Word: chadli
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Rising as suddenly as a Sahara sandstorm, the little war in the Central African nation of Chad turned increasingly ominous and ugly last week. With the help of intensive Libyan bombing raids, rebel forces seized the northern town of Faya-Largeau (pop. 7,000). In the process, they reduced much of the mud-and-brick oasis to rubble. As many as one-third of the Chadian government's 3,000 soldiers were reported to be dead, wounded or captured, and hundreds more were stranded in the north. Others, retreating before what the government called "murderous nonstop" Libyan air strikes...
...turn the tide. In a press conference after the fall of Faya-Largeau, Reagan indicated that the Administration would not be sending further help for the time being. He noted that the U.S. could not play the role of "world policeman," and urged France to take the lead in Chad. "It is not our primary sphere of influence," the President said. "It is that of France...
Chadian President Hissene Habré, too, looked to France for aid, particularly air support to offset the dominance of Libyan aircraft over northern Chad. Said Information Minister Soumalia Mahamat: "French airpower is indispensable against Libyan airpower." He also appealed for the use of French combat forces. "If French troops are here merely as instructors," he argued, "it doesn't matter whether there...
Whether the French presence will be sufficient to create a stalemate in the seven-week-old war will depend on what Gaddafi does next. Western intelligence sources put the number of Libyan troops in Chad at 2,500, while Goukouni has perhaps 3,000 men in his ragtag army. But those combined ground forces are backed by aircraft and heavy weapons, including as many as 400 tanks and armored vehicles on the outskirts of Faya-Largeau, which the government of Chad is unable to match. The Libyan air force has a base for its fighters in the Aozou Strip...
...other hand, a Libyan ground offensive would be extremely difficult to carry out; the roads are bad in the best of times and impassable in heavy rain. The hope of most Western observers in N'Djamena is that Gaddafi will be content to occupy the northern third of Chad and press for a new Chadian government that would be more to his liking. In a television interview late last week, Gaddafi blandly denied that he was providing the Chadian rebels with anything but "moral" support, and called for negotiations between the rival forces in Chad...