[LA LEONE VIVOIRE Lagos CENTRAFRIOUI BETWEEN 500 and…]

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LA LEONE VIVOIRE Lagos CENTRAFRIOUI BETWEEN 500 and 1,000 French troops are now moving into the front line against the Libyan and rebel forces in Chad. Francois Mitterrand's government is continuing France's long record as an imperialist gendarme in Africa.

France and the US have also sent massive military aid to the Chad government of Hissene fabre, Strongly pro-western Laire has sent 2,000 Frenchtrained troops to help, and Habre has also recruited hundreds of European mercenaries.

US ships are cruising off the coast of Libya, and 5,500 US troops are joining a military exercise in neighbouring Egypt.

According to the Paris daily Le Monde (July 12), a British corpany, Heavy Lift, has also ben involved in the airlift of Fr ach supplies to Chad.

The French socialist weekly ul te Ouvriere (August 6) conde ins Mitterrand's intervention and comments, "French imperialism and American imperialism are protecting their interests."

The defence of imperialist interests, LO continues, "demands the installation of and support for military dictatorships capable of maintaining order for the profit of the capitalists and at the expense of the local population.

"The problem in Chad is that there are at least two rival local 'warlords' claiming their role: Hissene Habre and Goukouni Oueddei ... Whichever wins, the result will be the same for the people of Chad...

Chad has been a battlefield for rival warlords since the late '60s, and especially since 1978.

The country is not a nation, but a shape drawn on the map by French colonial administrators.

Its huge expanse - 1,000 miles from north to south, 500 miles from east to west includes over 100 languages and a multitude of ethnic groups and religions.

There are three main ethnic/ regional/religious groupings:

*The Toubou and other nomadic peoples of the desert north, Muslim in religion (about 18% of Chad's 4 million people);

*The more settled Muslim ¿Rabat MAROC ALGÉRIE ouakchott MALI GALS ajuif Bamako HT -VOLTA EE-MSSĂU GUINÉE Ouagagoudób Conakry NIGERIA -Monrovia LIBERIA 619. CAMEROUN Bangui _GUINÉE EQUAT= _et PRINCIPE km 2000- Brazzaville Alge *unis = TUNISIE Tripolit LIBYE NIGER • Niamey TCHAD® V'Djamena: - SAO TOME « GABON / SKinsha . CABINDA peoples of the centre, many of whom are of Arak ethnic origin;

*The Black African people of the south, mostly Christian or animist in religion.

Before France colonised Chad in 1900, empires based in or around the central region generally dominated the area, using the peoples of the south as Under French colonial rule, the south developed economieally more than the centre and north (though the whole country is still one of the poorest in the world). After independence, southerners dominated. Now both the factions fighting for supremacy are mainly northernbased.

Frolinat Both Goukouni and Habre were formerly leaders of Frolinat, the 'Front for the national • liberation of Chad' Despite its name, Frolinat had nothing to do with the independence of Chad from France, which was granted in 1960, six years before Frolinat was founded.

Frolinat was founded to fight for Muslim domination in the country, against the regime of Chad's first president, Tombalbaye, a southern Christian.

Tombalbaye called France in to support him in 1968. But in 1975 he was overthrown in a coup engineered by Camille Gourvenac, the French director of his secret police. Another southerner, Felix Malloum, took over.

Habre and Goukouni had split in 1976, and in January 1978 Habre agreed to a ceasefire with Malloum. Following massive French intervention against Goukouni's forces, Habre became prime minister under Malloum in August 1978.

The coalition quickly broke down. 100,000 Christians (according to Keesings press digest) fled the capital, Ndjamena, and there were pogroms against the Muslim minority (mostly merchants, shopkeepers, traders) in the . Since then there has been a running civil war between Habre alla Ces wine with shifting external powers Le Caire ÉGYPTE Khartoume SOUDAN OUGANDA Kampala• ZAÏRE RWI *BURUNDI Captured rebels in Ndjamena and with Kamougue, strongman of the south.

According to Le Monde of August 14, Habre was negotiating with Libya right up to March 1983. Libya was ready to back Habre and dump Goukouni on three conditions:

*That Chad be declared an Islamic Arab republic (although less than half the population is Muslim, and only about one-third Arab);

*A military/strategic alliance with Libya;

*Chad to accept the Libyan annexation (in 1973) of the reputedly uranium-rich Aozou strip in the north of the country.

Habre is reported to have balked at the third point; and so he turned to France instead.

Habre has accused France of wanting to dump him - and there may be some truth in it. Since Mitterrand came to power in May 1981, France has been trying to improve its relations with oil-rich Libya.

But French capitalism's goodwill does not extend to allowing the ambitions of Libya's military ruler, Col. Gaddafi, to upset the balance of forces in Africa. And that is also the concern of the United States, for which Libya is bugbear number one in Africa and the Middle East.

Libya's attempts to invade, sponsor rebellions in, or merge with a whole range of states in the area, and its erratic alliance with the USSR, are a threat to US-sponsored stability - and Reagan wants to slap Gaddafi down.

Chad thus becomes a football in the rivalries of the two international blocks - the US and USSR, and their respective clients and lieutenants.

Reagan's sabre-rattling suggests there could even be a danger of a direct US attack on Libya - an African counterpart to what he is doing in Central But whichever warlord wins, the people of Chad will lose. And they will continue to lose until the aim of the revolutionary leaders of African independence - a pan-African federation, with equal rights for all Africa's many peoples - can be realised. The only force capable of achieving that aim is the growing African working class. by Patrick Murphy.