World Notes CHAD

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.