ALGERIA: New Leader

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Chadli's pledge will mean a continued strain in Algeria's relations with its perennial rival, Morocco. Since Spain ceded control of its former colony of Spanish Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975, Algeria has been providing arms to the Polisario liberation movement, which seeks to create a new "Saharan Arab Democratic Republic" in the desert area along the Atlantic seaboard. The guerrillas have recently abandoned a unilateral cease-fire they declared last June to launch a "Houari Boumedienne offensive," which they claim has scored several victories.

Domestically, Chadli's biggest problem will be reviving the economy. To cushion the impact of declining oil revenues as Algeria's petroleum reserves are depleted, Boumedienne undertook ambitious industrialization plans. But some sectors of the economy, including housing and agriculture, were sadly neglected and went into decline. Foreign experts believe that the solution lies in an injection of free enterprise and a loosening of bureaucratic controls. But whether Chadli will feel confident enough to take such steps remains to be seen.

Whatever policies emerge under Chadli, the new President is not likely ever to be as powerful as his predecessor. Before selecting Chadli last week, the F.L.N. congress adopted structural reforms that will replace Boumedienne's tightly controlled Council of the Revolution with a more broadly based central committee and a 17-member politburo responsible for policy decisions. At least for the present, the days of one-man rule in Algeria seem to be over.