Documents / FOIA release
This is a compilation of Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) briefing notes to the Director of INR, mostly dated June 12, 1968, with some from June 6, 1968. The notes cover world events, including student riots in Paris, East German passport and visa rules for West Germans, a UN resolution on South West Africa, a change of Komsomol leadership, Sino-Nepalese relations, and the Colombian presidential resignation crisis. Unrest in Senegal and Somalia is also covered. None of the notes discuss UFOs.
“Mission Control”3 pages
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE INR BRIEFING NOTE GIST: SOMALIA: Scheduled "General Strike" Unlikely to Endanger Prime Minister Egal's Government DATE: 6/5/69 June 6, 1968 TIME: early am COMMENTS CONTAINED IN INR BRIEFING NOTES ARE INITIAL AND TENTATIVE. TDCS 314/09137-68 S/NOPORN 6/4/69 (Source: a junior police officer of untested reliability.) CLASS/CONTROLIS: The Somali National Police are concerned that demonstrations and looting may occur during the general strike called for June 10. Source Comment: The strike action was initiated on May 16 by the General Confederation of Somali Labor (COSL) — an affiliate of the Communist-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions — because Prime Minister Egal refused to meet union representative to hear their grievances against the government. The strike is being called in the ports of Mogadiscio and Merca and the agricultural centers of Balad and Giohar. TECS 314/09144-68 S/NOPORN 6/4/68 (Source: a foreigner with close personal relations with a number of Somali leaders. His reporting has generally been accurate.) According to Hagi Mohamed Hussein, president of the Socialist Democratic Union (SDU), the Soviet Embassy is anxious to have the Egal government fall and has instructed Yusuf Osman Samantar "Berdad" (a member of the SDU executive committee) to work in this direction. The Soviets have furnished "Berdad" with an unknown amount of money to distribute to various unions for their support of the strike. Hagi Mohamed does not think the general strike will be particularly effective and implies he is keeping Somali President Abdirascid ali Scermarke informed of SDU activities. INR/RAF Comment: Labor in Somalia is neither "organized" in the Western sense nor as yet a political force of any consequence. Like everything else in Somalia, the unions are divided along tribal and regional lines. The COSL is just one of several labor "confederations" and although it has made some gains recently as the result of new funds (presumably Soviet), better organizer and friction within and between the other labor groups, it is still believed to be weak and probably incapable of organizing a very wide-spread strike. We find it hard to believe at this point that the Soviets are actively seeking to topple Egal although they are undoubtedly unhappy about his moves toward the West. If they are seeking to topple him, they are leaning on weak reeds if they are relying on the SDU (a small opposition party with its own internal divisions) and the COSL to do the job. Previous Communist efforts to organize demonstrations (e.g., during Vice President Humphrey's visit to Mogadiscio last January) did not produce very impressive results. Tribal divisions — and the fact that the government is apprised of the organizers' plans — make it unlikely that the elements opposing Egal's policies will suddenly coalesce on the labor issue and confront him with a situation modeled on the recent French example. INR OFFICE RAF BRIEFER EXTENSION
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 132 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.