STAFF NOTES: MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001000270002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 31, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 28, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

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Secret
No Foreign Dissem
T
M90
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Secret
1,2tI
No. 0679/75
May 28, 1975
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No Foreign Dissem/No Dissem Abroad
Controlled Dissem
Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 005827
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E. Ci. 11652, exemption category:
q 5B (1), (2), and (3)
Automatically declassified
on: Date Impossible to Determine
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MIDDLE EAST - AFRICA - SOUTH ASIA
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Middle East - Africa Division; Office of Current Intelligence,
with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
North Yemen: Hamdi Moves Against Rivals . . . . 1
Zaire: Background on Kidnapers of US
Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
West Africa: New Regional Economic
Community Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Kenya: Government Closes University . . . . . . 6
May 28, 1975
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North Yemen
Hamdi Moves Against Rivals
Colonel Ibrahim Hamdi, head of the ruling
command council, continues to consolidate his power.
His latest moves--following his recent successful
stripping of power from the ambitious Abu Luhum
family--were directed against backers of Sheikh
Abdallah al-Ahmar, the country's most powerful
tribal leader and head of the Consultative Assembly.
While al-Ahmar was on a visit to Saudi Arabia last
week, army troops made a quick foray into the terri-
tory of a tribal supporter of al-Ahmar and seized an
arms cache.
At the same time, Hamdi reportedly ordered a
force of paratroopers, artillery, and armor to move
to Hajjah, a provincial town in the north, to arrest
former deputy commander-in-chief Lt. Colonel Abu
Shuwarib and to bring him back to Sana "dead or
alive." Abu Shuwarib, who is al-Ahmar's brother-in-
law, is accused of having stolen a large sum of money
from the Hajjah branch of the Bank of Yemen and of
attempting to fortify himself in the town. The
results of the raid are not yet known.
Hamdi has also been conductinq a purge of the
army. Since mid-May 60 officers--allegedly supporters
of al-Ahmar, Abu Shuwarib, or the recently neutralized
Abu Luhums-?-have been dismissed. Hamdi has been
touring military units, justifying his purge by
arguing that he must limit the power of al-Ahmar,
who he says has been interfering in military affairs.
Hamdi's actions serve to underscore al-Ahmar's cur-
rent ineffectiveness and inability to protect his
closest associates.
Colonel Hamdi has also reacted to opposition by
other conservative tribal sheikhs by threatening to
dissolve the Consultative Assembly and calling a
national referendum on his program. The sheikhs, who
dominate the assembly, have attempted to delay Hamdi's
program of political modernization by boycotting
assembly meetings, thereby preventing a quorum from
being mustered. (SECRET NO FOREIGN DISSEM/NO DISSEM
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Back;7rouna on Kidnapers of US Students
The Po,,)ular Revolutionary Party, which was
responsible for the kidnaping of one Dutch and three
American students in Tanzania last week, is one of
several insurgent groups operating in the rugged
mountainous area of eastern Zaire bordering Lake
Tanganyika. These groups are mostly remnants of a
variety of secessionist movements, private armies,
and regional.. organizations that flourished in the
early years of Zaire's independence.
The Revolutionary Party itself was reportedly
established in Tanzania in 1970 in opposition to the
Mobutu regime. Its leaders include veterans of both
the rebellion led by Pierre Mulele in western Zaire
in 1963 and the "Simba" revolt in eastern Zaire in
1964. The Chinese gave important support to Zairian
rebel groups in those years, but had curtailed their
assistance even before China and Zaire established
diplomatic relations in late 1972.
The Party's present leader, Laurent Kabila, has
been associated with rebel causes in eastern Zaire
since the early 1960s. During those years he visited
both Moscow and Peking. He may have been encouraged
to stage the kidnaping by the spectacle of terrorist
groups elsewhere getting both attention and satisfac-
tion of their demands by such actions.
Although Party leaders seem able to travel with
relative impunity to Tanzania and Uganda, the group
is isolated. in eastern Zaire and has been unable to
make much of an impact. In recent years, its activ-
ities have consisted mainly of infrequent small-scale
operations against isolated government facilities,
banditry against the local inhabitants, and smuggling
across Lake Tanganyika.
(Continued)
May 28, 1975
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In the past, Mobutu has been content to keep
the Popular Revolutionary Party and other rebel
remnants contained in their mountain hideouts.
Zairian forces in the area do not have a capability
to mount successful counterinsurgency operations,
and they probably lack support from the local
populace because of their own depredations.
So far, the hostages appear to have been
treated well. There is still a chance that the
Party will release the hostages under a negotiated
settlement. (CONFIDENTIAL)
May 28, 1975
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West Africa
New Reg.,onaZ .?conomie Community Formed
Representatives of fifteen West African countries
agreed in Lagos on May 28 to set up an Economic Com-
munity of West African States. The new community,
proposed three years ago by Nigeria in a major bid
for regional leadership, links, for the first time,
the area's five English-, nine French-, and one
Portuguese-sr_=~aking states in a single cooperative
effort.
2
V
The treaty establishing the community was
initialled by the leaders of Dahomey, Gambia, Niger,
Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mauritania,
Sierra Leone, Togo, Upper Volta, and Nigeria, and
by representatives of Ghana, Mali, Guinea, and
Senegal. Initially, the community will concentrate
on "fact-gathering" and building up an organizational
staff. Over the next 15 years a unified customs area
is to be created by the gradual elimination of tariff
barriers and obstacles to free movement among the 130
million people of its member states. The treaty also
calls for the coordination of agricultural, industrial,
monetary, communication, and energy policies.
Several provisions of the treaty are designed
to ease the long-held mistrust that exists between
West Africa's French- and English-speaking countries
and to quiet fears that the community will be com-
pletely dominated by Nigeria, by far the area's
largest and economically most powerful state. It
provides for the "continuance and further develop-
ment" of existing smaller groupings, such as the one
composed of six French-speaking states. The community
is to be adm:i..nistered by an "authority" of heads of
state whose decisions are to be unanimous. A fund
will be set up to try to promote development projects
and to compensate member states for any loss of tariff
income they may incur.
(Continued)
May 28, 1975
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Important differences still exist among the
signatories and many details remain to be worked
out if the new community is to achieve any measure
of success. The Nigerians seem confident that they
can sustain interest in the community and put it
on a sound footing within five years. (CONFIDENTIAL)
May 28, 1975
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Kenya
Government Closes University
The government of Kenya has closed the
University of Nairobi for an indefinite period
after clashes between students and police on
May 24 and 26. During the past few months
students have also demonstrated to protest the
^ murder of regime critic J. M. Kariuki and the
N government's handling of the case.
The violence which led to the closing of the
university began when police attempted last Sat-
urday to disperse students who had beaten two
plainclothesmen attending a campus rally. The
rally had been called to thwart a progovernment
demonstration planned by students from Kenyatta's
branch of the Kikuyu tribe. More clashes occurred
on Monday when police moved in.to break up a
campus meeting. According to Nairobi radio, over
100 students were arrested and more than 30
required hospital treatment as a result of the
clashes.
The government has apparently been able to
clear the campus and disperse the students to
their homes. The decision to close the university
may have been taken partly to reduce the number of
"V students in the capital on June 1, a major national
holiday. The government is bracing for possible
anti-Kenyatta demonstrations on that day. (CONFIDENTIAL)
May 28, 1975
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