Libyans Kill Hundreds in Chad, President Charges

President Hissen Habre charged Monday that Libyan forces killed several hundred people in air-and-ground attacks on three northern villages in his central African country.

A statement released by Habre’s office said Libya launched an “uninterrupted bombardment of the localities of Gouro, Ounianga and Gourma” with Soviet-made tanks and Tupolev 22 and Sukhoi aircraft.

It said the bombardment was continuing at the time the statement was issued in the early afternoon, but it did not say precisely when it began.

Survivors Flee to Hills

Several hundred inhabitants out of a population of more than 2,000 “perished alive under flames” while the few survivors fled into nearby mountains to face “famine, thirst and cold,” the statement said.

The Habre government appealed to Chadians and the international community to “spare no effort in finding a way to halt this late 20th-Century holocaust.”

The statement followed other recent claims by Chad that Libyan troops occupying its desert north were carrying out what it called a genocide against the local population.

In the past, Chad’s allegations of Libyan attacks have apparently been aimed at persuading France to help it retake the north, which N’Djamena says has been occupied by Libyan and rebel forces for the last three years.

France to Boost Defense

French Minister for Cooperation Michel Aurillac said last week that France will slightly bolster its defensive military operation in Chad but added that it is up to the N’Djamena government to free the north.

Last February, France sent warplanes and several hundred troops to its former colony and installed a new air defense system at N’Djamena’s airport after a fresh push south by the rebels and their Libyan allies.

Chadian officials have said that with rebel forces currently in disarray, conditions are ideal for a major offensive to drive Libya out of the north.