On July 25, at the order of President
Reagan, the first shipment of $10-million
Worth of U.S. military supplies was air-
lifted into the landlocked African coun-
tty of Chad, where a prolonged civil war

been in progress. Sent in support of
he pro-western grouping headed by His-
Sene Habre, this open intervention in
Chad’s internal affairs is part of the
Spreading deployment of U.S. military
Orce in northern regions of Africa.

The Reagan decision to intervene
(Which has coincided with the dispatch of
a U.S. naval task force to blockade
Nicaragua, on the other side of the
World) dovetails with the holding of
large-scale U.S. military exercises by the
Reagan *“‘Rapid Deployment forces’’ in
August and September in Egypt and in
Somalia. Up to 5,500 U.S. troops, a
naval detachment headed by the aircraft
Catrier “‘Risenhower,’’ B52 bombers,
FI6 fighters, E3A radar command and
Control aircraft, helicopters, artillery and
Other hardware will have joint war games
With Egyptian troops. The exercise is cal-

led “Bright Star.” In Somalia, exercise.

Eastern Wind 1983” will involve 1,000
Marines in amphibious landing
Operations.

Besides Egypt and Somalia, Sudan is
an adjoining client state of the Pentagon
and is included by U.S. strategists among
f friendly host countries in the region
Or the imperialist ‘‘Rapid Deployment
Orces.’’ A glance at a map will show one
ofthe main purposes of the U.S. military

- ©Xercises: they will take place virtually

On the doorstep of socialist-oriented
Ethiopia, and will serve asa threat to that
Country’s leaders.

Chad has now been included in the
Military sphere the U.S. is setting up in
Northeast Africa. The excuse seized
Upon for this has been an offensive con-

ducted by the other rival group in Chad,
headed by Goukouni Oueddei, an offen-
sive that had taken most of nothern and
eastern Chad and was poised to move on
the capital, N’Djamena (formerly Fort
Lamy), where Hissens Habre had estab-
lished a government in June 1982. -
The grouping led by Habre won power
with the backing of Sudan, Egypt and
French interests, and with covert sup-
port of the U.S. operating by way of
Sudan. His armed forces ousted from
N’Djamena the government that had
been headed by President Oueddei since
the latter 1970s. Oueddei withdrew. to his

base in northern Chad from which, as:

chairman of the transitional government
of national unity and leader of the Front

for the National Liberation of Chad, he

has fought the Habre regime. :
Several major factors have come to the

fore in recent years that have drawn .

imperialist eyes to Chad and boosted its
importance. One of these is the estimate
that large deposits of uranium exist in the
north of Chad, in the Borkou-Ennedi-
Tibesti areas. Another is the awareness,
especially by the U.S., of the strategic
significance of Chad’s location, which
has long borders with anti-imperialist
Libya, pro-Western Sudan, the shaky
neo-colonial states of Central Africa,
Cameroon and Niger and a brief border
with Nigeria.

When the government of Colonel
Muannar Qaddafi in Libya gave its all-
out support to the Oueddei government
in Chad (including the sending of Libyan
troops in 1980-81 to underpin it and even
proposing state unity), the U.S. and Fr-
ance aided Habre to overthrow Oueddei.
The fear was that an anti-imperialist,
pro-Libyan Chad would act as a catalytic
force to encourage anti-Numerei move-
ments in Sudan and progressive changes

| London | -s

in the rest of Chad’s neighbors.
Although Goukouni Oueddei denies it,
the U.S. France and its north African
allies propagandize that Libya is arming
his forces and Libyan troops are fighting
alongside them. At first, the western
powers channeled aid to the Habre. re-
gime through Sudan and Egypt, but, at
the end of June France dispensed with
caution and began to send Habre large
amounts of military assistance, including
tanks, anti-tank rocket launchers, vehi-

cles with 106mm recoilless rifles and

other heavy equipment.

France’s Mitterand government,
however, has a problem in regard to this
kind of neo-colonial policy. In its own
Socialist Party there is strong opposition
to a French interventionist image in Afri-
ca. For that reason the Mitterand
government turned to persuading Zaire’s
Mobutu, one of the neo-colonial puppet
tulers of Africa, to send Zairian troops to
Chad to bolster Habre. Up to the latter
part of July, 2,000 troops from Zaire had
been sent.

The Reagan decision to send, out of
the clear blue sky, an initial $10-million of
military support to Habre is a move that
will help take some of the focus of con-
demnation from France (and puts
Mitterand somewhat in debt to Reagan).
It would also give the U.S. a lever over
the Habre regime and the means to estab-
lish a military presence on Libya’s
southern border. In the forthcoming
U.S. military exercises in northeastern

Chad includedin U.S. war aims

rom ee

William
Pomeroy

Africa, there will be the possibility of
making a greater threat and pressure on
both Libya and Ethiopia.

There is another purpose behind the
Reagan move in Chad. The Chad ques-
tion over the past year has seen sharp
differences within the Organization of
African Unity (QAU), where progres-
sive OAU members have tended to
recognize Oueddei’s group as the legiti-
mate government while conservative
and pro-western members have backed
Habre and called for his regime to be
seated on OAU bodies.

