Chad: why the French military intervened

French military aircraft struck a column of Chadian rebels February 3. What compelled the French intervention in Chad was the anomalous scale of the column and strategic nature of the location of the French strike. Clashes in northern Chad are not an unusual occurrence, but they are ordinarily between Chadian ground and air forces and indigenous rebels and take place in the country’s Tibesti region, located in the far northwest and bordering Libya. Over the last six months, for instance, Chadian government and rebel fighting have been observed at roughly monthly intervals, including January 12-13 at Kouri Bougoudi in the …

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