Chad The Devil Behind the Scenes

When Idriss Deby and his rebel army rolled into the capital city of N'Djamena last week, the reaction of the 1,800-man French force stationed in the country was almost blase. As expected, the guerrilla leader quickly proclaimed himself President and promised to bring parliamentary democracy to his impoverished country.

But there was nothing predictable about the arrival two days later of several Soviet-built Libyan transport planes at N'Djamena's military airport. The planes had come to pick up about 400 Libyan prisoners released by Deby, some of whom had been jailed since 1982, and to unload "humanitarian supplies," including a Renault luxury sedan, apparently a gift to Deby from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Deby defended freeing the Libyans as a move to help maintain good relations with Chad's northern neighbor. However, the prisoner release, along with reports that Libya provided at least 40% of the equipment for Deby's army, stirred fears that Gaddafi is poised to use Chad as a base to project his influence throughout the region.

At the same time, the U.S. began airlifting out of Chad several hundred Libyan dissidents who had served as soldiers in the pro-Western government of ousted President Hissene Habre. Tripoli accused the U.S. of training the dissidents to carry out commando raids in Libya, but Washington refused to comment.

Even by the convoluted standard of North African politics, Deby and Gaddafi are strange bedfellows. As adviser for security and defense under Habre, Deby helped mastermind a series of lightning attacks that drove Gaddafi out of northern Chad in 1983 and again in 1987. But after Habre accused him of plotting a coup last year, Deby fled to the Sudan, where he began recruiting his army. A final three-week assault launched last month quickly overwhelmed forces loyal to Habre, who fled across the Chari River into Cameroon.

While the full scope of Deby's relationship with Gaddafi remains hazy, it is known that Libya equipped Deby's army with as many as 200 Toyota land cruisers fitted with 23-mm Soviet-made cannons. Deby's army arrived in N'Djamena with other equipment commonly stockpiled by Libya, including Brazilian-made six- wheel armored vehicles with 90-mm guns.

The amity between Deby and Gaddafi does not seem to extend to the Aozou Strip, a mineral-rich area in northern Chad that Gaddafi claims belongs to Libya. Deby made it clear last week that if necessary he will fight to keep the strip out of Libya's hands. That may encourage Gaddafi to assist yet another rebel army with the aim of overthrowing yet another government.