U.S. OFFICIALS STAYING MUM AFTER DECEPTIVE AIRLIFT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504860032-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: March 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504860032-7
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??Tt' WASHINGTON TIMES
G.~ 26 March 1985
U.S. officials stayingmural
after deceptive airlift
By Jeremiah O'Leary
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Falasha airlift, accomplished with
split-second timing and involving a cer-
tain degree of deception, was the kind of
success the U.S. military has been look-
ing for, a textbook operation that came off
without a hitch.
Some 900 refugee Ethiopian Jews,
called Falashas or "foreigners" by other
Ethiopians, were airlifted over the week-
end from the Sudan to Israel after Suda-
nese leaders were given the impression
that their destination was not going to be
Israel.
The mission was carried out by
American officers who filed a flight plan
that failed to mention Israel, in effect giv-
ing the fundamentalist Sudanese govern-
ment something it could live with,
according to informed officials.
The airlift began last Friday when
from six to 10 C-130 Hercules transports
flew from bases in West Germany to a
remote gravel airstrip at Gedaref, Sudan.
The airlift was executed with the speed
and stealth with which the Israelis car-
ried out their rescue mission to Entebbe.
But there was no shooting.
American officials are bursting with
pride over the success of the mission, but
the political situation of Sudanese Pres-
ident Gaafar Nimeiri requires that they
remain silent about how it was done. As
a leader who has imposed strict Islamic
law on his nation, Mr. Nimeiri consented
to the airlift only when he was assured
that it would not make him appear to be
helping Israel in any way.
Agreement on a plan worked out at the
highest levels in Washington was reached
on March 6 when Vice President George
Bush met with President Nimeiri in
Khartoum. Mr. Nimeiri reportedly said
he had no objection to the United States
taking the Ethiopian Jews away so long
as they were not taken to Israel.
President Reagan's "No comment,"
and chief of staff Donald T.. Regan's
remark that the mission was too sensitive
to discuss, were intended to protect the
good relations between the United States
and Sudan. Washington also has no wish
to cause Mr. Nimeiri problems with other
Moslem nations.
The basic plan apparently was worked
out~bv the Central Intelligence Agency
and approved by the White House. It
called for close coordination with the Air
Force and with Israeli and Sudanese offi-
cials. It especially required that Mr.
Nimeiri at the very least be able to plau-
sibly deny that he knowingly assisted
Israel.
The secret mission required that the
800 or 900 Falashas be moved quietly
from their refugee camp in Thwawa,
Sudan, to the dirt strip at Gedaref in the
dead of night.
The American transport planes began
landing at dawn last Friday and took on
up to 90 Falashas as fast as they and their
meager possessions could be loaded
aboard. If the Sudanese were left with
the impression that the Falashas were
going to Europe or any destination other
than Israel, that was the way it had to be.
Before noon on Friday, all the Falashas,
were gone. They landed at a secret desti-
nation in Israel. It is not known if the U.S.
planes stopped somewhere else first, but
there is reason to believe they probably
refueled in Kenya - just as the Israeli
rescue force did on the Entebbe raid.
The story came to light only because a
Los Angeles Times reporter, Charles T.
Powers, happened to be in Gedaref. He
had gone to the airstrip the night before
the U.S. planes arrived and was promptly
taken into custody by Sudanese officials
for 18 hours until the in-and-out mission
was completed.
The role of Mr. Powers caused consid-
erable unexplained concern Saturday
when national security adviser Robert C.
McFarlane was called to the phone from
the Gridiron Club dinner. The calls were
prompted by the worry of. Los Angeles
Times officials that their reporter might
encounter trouble because of the story he
filed describing some details of the mis-
sion.
Officials said Mr. McFarlane made
certain representations to the govern-
ment of the Sudan to ensure that the
reporter would not be detained or pun-
ished for reporting what he saw and
heard at Gedaref. One official, who
declined to be quoted, said he believed.
the reporter is not in a dangerous',
situation.
Mr. Powers had written that he hear&
the drone of the airplanes landing and;
,taking off while he was in custody, and;
saw other evidence that the Falashas had
been flown away in a precision operation.
STAT
The Falasha refugees became a hot;
issue for President Nimeiri after Opera-
tion Moses successfully removed 7,800:
Falashas from the Sudan to Israel
between last November and early .Jan-
uary. When this leaked in Israel, the Fala-
shas became a matter of delicate concern
for the Sudanese.
Operation Moses aroused denunci-
ations from a number of Arab states, and
Mr. Nimeiri called off the airlift to Israel.
There were fewer than 1,000 Falashas
remaining in the Thwawa camp when Mr..
Bush raised the matter with Mr. Nimeiri.,
The Sudanese president said in an inter-
view that he would no longer help Israel
to receive more people but he did not care:
if the Falashas went somewhere else.
Several U.S. officials, although;
remaining silent on details of the airlift,,
seemed privately proud that the mission'
had been pulled off with such precision,
by the Air Force.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504860032-7