Word: chadians
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Colonel Muammar Gaddafi suffered the worst defeat of his 18-year rule of Libya five months ago when his troops were driven out of northern Chad. Last week Chadian President Hissene Habre sought to double the Libyans' humiliation by sending his army to capture the Aouzou Strip, a disputed border region. Though the foray did not produce the "total defeat" of Libyan forces claimed by Chad, it resulted in the fall of the town of Aouzou, the strip's administrative center...
Gaddafi denounced the "colonial aggression" by Habre, who has the backing of France and the U.S., and sent waves of Soviet-built Tupolev bombers to assault Chadian villages and troops. The planes even penetrated the part of Chad guarded by French forces, drawing a stern reminder from Paris that France was still prepared to use military means to support its former colony...
...victory at Ouadi-Doum capped a remarkable Chadian drive that has all but ended 3 1/2 years of Libyan occupation of the north. When Western reporters toured battle sites recently, they found evidence that Gaddafi's fleeing troops had in some places laid down their arms without firing a shot. Near the oasis town of Faya-Largeau, the Libyans abandoned a column of Soviet- made T-55 tanks with the keys still in the ignition...
...armaments were a bonanza for Chadian forces, which routed the enemy by attacking aboard Toyota pickup trucks mounted with light machine guns. Among the haul were more than 200 tanks and armored personnel carriers, countless rounds of ammunition and two giant early-warning radar systems. Western intelligence experts were delighted by the capture of three batteries of Soviet-made SA-6 surface-to-air missiles complete with radar guidance systems...
...spite of the magnitude of his victory, Chadian President Hisene Habre still has problems to solve. Foremost among them: he must reach an accord with Rebel Leader Goukouni Oueddei, a former President of Chad himself and Gaddafi ally whose forces last year joined with Habre's to help defeat the Libyans. But after an unproductive meeting last week between Goukouni and Ivory Coast President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who is trying to mediate between the two leaders, the President and the rebel commander reportedly remain far apart on issues ranging from Chad's provisional constitution to Goukouni's role...