MIDDLE EAST AFRICA SOUTH ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001700290002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2001
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 12, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

Approved For Release 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01700290002-2
Sect
NoF
gvl~p KOVE~ 0
Middle East
Africa
South Asia
Secret
3 ,
No. 0853/75
3,
September 12, 1975
Approved For Release 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01700290002-2
 Approved For Release 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01700290002-2
No Foreign Dissem/No Discern Abroad
Background Use OnZy/ControZZed 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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SERET
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.
25X6
Ghana: Government Structure May be
Revamped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Bangladesh: Regime Tries Some Image
Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bangladesh-USSR: Aircraft Negotiations
Resumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Sept 12, 1975
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Ghana
Government Structure May be Revamped
Junta leader Colonel Acheampong will soon
unveil a sweeping restructuring of Ghana's three-year-
old military government,
Acheampong apparently hopes the move wi
shore the regime's flagging support in the armed
forces and reverse the impression of drift.conveyed
by the government's performance in recent months.
Implementation of the plan, however, could encounter
resistance from three key officers on the present
ruling body who collaborated with Acheampong in
the 1972 coup. Their relations with Acheampong
have become somewhat strained lately and they would
be downgraded significantly in the new set up.
I
25X1 C
e government is to be
will head a new supreme military council that is to
include the chief of the defense staff, service
and police heads, and 20 to 25 younger officers
drawn from the ranks. The present 10-man ruling
military council will be reconstituted with no
policy making role and will be charged with
overseeing the operation of government ministries.
patterned loosely after that of Nigeria. Achmeapong
The plan also provides for an institutional
procedure for removing the head of state by unanimous
vote of the supreme military council. The intent
evidently is to reduce the possibility that ais-
gruntled elements may be tempted to resort to a
coup d'etat to redress their grievances. (SEC:aET
NO FOREIGN DISSEM/NO DISSEM ABROAD/BACKGROUND USE ONLY/ 25X1A
CONTROLLED DISSEM)
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Bangladesh
Regime Tries Some Image Building
The new regime is taking steps designed t
distinguish it from the
government or former
president uji anu to project an image of a
decisive, honest government with a concern for
civil liberties. At the same time, the new
leaders in jacca have clearly demonstrated there
are limits on how far they will go for now in
liberalizing the system--a reserve that may be a
reflection of concern over internal security.
The regime has moved at a cautious pace,
hovweve::. This may be due in part to the quiescent
but still unresolved leadership disp.ite among
military and civilian figures in the government.
The regime may also have had difficulty in
formulating policy in the short time since the
coup; the coup leaders had no clear goals at the
time they took over other than the removal of
Mujib.
The most recent moves by President Mushtaque's
regime have included a decision to review the
cases of those arbitrarily removed from the military
under Mujib. This week the government also rua~ie
some modest economic moves, such as price.
reductions for cloth and cement and the easing
of some distribution controls. Dacca has still
not made any dramatic economic decisions, except
for some politically motivated steps shortly
after the coup, which included blocking the bank
announts of Mujib and some of his associates.
(Continued)
Sept 12, 1975 3
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25X6
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The new regime's other positive steps have
included:
--the arrest of allegedly corrupt officials
of the Mujib government: and his now defunct
party;
--the return to their owners of two popular
newspapers nationalized by Mujib last June;
--the repeal of an order by Mujib sanctioning
the dismissal of civil servants without cause
or appeal;
--the offer of a general amnesty to all those
who turn in illegally held arms by this
weekend.
Along with these moves, the government has
placed certain limits on civil. liberties. It has
banned all political. panties and has promulgated
tough martial law =egulations under which there have
been several convictions. There is also speculation
that the government may reimpose a strict curfew,
in Dacca after the amnesty expires to facilitate
raids by government security forces on the university
and other places where the government suspects arms
have been cached. (CONFIDENTIAL)
Sept 12, 1975
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Bangladesh-USSR
Aircraft Negotiations Resumed
Bangladesh will continue to depend on the USSR
for aircraft even though the new government has
stepped back a bit from Mujib's close relations with
the Soviets. negotia-
tions on aircraft that were in progress with the USSR
at the time of the coup on August 15 have been resumed.
Moscow apparently is willing to continue to
supply Dacca with aircraft, despite misgivings about
the orientation of the new regime. (SECRET NO FOREIGN
DISSE`I/NO DISSEM ABROAD/BACKGROUND USE ONLY/CONTROLLED
DISSEil)
Sept 12, 1975
25X1 C
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Secret
Secret
Approved For Release 2001/11/20 : CIA-RDP79T00865AO01700290002-2