Word: habr
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...that there were already half as many French troops in the country as there were soldiers in the Chadian army. The French buildup was a warning to Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, whose intervention in behalf of Rebel Leader Goukouni Oueddei had threatened to topple the government of President Hissene Habré. The message: Libya should not move its forces any farther south in the direction of the Chadian capital of N'Djamena. What had started two months ago as the latest round in a long struggle between two northern Muslim warlords seeking control of N'Djamena had thus...
...Given Habré's hatred of Goukouni and the Libyans, the Chadian President would be disinclined to negotiate with either. But with a third of his army lost, his fate is as closely bound to the decisions of his foreign mentors as Goukouni's is to the whims and ambitions of Gaddafi...
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...
...Libyans and the rebels push southward, as they appear ready to do, and if the French avoid direct involvement in the conflict, Habré's government will surely fall. On the other hand, if Gaddafi should decide to keep his troops in northern Chad, the country could face de facto partition. That might be a relatively painless solution to the present crisis, but it would set a dangerous precedent for an unstable continent where the rule has long been to honor the boundaries inherited from colonial times. -By William E. Smith. Reported by John Borrell/N'Djamena and Thomas...
Until June, Goukouni's rebel forces controlled a third of the country and seemed prepared to march on N'Djamena from the eastern town of Abéché. Strengthened by the delivery of more than 400 tons of arms and ammunition from France, however, Habré's army recaptured Abéché last month. After Goukouni lost Faya-Largeau, Gaddafi apparently concluded that only direct Libyan assistance could prevent a total rout of the Chadian rebels. But by sending in his air force and thereby provoking the U.S. to step up its support for Habr...