A Pattern of Destabilization

By William Guest

Libya's designs on a neighbor provoke a firm U.S. response

With its poverty-ridden population of 4.6 million, almost no mineral resources and negligible strategic value, Chad never seemed important enough for major powers to worry about. But last week, alarmed by the latest turn of events in the landlocked former French colony, President Reagan authorized an additional $15 million in military aid to the embattled government of President Hissene Habre, bringing the total U.S. commitment to $25 million. The reason for the U.S. concern: Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi had dramatically stepped up his support for rebels trying to topple Habre. Said a senior State Department official: "There is a continent-wide pattern of Libyan destabilization, Libyan terrorist activities, Libyan aggression. We are in the middle of a small-scale, but very important conflict."

For more than a year, Gaddafi has been giving arms and money to the forces of former President Goukouni Oueddei, which number as many as 5,000. The fighting took on a new dimension two weeks ago, when Libyan MiG-21 jets strafed the northern Chad oasis of Faya-Largeau soon after government troops had recaptured the town from Goukouni's rebels. Gaddafi's jets continued their raids last week, reducing much of the brick-and-mud town to rubble.

In response, the U.S. has rushed 30 heat-seeking Redeye missiles to the Chadian capital of N'Djamena, along with three U.S. advisers to show government soldiers how to use the weapons against Libyan aircraft. Because it takes only one day for a soldier to learn how to use the Redeye, the U.S. advisers are expected to be out of Chad soon.

To underscore its concern, the U.S. also sent the aircraft carrier Eisenhower to within 150 miles of Libya's shores. Another carrier, the Coral Sea, was ordered to delay its scheduled departure for the coast of Central America. On Saturday the U.S. dispatched two AWACS planes and a number of support aircraft to monitor aerial activity in the desert conflict.

With characteristic bluster, Gaddafi vowed that his air force would "destroy" the Eisenhower if it entered the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claims. Although the U.S. and most other nations--including the Soviet Union--do not honor any Libyan claim beyond the usual twelve-mile limit, the Eisenhower remained just outside the Gulf of Sidra. Nonetheless, two F-14 jets from the carrier drove off a pair of Libyan MiG-23 jets that they encountered on patrol. Neither side opened fire. In a similar incident two years ago, a pair of U.S. F-14s shot down two Libyan Su-22 planes that had opened fire on them.

The government of French President Franc,ois Mitterrand has sent close to $40 million worth of arms and supplies to its former colony since late June. Last week France responded to an urgent plea from Habre by shipping antiaircraft weaponry to N'Djamena. Mitterrand has hesitated to send French troops to Chad. But he has come under pressure from a number of African nations that fear a Libyan victory in Chad would encourage Gaddafi to spread his subversion throughout the area.

Their worries are well founded. As most eyes were focused on Chad last week, a Marxist who has expressed open admiration for Gaddafi overthrew the pro-Western government of President Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo in nearby Upper Volta. Street fighting in the capital city of Ouagadougou left five dead and 15 wounded. Ouedraogo was replaced by a "National Council of Revolution" headed by Thomas Sankara, 35, a brash, charismatic army captain. In the past, Libya has also made trouble by attempting to undermine pro-Western governments in Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

The Soviet Union predictably accused the U.S. of "threatening peace and international security." Most countries in the region, however, welcomed the Western help. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been deeply concerned about Libyan intervention in Chad, fearing that one of Gaddafi's longer-term aims is to destabilize the Sudan, Egypt's southern neighbor and ally. Gaddafi has sponsored at least two attempts to topple Sudanese President Gafaar Nimeiri. Last February the U.S. responded to suspicious Libyan air force movements near the Sudanese border by deploying AWACS planes to Egypt and the aircraft carrier Nimitz off the Egyptian coast. Relations between Gaddafi and Nimeiri are so bad that each has called for the death of the other.

Zaire's President, Mobutu Sese Seko, also hopes to see Gaddafi's advance halted. Last month Mobutu sent 2,000 paratroopers to Chad to help guard strategic points in the capital, freeing Habre's troops for the battle against the rebels in the north. In Washington for talks with President Reagan and Secretary of State George Shultz last week, Mobutu promised to send more troops to Chad. U.S. officials praised him for his "courageous action."

Like so many African countries, Chad is an amalgam of religious and ethnic groups that were arbitrarily united by colonial rule. The country straddles the nomadic Muslim culture of the Sahara and the black African traditions of Christians and animists who are engaged in agriculture in the savannas of the more densely populated south. Although Chad's internal turmoil began as a conflict between north and south, it has grown into a power struggle between Habre and Goukouni, two Muslim warlords from the north.

Gaddafi's primary interest in Chad is the Aozou Strip, a 60-mile-wide band near Chad's northern border. Since 1973 Libya has occupied the area, which is believed to be rich in uranium and manganese. In June 1980, Goukouni, who was then President, signed a friendship treaty with Gaddafi, granting Libya the right to intervene militarily in Chad and laying plans for a merger of the two countries. Habre, who was then Defense Minister, took up arms against Goukouni in protest, but he was defeated in December 1980. Goukouni ruled for a year and a half until Habre drove him out in mid-1982.

Until June, Goukouni's rebel forces controlled a third of the country and seemed prepared to march on N'Djamena from the eastern town of Abeche. Strengthened by the delivery of more than 400 tons of arms and ammunition from France, however, Habre's army recaptured Abeche last month. After Goukouni lost Faya-Largeau, Gaddafi apparently concluded that only direct Libyan assistance could prevent a total rout of the Chadian rebels. But by sending in his air force and thereby provoking the U.S. to step up its support for Habre, Gaddafi may actually have dimmed Goukouni's chances of recapturing the battle-scarred capital of N'Djamena--and the presidency.

--By William Guest.

Reported by John Borrell/Nairobi and Thomas A. Sancton/Paris

With reporting by John Borrell, Thomas A. Sancton This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.