163. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter1
[Omitted here are items unrelated to East Africa.]
4. Uganda: Nyerere has told us that over the weekend Quadafi sent him an ultimatum giving Tanzania 24 hours to withdraw from Uganda. Nyerere ignored this threat and is continuing to pursue his military campaign against Amin, but he has expressed his concern to us and other Western representatives and has asked us for our assessment of Libyan involvement in Uganda. We will give him our intelligence on [Page 424] Libya’s military capability.2 Our initial estimate is that the Libyan threat contains a large element of bluff.3
Ugandan exile leaders meeting in Tanzania have elected an 11-member council as a provisional government. The council, which is representative of the regional and ethnic groups of Uganda, plans to establish itself in southern Uganda.
[Omitted here are items unrelated to East Africa.]
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 21, Evening Reports (State) 3/79. Secret. Carter initialed the memorandum and wrote “Cy” in the upper right corner.↩
- In telegram 76729 to Dar es Salaam, the Department instructed the Ambassador to pass along U.S. intelligence on Libyan involvement in Uganda; the United States estimated that there were fewer than 500 Libyan troops there and that Libyan air support was limited to a single plane. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P840128–1920)↩
- Carter wrote “I agree” in the left margin.↩