Mediation fades in Chad as fighting is renewed

Efforts to mediate a truce in Chad have been abandoned as the main armies appear resolved to fight to the finish. Radio reports, monitored here, said Defense Minister Hissein Habre's Army of the North had driven the rival troops of the Popular Armed Forces of President Goukouni Oueddei from key positions in the center of the capital, N'Djamena. French Radio reported Mr. Oueddei had appealed to Libyan strong man Muammar al-Qaddafi for aid. Officials in Paris have long suspected that Colonel Qaddafi has been arming Muslim factions in order to pull Chad out of the political orbit of France, which granted the nation independence in 1960.