CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A011100030001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 7, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 1, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Central Intelligence Bulletin
STATE review(s) completed.
Secret
46
1 May 1968
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No. 0144/68
1 May 1968
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
South Vietnam: Situation report. (Page 1)
Laos: Souvanna fails in attempt to make major
changes in top military command. (Page 2)
Budapest Conference: Meeting is marked by behind-
the-scenes disagreements. (Page 3)
Indonesia: Another round of anti-Chinese activity
may be in prospect. (Page 4)
Southern Yemen: Political turmoil may again hit
Aden. (Page 5)
India-Pakistan: The first meeting in six years on
sharing water is scheduled. (Page 7)
Argentina: Ongania government political plans
come under fire. (Page 8)
Yugoslavia: Differences with Moscow (Page 9)
USSR: Deployment of new submarine (Page 9)
Warsaw Pact - Rumania: Rumania by-passed (Page 10)
Australia: Labor Party election (Page 10)
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\ WORK
VIETNAM
Y yf t) A FFCE TRP i
.'THt1Jt THIOP;-.
.?.-._'~..~ ofaNan
SOUTH VIETNAM
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South Vietnam: Allied forces in the northern-
provinces continue to encounter heavy fighting.
In Quang Tri Province, a South Vietnamese
regiment operating near the coastal highway some
three miles northwest of Dong Ha provoked,a seven-
hour battle with a force of two to three North
Vietnamese battalions. Farther south in the province
a US armored company was hit by mortar fire and a
ground attack. In adjacent Thua Thien Province, a
combined US-Vietnamese force continued to press in
on an entrapped North Vietnamese battalion northwest
of Hue. Known enemy .losses in these engagements total
nearly 300 killed compared to allied casualties. of
17 killed and 110 wounded.
Two prisoners captured in the. clash near Dong
Ha claim to be from two separate regiments of the
330th Division, one of North Vietnam's principal
training units. They assert that the 330th, entered
the South across the Demilitarized Zone on 28
April. It is possible that they were filler per-
sonnel destined for assignment to the 320th Divi-
sion which has recently operated in northeastern
Quang Tri.
On 29 April the Viet Cong Liberation Radio
called for an "emulation campaign" from 1 May to
20 July to honor Ho Chi Minh's birthday this month.
The broadcast urged stepped-up attacks, support
for the "front line " and enlargement of the
"liberated area."
1 May 68 1
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Laos: LPrime Minister Souvanna Phouma appar-
ently has backed down in his attempt to make major
changes in the top military leadership.]
I
Souvanna agreed during a recent meeting witft the
Vientiane generals to postpone key personnel changes
in the army. Certain regional army commanders and
junior officers have been pushing for such changes
and for a reorganization of the army for several
months .7
Lin what may have been an effort to save face
for Souvanna, the generals did support certain
changes designed to streamline the army's clumsy
bureaucracy. Although the reorganization will
strengthen the regional commanders somewhat, the
Vientiane generals apparently do not view it as an
immediate threat to their privileges and prerogatives.]
LThe primary targets of the proposed personnel
changes were army commander General Duan Rathikoun
and his deputy, Kouprasith Abhay. Ouan, confident
that he could maintain his power base by control-
ling the army's logistical system, had apparently
reconciled himself to taking a position in the
Defense Ministry. Kouprasith balked, however, over
the prospect of giving up the command of military
region V, which includes the Vientiane garrison, in
exchange for a relatively obscure position within
the Defense Ministry.1
LSouvanna's inability to break the hold these
generals have on key positions probably will create
new disquiet among the junior officers who have the
most to gain from a shake-up. Key regional command-
ers, long unhappy over the venality and the incom-
petence of the Vientiane generals, will also be
discouraged by this latest setback. There is no
indication, however, that these elements contem-
plate any direct action."
1 May 68
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Budapest Conference: The meeting of Communist
parties in Budapest last week is reported to have
been marked by behind-the-scenes disagreements among
some of the participants.
According to one report reaching the US Embassy
in Budapest, the Russian and Hungarian delegates
succeeded only with great difficulty in dissuading
the Czechoslovaks from walking out, after they had
an acrimonious clash with the East Germans. The
Czechoslovaks not only refused to withhold publicity
on the proceedings, but opposed attempts to work
"behind closed doors." One participant is said to
have stated that without the Vietnam issue there
would have been no unifying topic.
With respect to procedure, Zoltan Komocsin,
Hungarian party secretary in charge of the arrange-
ments, reportedly gave a rather bleak account of his
unavailing efforts to secure wider attendance. Only
seven of the 14 ruling Communist parties sent dele-
gates to the five-day meeting. Once again the list
of attendees was made up largely of insignificant
parties such as those of Lesotho, Martinique, and
Puerto Rico, in order to reach a respectable count--
this time 54.
Last week's meeting scheduled the opening of a
world conference of Communist parties for 25 Novem-
ber, set up a "working group" to prepare documents,
and decided to hold another preparatory meeting in
September.
The difficulties the Soviets encountered during
this latest round of preparations are indicative of
the arduous uphill battle they face in this enter-
prise.
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Indonesia: After some months of calm, another
round of anti-Chinese activity may be in prospect
in East Java.
General Jasin, the East Java commander, in
two recent speeches sternly warned both alien and
Indonesian Chinese of dire consequences if collab-
oration with remnants of the Indonesian Communist
Party did not stop.
