MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001700250001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 11, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Approved For Release 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP79T00865A00170021'dpo1tecret
No Foreign Dissem
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Top Secret
SC No. 08357/75
September 11, 1975
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No Foreign Dissem/No Dissem Abroad
Background Use Only/Controlled Dissem
Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 010725
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E.O. 11652, exemption category:
? 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: Results of Hamdi's Middle
Eastern Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Israel-UNESCO: Exclusion Issue. . . . . . . . . 3
Sept 11, 1975
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North Yemen
Results of Hamdi's Middle Eastern Trip
North Yemeni strongman Ibrahim Hamdi apparently
succeeded in garnering new economic and military
aid for Sana as well as buttressing his position
at home and abroad during his recent six-nation
Middle Eastern tour. Hamdi's warm reception in
all countries visited contrasts sharply with the
relatively unsuccessful trip he made earlier
this summer to the Persian Gulf.
Hamdi was reportedly bowled over by the
pomp of his reception in Tehran. The Yemenis
gave the Iranian a shopping list of development
projects including a military airport and road
construction worth between $100 and $200 million.
The final communique, issued at the end of Hamdi's
stay in Tehran, made only a general reference
to the expansion of bilateral economic relations,
but the Yemenis came away with the strong impres-
sion that Tehran intends to be forthcoming.
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Hamdi came away from Baghdad convinced that
he now has the support of the Iraqi government.
In mid-1974 Baghdad was implicated in a plot to
overthrow the North Yemeni government--a situation
which eventually led Hamdi to seize power when
(Continued)
Sept 11, 1975
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the government in Sana declined openly to blame
Baghdad for its interference. The Iraqis have
now assured the North Yemeni president that they
will no longer back Yemeni Baathist subversion
against his regime.
In Damascus, Hamdi got promises of Syrian
personnel to assist in a number of fields including
agriculture, health and finance.
According to the US embassy in Sana, Hamdi's
circuit of Arab capitals resulted in several
political plusses. North Yemen has long felt
itself outside the mainstream of the Middle East.
The Yemenis believe, on the basis of the reception
Hamdi received in each country, that Sana now
stands a chance of breaking out of this isolation.
Domestically, the economic aid and recognition he
picked up on the trip should go far in stilling
Hamdi's critics on both the left and the right.
(CONFIDENTIAL)
Sept 11, 1975
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Israel-UNESCO
Little progress is likely to be made toward
improving Israel's relations with the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
when the executive board of that organization
meets next week. Both the Israelis and the UNESCO
leadership are opposing moves--primarily undertaken
by the US--to integrate Israel into a UNESCO
regional group and thus overturn last year's
decision by the general conference to exclude
Israel from regional group membership.
Despite previous indications that he would
support Israel's attendance at an October European
regional group meeting, UNESCO's director general
recently reversed this commitment and said tnat
he will not invite Israel to attend the meeting.
The director general argued
that Israel has shown no signs o increasing
its cooperation with his organization. He also
stated that it was largely due to his influence
that the Israeli expulsion resolution was moderated
at the OAU Kampala meeting, and he considers
this a much more significant accomplishment.
The Israelis, for their part, have indicated
their opposition to any moves to integrate them
into the :European group through a resolution of the
executive board. They fear that their admission
thr_ough this back door method will lessen US
and European pressure on next year's general
conference to reverse its earlier decision.
ivloreover; they argue that even if the executive
board recommends Israel's membership, next year's
conference is not bound to follow this recommendation.
(Continued)
Sept 11, 1975
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The Israelis, in asking the Belgians last
week not to introduce any resolution seeking
to admit Israel to the Eu:_opean group, showec
concern that the US Congress might seize on a
favorable decision, for instance, as evidence
of ;progress toward a solution of the; problem.
sufficient to warrant lifting of the Congressional
restriction of US contributions. The Israelis
feel that what is happening to UNESCO because
of its financial plight serves as a warning to
other UN bodies against adopting such measures.
The continuing stalemate on this issue raises
doubts about the UN agency's future. The expulsion
issue has led the US Congress to suspend the
US' annual contribution, which provides for about
25 percent of UNESCO's budget, and the Arab states
who mounted the anti-Israel campaign last year
have not come through with sufficient loans to
make up for UNESCO's deficit. Some UNESCO officials
are now discussing an extraordinary session of
the general conference to try to solve the
problem. (CONFIDENTIAL/NO FOREIGN 2.I.3SEM/BACKGROUND
USE ONLY)
Sept 11, 1975 4
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