Sound of jets 'scared rebels’

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 10

Sound of jets 'scared rebels’

NZPA N’djamena The mere sound of French aircraft so disconcerted Libyan-backed rebels in a battle on Friday that Chadian Government forces were able to rout them, according to well-informed sources.

The battle near Oum Chalouba, in north-east Chad, was the first fighting for nearly three weeks and the two French Jaguar fighter-bombers had turned the tide simply by flying over the'battlefield without firing a shot, they said. The Government of Hissene Habre said that just 15 of its soldiers had been wounded while killing 800 rebels and capturing 600. The figures had been exaggerated, diplomatic sources said.

Both the Government and a French military spokesman in N’djamena denied that French aircraft had taken part in the battle. But in Paris military sources insisted that they did. More than 2000 French troops and eight combat aircraft are in Chad to aid Mr Habre’s forces. The troops were ostensibly sent to train Mr Habre’s men to use advanced French weaponry in their struggle against the rebel army of the former President, Goukouni Oueddei. France has said that it sent the four Jaguars and four Mirage fighters to

Chad to protect its own men, who would not be deployed in an offensive role although they would defend themselves if threatened.

The sources said that that seemed to be the reason for the French denial. French units were stationed only 50km from the battlefield but were under no immediate threat. The Chadian Government was also clearly building the fighting up into a great morale-boosting victory and would not allow its forces to lose any of the credit. The information Minister, Mr Soumalia Mahamat, said the battle had been fought at Oum Chalouba, 640 km north-east of N’djamena. The garrison at Oum Chalouba is the only Habre outpost north of French positions along a defence line bisecting the country from east to west. The sources said that the rebels may have chosen to attack it because they thought they could do so without dragging in the French. The highly trained French are mostly paratroopers, with one company from the Foreign Legion. Mr Mahamat said that two columns of rebels backed by Libyan tanks and artillery had attacked the garrison on Friday. He said that they had made two assaults but were repulsed each time.