Chad Says Libyans Doubled, Asks Help

President Hissen Habre called Saturday for increased foreign help, saying Libya has doubled its forces in Chad since being routed from a northeastern garrison by Chadian troops two weeks ago.

“Libya is in the process of considerably reinforcing its forces in northern Chad,” Habre told a news conference in the Cabinet room in the presidential compound. “And I would even say, in a very precise manner, that since the events at Fada, Libya has doubled its forces in the north.”

Habre called for additional help from the West to counter the increased Libyan threat. “Our needs are immense,” he said.

France, and to a lesser extent the United States, have been providing military supplies to Chad for what most observers expect will be a follow-up to Chadian successes in the Tibesti region of northwestern Chad, and at Fada in the northeast, where Chadian forces routed the Libyans on Jan. 2.