britain, where they are now fitting out. Delivery is
expected in late summer. Two similar British destroyers sold
to Israel are presently on shakedown trials in British waters and
are exnected to reach Israel in early June.
/ On 10 April the tgyptian arms mission m Prague
signed an agreement with Czechoslovakia for additional Soviet
bloc arms valued at $79,000,000. Among the items ordered by
Egypt under this new agreement are 55,000 rifles, 25,000 submachine
guns, ammunition for these weapons, and at least 40 MIG aircraft
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A 61-, A
'Yale
and 20 light jet bombers.
Egypt in-
tends in the near future to order still more military equipment
from the bloc. Deliveries have not yet been completed under
the initial set of contracts, which covered a wide range of equip-
ment worth at least $160,000,000. (
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