U.S. intervention is worsening the dif-
ferences. Pro-western regimes in Sudan,
Zaire, Egypt and elsewhere are now de-
manding the ouster from the OAU of
Libya for alleged support to Oueddei.

' The leading body of the OAU itself, the

present chairman of which happens to be
Ethiopia’s Mengistu Haile Mariam, is-
sued acall on July 17 for an end to foreign
intervention, the immediate termination
of fighting in Chad, and the reconciliation
of the warring groups in that country.
During July, Colonel Mengistu himself
made four calls for the ending of foreign
intervention.

The Reagan intervention adds to the
strife in Chad, creates tension and dis-
sension in Africa, and increases the im-
perialist threat to the forces of liberation
and independence on the African contin-
ent. OAU demands for its ending needs
the support of U.S. people and organiza-
tions. :

U.S. Caribbean role ‘harmful’ — Bond —

HAVANA — A prominent U.S. civil rights leader and

whose facility is 1,000 feet longer than that of the Gre-

: and,
: adde,

former student and colleague of the late Martin Luther
t ing has described the troubled Caribbean Basin Initia-
ve plan (CBI) of U.S. President Reagan as a means to
€Nsure the dependency of the region on Washington’s
Sphere of influence.”’
Ww Peaking earlier this month in an interview in Havana
ere he was on a five day information gathering visit,
_forgia Senator Julian Bond said: ‘‘United States policy
wards the Caribbean has not radically changed since
* years ago when John Kennedy was president. The
Ords and the phrases, the names of the schemes, the
lance for Progress and now the CBI, are different but

; ki thrust is essentially the same — that is, to ensure the

of dependency on the U.S., to ensure that the
anda sphere of influence is maintained in the region
to do things that reflect American rather than Carib-

an interests.
That’s harmful, I think both to the Caribbean people
ad the long run, to the American people,” he

ete 43-year-old Senator, who in 1960 co-founded the

Udent Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee and who
on ore of five students in the only formal college course
with 4eY Martin Luther King, stated that he is working
ton has those democratic forces to ensure that Washing-

a ‘‘proper and respected relationship’’ with the

; Catibbean States.

cae have an interest in seeing that Washington isn’t
doneently interfering with their (the region’s states)
them, Stic affairs, threatening them, being hostile to
Weh and threatening to engulf the whole region in war.
mo ave an interest in establishing peaceful and har-
10us relations with these states,’’ Bond argued.

the seal to the recent charges of President Reagan that
Curpe vPe’s Revolutionary Government in Grenada 1s
anny building a large airport for military purposes,
— Bond reasoned: ‘‘I thought the allegation by the
entire eat to be absolutely ridiculous. First of all, it’s
Suitabl, legitimate for the Grenadians to want an airport
enjoy im to their needs. There is no reason why they can
enjoy,” kind of airport that other states in the regio

Pointing out that the airport in neighboring Barbados,

nada airport, was built with the assistance of the Cana-
dian government, Bond asked: ‘‘Would you believe that
the Canadians are planning to invade the U.S. through
Barbados? I rather much doubt it.”

‘I think this is part of the President’s paranoia about
the Soviet Union, about the socialist states, about all
things different than his relatively limited life ex-
perience,” he told me.

With regard to his present work on the civil rights front
in his country, Bond felt that much work needs to be
done to protect the interests of racial and language
minority groups, including blacks and Hispanic people
like Mexican-Americans.

Senator Julian Bond.

From the
Caribbean

Faria

‘First, we are trying to stop the nearly successful
attempt by President Reagan to take away the gains won
over the last 25 years (by these groups). He has tried to
weaken the Voting Rights Act which guarantees Federal
protection for the electoral rights of racial and 1
minorities. He has tried to destroy the collection of laws
and regulations called Affirmative Action which guaran-
tee that women and minorities will receive equal treat-
ment in the job market and in education and so on.
Generally, President Reagan has been more hostile to
civil rights and more hostile to civil rights enforcement
than any other President in my recent memory. So we
are trying to stop that,”’ said Bond.

“The second thing,’’ Bond continued, “‘is trying
where we can to win new advances, (a struggle) which is
tremendously difficult with the President’s hostility. The
third thing is to defeat him (in the Presidential election)
next year.”

Bond argued that there was real need for all racial and
language minorities to unite among themselves and with
other U.S. democratic-minded citizens in the campaigns
for civil rights and social progress in general. ‘‘Unfor-
tunately, there is not as much being done as we would
like,’ he said.

The Georgia Senator, who is married with four chil-
dren, is a former member of the Georgia House of Rep-
resentatives (1966-74) from which he was excluded for a
period of time following his criticism of U.S. involve-
ment in Vietnam. He took his seat only after taking his
case to the Supreme Court.

Senator Bond, a member of the National Advisory
Council of the American Civil Liberties Union, is among
those who are planning the ‘‘Jobs, Peace and Freedom”
march on Washington slated for August 27.

PR rece EL TON TORS : PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 19, 1983—Page 5