And it will require a persistent aerial threat to deny it the ability to move its forces with their heavy weapons, armour and "technicals" (pickup trucks with machine guns).Many had assumed that militarily integrating Arab coalition partners and identifying suitable targets would be a slow and painstaking business.
In February Chadian rebels, supported and armed by Sudan's government, drove out of West Darfur in columns of converted pick-up trucks known as "technicals", to try to topple President Idriss Déby, a former ally turned implacable foe of the Sudanese government.
Even in the good times, Khartoum was closely monitored to prevent another 1985; all bridges have two "technicals" at either end with loaded machine-guns ready to fire on any protesters, and the main bridge from Khartoum to Omdurman has three tanks permanently stationed at the Omdurman end.
Such advances now let the jihadists control traffic between Mogadishu and central Somalia.The fighters and their "technicals" (pick-up trucks often laden with heavy machineguns on the back) have also advanced on Beledweyne, a town close to the Ethiopian border.
Columns of a hundred or more technicals and tanks have recently been seen heading west.
Amnesty said it had received evidence that Janjaweed militants raided the village of Shek Gubah on Monday using 4x4 vehicles, known as "technicals", similar to those favoured by the Taliban.
At Princeton, Bryce Chase, a volunteer assistant coach who was also a trial lawyer, hovered close to Tierney during every game, to muffle what he could muffle, and help avoid technicals.
Gunmen had sealed off side streets with "technicals," Somali battlewagons made from pickup trucks; one had a massive recoilless rifle mounted on the back.
They are enthusiastic and trigger-happy, and repeatedly fire their weapons into the air; they roar back and forth in S.U.V.s and pick-ups they have rigged up as Somali-style "technicals," with heavy machine guns and, in some cases, anti-aircraft guns looted from military armories.
These days, many professional investors and traders rely at least a little bit on the technicals.
"I not call her technicals, no.
