Exit Gaddafi, Enter Mitterrand

By William E. Smith

Plans for a French-backed force to replace the Libyans

The commander of Libya's occupation forces in the central African nation of Chad received an urgent phone call from his government in Tripoli last week. When he hung up, he told reporters that he had received "an order" from Libya's mercurial strongman, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, to withdraw his troops from Chad. Added the clearly shaken soldier: "We must leave immediately!"

This latest turn in Chad's murky political fortunes was unexpected and, like so many events that have preceded it, open to many interpretations. But if Gaddafi does indeed pull out all his troops, it would clearly be a triumph for the diplomatic tactics of the Socialist government of France's President Franc,ois Mitterrand.

The news that the Libyans were beginning to leave came as Mitterrand was acting as host to a meeting in Paris of more than 30 African leaders, including a dozen heads of state. Encouraged by Mitterrand, the conference unanimously endorsed a resolution appealing to African states to help set up a multinational African peacekeeping force to move into Chad and to help rebuild the country's army.

Restoring peace to Chad will be a formidable task for Mitterrand and his African allies. A vast country, over twice the size of France but with a population of only 4.6 million, Chad has been torn by a civil war between the Muslims of the north and the black Christians of the south for the better part of two decades. That struggle ended, at least temporarily, in March 1979, when Muslim guerrillas, armed by Gaddafi, finally succeeded in overthrowing President Felix Malloum, one of the two black Christians who had run the country since it gained its independence from France in 1960. Muslim Leaders Goukouni Oueddei and Hissene Habre then shared power in an alliance of eleven factions with Oueddei serving as President and Habre as Defense Minister.

But fighting soon broke out between the armies of the Libyan-backed Oueddei and the French-backed Habre. The struggle continued off and on, killing thousands and ravaging the country's riverside capital of N'Djamena, until November 1980, when Gaddafi dispatched to Chad a contingent of 4,000 troops, complete with tanks, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters and MiG-25 fighters, to support Oueddei. Habre quickly agreed to a cease-fire and fled. Gaddafi, who dreams of creating a sub-Saharan Islamic republic from Senegal on the Atlantic to the Sudan on the Red Sea, announced a month later that Libya would "merge" with its southern neighbor.

The declaration appalled most African governments in the area, as well as the French. Habre and his little army took refuge in the border area between Chad and the Sudan and began to launch periodic raids. What was not realized at the time was that Gaddafi's announcement also alarmed Chad's President Oueddei, who sought a way of escaping Libya's smothering embrace. He supported a proposal of the 50-nation Organization of African Unity to provide troops that could replace the Libyans, whose numbers by last month had reached an estimated 10,000. Nigeria and Senegal were willing, but nothing came of the plan.

Enter Mitterrand. In an effort to wean Oueddei away from Gaddafi, Mitterrand supported the proposal for an inter-African force, invited Oueddei to Paris, supplied his army with some small arms and repeated an earlier offer to help rebuild the Chadian army in a neighboring country, probably Cameroon. In early October, the French Development Minister, Jean-Pierre Cot, demanded the withdrawal of the Libyans from Chad by the end of the year. Oueddei, bolstered by the French, openly criticized the Libyan presence.

Then Oueddei and his Foreign Minister, Ahmat Acyl, showed up at last week's meeting of African leaders in Paris, although Acyl was rumored to have attempted to overthrow his superior, with the Libyans' connivance, the week before. But all was well, they insisted, and Oueddei said he welcomed the departure of the Libyans.

As usual, Gaddafi's motives were obscure. Was he simply bowing to African pressure, mindful that he is due to become chairman of the Organization of African Unity? Was he leaving so abruptly, weeks before African troops could arrive, in the hope of precipitating a new round of chaos, and thus justifying the past and possibly future role of his troops in Chad? For the time being, the French were being cautious, refusing to celebrate the news of Gaddafi's departure until, as one official put it, "we know what is going on and what is behind it."

--By William E. Smith.

Reported by Jordan Bonfante/Parts and Jack E.

White/Nairobi

With reporting by Jordan Bonfante, Jack E. White

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