In an important security development that impacts central and southern Libya, the Chadian authorities announced that 30 fighters from the main Front pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT) rebel movement had surrendered their weapons and had returned from Libya. 

For many decades FACT and other Chadian rebel movements have been based in southern Libya — where they were previously sheltered, financed and weaponised by Muammar Qadhafi’s regime for use against his enemies — from where they mounted frequent lightning raids against successive Chadian governments. It was during one such FACT incursion in April 2021 that the late President Idriss Déby was assassinated on the frontline during a furious row with some of his senior military officers. 

Later, on 14 September 2021 the Tariq Bin Ziyad brigade — which is an important faction in Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces’ (LAAF) — clashed with a convoy of FACT fighters in the south-western Murzuq region. According to local sources, the latter had been pushed across the border into Libya following clashes with the Chadian army in the previously internationally contested Aouzou Strip earlier in the same day. Some locals said that the Tariq Bin Ziyad brigade attack was coordinated with the Chadian army forces while the rebels claimed that French troops were fighting alongside the brigade. LAAF media footage pointed to the use of laser-guided munitions which suggested the presence of foreign troops. There were also local reports, however, that Russian jets flew from Jufra to conduct the bombings, which would imply that it was Russian forces — possibly Wagner Group mercenaries — that were involved in the incident. 

The FACT rebels had been fighting as mercenaries for the LAAF since 2017 and particularly in 2019-2020 during Haftar’s war against Tripoli. In return he had promised them resources and support in their quest to overthrow Déby’s regime. However, following Idriss Déby’s assassination it seems that they were severely pushed back and lost their foreign backing after regional interests shifted against the rebels amid their failure to overthrow the government in N’Djamena. Paris has aligned itself more closely with the Chadian government since April 2021. On the other hand, Russia has been seeking to make inroads into Francophone Africa which could incentivise it to do so via the LAAF. 

On 6 March a reception was held for the former rebels who decided to return to the country after staying in Libya for several years. Their withdrawal comes ‘within the framework of the policy of openness, national reconciliation and comprehensive national dialogue called for by Chadian authorities’ (see our Sahara Focus sister publication for full analysis). 

Until recently, around 700 FACT rebel fighters were stationed at the al-Jufra military base to the south of Sirte where the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group mercenaries are also present. According to US intelligence reports shared by the Wall Street Journal, the Wagner Group is cooperating with Chadian armed groups to destabilise the country’s transitional authority led by Deby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby. It has already gained significant influence in Mali and Burkina Faso by supporting anti-French military coups by junior officers and Chad and Niger are its next targets. A significant Russian presence in Libya’s southern neighbours will obviously increase political and security tensions.