Jasin later claimed to the American consul in
Surabaya that so many Chinese had been found during
recent security sweeps to be involved with the Com-
munists that strong action was required.
Chinese businessmen in East Java are without
question the Communist Party's main :source of fi-
nancial support, but local authorities there, as
elsewhere in Indonesia, tend to overreact.
Strongarm tactics against the Chinese were a
principal reason for the removal last: year of
Jasin's predecessor by the Suharto government,
which had become sensitive to international criti-
cism of its policy toward local Chinese
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Southern Yemen: Aden may be again on the verge
of political turmoil.
A group calling itself the "True Commando Sec-
tor of the National Liberation Front" issued a de-
mand on 21 April for the dissolution of the govern-
ment and of the party command by 5 May. The group
threatened a general strike and a "return to former
revolutionary violence" if its terms were not met.
Other demands included the reinstatement of purged
personnel, the release of political detainees, death
sentences for former ministers who are identified
Communists, and the suspension of the teaching of
Communism and Mao Tse-tung's thoughts.
While the identity of the group is not known,
there are reports that the army supports its stand
and may even have instigated the move. One ruling
National Liberation Front (NLF) official suspects
that some NLF command members back the demands. The
army is suspicious of the current regime's leftist
orientation, and may also believe that a more broadly
based government would stand a better chance of at-
tracting aid from other countries. _F- I
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*Kathmandu ;If 'ti i * BHUTAN
INDIA
Farakka Barraje; t E A S T
sunder constructlorif P-
~'' + P A K t S T A N
I N D I A
Calcutta`
Dacca
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India-Pakistan: Pakistan and India have agreed
to hold their first meeting in six years on control
of the river waters flowing from India into East
Pakistan.
The talks, scheduled for 13 May, will be limited
to the Farakka Barrage, a diversionary dam being
built in India on the Ganges. India expects to com-
plete the Farakka Barrage in the early 1970s. Al-
though the water to be diverted by this dam is not
at present needed by Pakistan, agricultural expan-
sion planned for East Pakistan will eventually re-
quire greatly increased supplies of water for irri-
gation.
No agreements are expected to be reached at
this meeting, but further talks, involving all East-
ern water problems, may be encourgaged.
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Argentina: Army leaders and liberal newspapers
have expressed sharp dissatisfaction with a recent
statement of the government's political plans.
[interior Minister Borda told the Foreign Press
Association on 24 April that the government envi-
sions an eventual return to "representative democ-
racy," including elections and political parties,
but that it also wants "community participation" in
an economic and social council. Borda's suggestion
renewed fears that the government is thinking about
instituting some kind of corporate state. The lib-
eral faction in the army, headed by commander in
chief General Alsogaray, has long opposed such a
plan.]
LThe criticism, including an almost unheard-of
slash by the press at President Ongania himself, may
increase pressure by the liberal sector of the army
to get rid of Borda, a former Peronist who has been
one of the loudest exponents of corporativism.]
.Although military suspicion of Ongania's plans
is increasing, there is as yet little indication
that the generals want to do more than keep the
President from abandoning his centrist position. A
shift to the far right by Ongania could solidify
army opposition and start a move to replace the na-
tionalists in government or even the President. 7
1 May 68
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Yugoslavia: During Tito's stopover in Moscow
for discussions with Soviet leaders, Belgrade an-
nounced on 29 April that Yugoslavia will not attend
the world Communist meeting next November. The an-
nouncement underlines the continuing basic differ-
ences which divide the two regimes, and was probably
timed to strengthen Tito's hand in his talks with
the Soviet leaders. Yugoslavia disapproves of So-
viet attempts to re-establish discipline in the Com-
munist movement. Belgrade has praised events in
Czechoslovakia while criticizing the Polish regime's
crackdown, has refused to take a harsh attitude to-
ward West Germany, and has insisted that the Mediter-
ranean region be free of all f
presence, both US and Soviet.
New Soviet Polaris-type u ma
Seen in Barents Sea on 12 April 1968
(Composite of two photos)
USSR: [The lead unit of the new Soviet Polaris-
type submarine has been deployed to an operational
base. The submarine, sighted underway in the
Barents Sea on 12 April, apparently was heading for
its base on the Kola Peninsula. This probably is
the submarine reported to be fitting out at the
Severodvinsk shipyard in September 1966. It could
be ready for its first patrol by early summer. At
least 30 of these submarines, which carry 16 missiles
with ranges in excess of 1,300 miles, could be op-
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Warsaw Pact - Rumania: Warsaw Pact commander
Marshal Yakubovskiy conferred with the leaders of
all the active Pact countries except Rumania during
a recent eight-day swing through Eastern Europe. The
purpose of Yakubovskiy's visits, according to East
European news media, was to review Pact "defense
problems"--presumably those discussed at the 23
March meeting in Dresden. The exclusion of Bucha-
rest from Yakubovskiy's itinerary and from the
Dresden meeting is evidence that Rumania's role in
Pact affairs has been rAdunPd_
Australia: Gough Whitlam, a moderate, was re-
elected eater of the opposition Labor Party on 30
April by a 38 to 32 vote. The narrowness of his
victory indicates that his bid for a strong "man-
date" to bring the leftist labor union faction into
line has failed. Hardening of differences between
Labor's moderates and leftists will give the party
practically no chance to defeat Prime Minister Gor-
ton's Liberal-Country coalition in national
elec-
tions next year.
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