CONFIDENTIAL have few other alternative places to go and in particular will not be seduced into the ADDF. Lt. Col. Claude Chancellor, acting COMTOS, has recently expressed the opinion that most of the Dhofaris will continue to serve as long as they are nermitted to do so. Given the uncertainties of 1971 and the mpact of the withdrawal plan which means that the last battalion will leave Sharjah in November 1970 and a company detached from Bahrain will stay for local defence purposes only until mid-1971, the need for an effective security force to preserve security in the hinterland of the Northern Trucial States is clear. We cannot now be sure that we can keep the Scouts together sufficiently to produce such a force, but the continued presence of the experienced Dhofaris will be an important asset in our attempt to do so. 3. I consider that the importance of this latter point outweighs the administrative difficulties which may be created by holding on to the Dhofaris. We cannot be sure that they will re-engage as their time comes up, but the chances seem to be that they will. In my view, COMTOŚ should continue to accept them. There will inevitably be some wastage as time passes (the total has come down from 193 to 179 in the last two months), and we shall not inject any new ones, as we no longer recruit them. We may however hope that the bulk of those now in the Force will stay with us until the end. 4. One cannot deal with the Dhofaris without considerin: the situation in Dhofar, particularly in the light of the report, from Sayyid Qabus that the Ma'ashani tribe, from which many of the Scouts come, is turning against the Sultan. Tho report, iſ true (and I should like to have confirmation from some other source before accepting it as fact), makes it more likely than it was already that releasing the men would increase the effective opposition to the Sultan in Dhofar. While we cannot keep them away from Dhofar forever, I think that Sultanate circumstances point to delaying their return until the end of 1971, if we can. This reinforces my conclusion above. 5. The course I am proposing will inevitably leave us with the problem of disposing of the Dhofaris in 1971. It may then be possible to place some in local police forces, especially as there is bound to be a shortage of suitable material to fill all the vacancies; we shall have to do our best in order to minimise the reinforcement which their return to Dhofar would be liable to bring to the rebels. If on general grounds members of the T.O.S. are then paid off with cu gratuity in recognition of their services to us, as I consider they should be, then the Dhofari members would /benefit CONFIDENTIAL
