OK, thanks, the bit with Chad was something we were keeping an eye on during my Med Deployment in 1985-1986.
(Yes, I was in one of the CVBGs that got to play with the Mad Colonel, on a destroyer or a cruiser, pick which month for which op were in as we crossed his infamous" line of death" in the Gulf of Sidra).
It featured in our daily INT brief because of the Mad Colonel's position in Chad at the time, which tied to concerns of his nuclear ambitions with the attendant worry that he'd be providing nuclear stuff the various terrorist groups whom he gave support and aid to (like the IRA, Red Army Faction, and the usual Arab malcontents).
As to the French
I got to meet some of the Foreign Legion, 2d Para Regiment, in Calvi back in 1984 during a port visit there. A few of them had already been to Chad for various reasons...