One for Gaddafi

Libya's invasion stops a war

For nine months, the sputtering civil war in the Central African nation of Chad had been conducted with little enthusiasm. The two brigade-size guerrilla groups--one led by President Goukouni Oueddei, the other by insurgent Defense Minister Hissene Habre--had reached a virtual stalemate in their listless battle for control of the impoverished, landlocked country of 4.5 million. Fighting mainly over the capital of N'Djamena on the Chari River, the two miniarmies regularly exchanged artillery duels, and then, just as regularly, stopped shooting for lunch, tea and dinner breaks.

Outside forces, however, were more aggressively interested in the outcome. Oueddei was actively backed by his neighbor to the north, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who had previously seized a swatch of disputed borderland. Chad seemed to fit neatly into the Libyan leader's ultimate dream of a sub-Saharan republic. Habre, meanwhile, was less directly supported by France, as part of Paris' abiding policy of trying to maintain a forceful role in the affairs of the French-speaking former African colonies.

Gaddafi proved to be not only closer to Chad but also more anxious to break the stalemate. Terming it "technical and humanitarian assistance," the Libyan leader dispatched a sizable military force into Chad last week, which all but ended the civil war. The Libyan invasion force included more than 4,000 infantry, backed by 50 Soviet-supplied T-54 and T-55 tanks, along with 122-mm rocket launchers, 81-mm mortars and even U.S.-built Chinook helicopters. Against such unexpected fire power, Habre's forces retreated across the Chari River into Cameroon. Two days later Habre agreed to a cease-fire sponsored by the Organization of African Unity.

The French government, taken by surprise, weakly insisted that it had not intervened militarily to counter Gaddafi's invasion of Chad because neither of the two cornerstones of French African policy had been violated. No French nationals were in jeopardy or in need of rescue, and no plea for French military help had come from a legitimate government. "We are just spectators," said a French spokesman. More pointedly, the Paris daily Le Monde called the invasion "a serious defeat for Paris," adding that "the French government was visibly caught on the wrong foot."

Chad's African neighbors were even less sanguine about Gaddafi's invasion. Said Senegal's daily Le Soleil, summing up a common view: "All Africa should be concerned. Chad could be the first link in a United States of the Sahel sought by Libya."

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