Timeline: Chad

A chronology of key events:

1883-93 - Sudanese adventurer Rabih al-Zubayr conquers the kingdoms of Ouadai, Baguirmi and Kanem-Bornu, situated in what is now Chad.

HISSENE HABRE ''Africa's Pinochet'' is accused of crimes of humanity while president from 1982 - 1990 Arrested in 2005 Under house arrest in Senegal Sentenced to death in absentia in Chad UN court lets Senegal hold Habre

1900 - France defeats al-Zubayr's army.

1913 - French conquest of Chad completed; Chad becomes a colony within French Equatorial Africa.

1946 - Chad becomes a French overseas territory with its own territorial parliament and representation in the French National Assembly.

1960 - Chad becomes independent with a southern Christian, Francois - later Ngarta - Tombalbaye, as president.

1963 - The banning of political parties triggers violent opposition in the Muslim north, led by the Chadian National Liberation Front, or Frolinat.

1966 - Northern revolt develops into a fully-fledged guerrilla war.

1973 - French troops help put down the northern revolt, but Frolinat continues guerrilla operations throughout the 1970s and 1980s with the help of weapons supplied by Libya.

Libyan intervention

Chad's first president, Francois Tombalbaye (l), was ousted and killed by Felix Malloum (r)

1975 - Tombalbaye deposed and killed in coup led by another southern Christian, Felix Malloum.

1977 - Libya annexes the northern Chadian Aouzou strip.

1979 - Malloum forced to flee the country; a coalition government headed by a Muslim northerner, Goukouni Oueddei, assumes power.

1980 - Libya sends in troops to support Oueddei in his fight against the Army of the North, led by a former prime minister, Hissene Habre.

1981 - Libyan troops withdraw at Oueddei's request.

1982 - Habre seizes power. He is later accused of mass political killings during his rule.

President Goukouni Oueddei sought Libyan military help

1983 - The Organisation of African Unity recognises Habre's government, but Oueddei's forces continue resistance in the north with Libyan help.

1987 - The combined troops of Frolinat and the Chadian Government, with French and US assistance, force Libya out of the entire northern region apart from the Aouzou strip and parts of Tibesti.

First democratic elections

1990 - Habre toppled by former ally, Idriss Deby.

1993 - National democracy conference sets up a transitional government with Deby as interim president and calls for free elections within a year.

1994 - International Court of Justice rejects Libyan claims on Aouzou and rules that Chad had sovereignty over the strip.

1996 - Deby wins Chad's first multi-party presidential election.

1997 - Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement triumphs on legislative elections.

Oil exports, via Cameroon, began in 2003 Export pipeline is more than 1,000km long By law, 80% of oil income must go to education, health, development 2006: Oil wealth fails Chadian villagers

1998 - The Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, led by Deby's former Defence Minister, Youssouf Togoimi, begins armed rebellion against the government.

2001 - Senegalese court rules that upholds ruling that former Chadian President Habre should not be made to stand trial in Senegal, where he is in exile. It decided that Senegal's courts do not have the jurisdiction to try Habre on torture charges during his eight years in power in Chad.

2001 May - Deby declared winner in controversial presidential poll.

Peace deals

2002 January - Government and Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) rebels sign Libyan-brokered peace deal intended to end three-year civil war.

2002 May - MDJT rebels and government forces clash in the far north; 64 are killed in the first outbreak of fighting since January's peace accord.

Thousands of Sudanese refugees fled to Chad to avoid fighting in Darfur

2003 January - Government signs peace deal with National Resistance Army (ANR) rebels, active in the east.

2003 October - Chad becomes an oil exporter with the opening of a pipeline connecting its oil fields with Cameroon.

2003 December - MDJT, government sign another peace accord. MDJT hardliners reject deal.

Darfur impact

2004 January-February - Thousands of Sudanese refugees arrive in Chad to escape fighting in Darfur region of western Sudan.

2004 April-May - Chadian troops clash with pro-Sudanese government militias as fighting in Sudan's Darfur region spills over the border.

2005 June - Voters back constitutional changes which allow the president to stand for a third term in 2006.

2005 November - Former president, Hissene Habre, is arrested in Senegal over allegations of crimes against humanity.

Rebels in the east want to oust President Deby 2006: Chad's vulnerable president

2005 December - Rebels attack the town of Adre, near the Sudanese border. Chad accuses Sudan of being behind the incident.

2006 January - President Deby backs a law to reduce the amount of oil money spent on development. The move angers the World Bank, which suspends loans and orders the account used to collect oil revenues to be frozen.

2006 March - Government says an attempted military coup has been thwarted.

Rebel battle

2006 April - Rebels seeking to oust President Deby battle government forces on the outskirts of the capital. Hundreds of people are killed. Chad cuts diplomatic ties with Sudan, accusing it of backing the rebels.

2006 May - President Deby is declared the winner of presidential elections. The main opposition parties boycott the poll.

2006 January-June - Thousands of refugees flee eastern areas as marauding Arab Janjaweed militia from Sudan's Darfur region penetrate deeper into Chad.

Eastern villagers have endured deadly attacks 2006: Ethnic attacks 'killed 200' 2006: Rebels and robbers in the east

2006 July - Parliament approves the establishment of Chad's first state oil company, the Societe des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT), which is expected to give Chad greater control over its energy assets.

2006 August - President Deby threatens to expel US energy giant Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas for failing to honour tax obligations, but relents after coming to an agreement with the companies.

2006 November - State of emergency imposed in eastern areas bordering Sudan's Darfur region after a spate of ethnic violence.

2006 December - Private newspapers stop publishing and several radio stations alter their programming to protest against state censorship under the state of emergency.

2007 February - UN refugee agency warns that violence against civilians in Chad could turn into a genocide.

2007 May - Chad and Sudan agree to stop conflict spilling across their borders but critics fear the agreement is unlikely to reduce the violence.

2007 August - Government, opposition agree to delay parliamentary elections by two years to 2009.

2007 September - UN Security Council authorises a UN-European Union peacekeeping force to protect civilians from violence spilling over from Darfur in neighbouring Sudan.

Emergency

2007 October - Emergency declared along eastern border and in the desert north.

Scandal as French charity tries to airlift a group of 100 ''orphans'' to Europe in what Chad describes as a smuggling operation.

2007 December - Six French aid workers are convicted of child-trafficking and sentenced to eight years' hard labour, but are then repatriated to serve their sentences at home.

2008 January - European Union approves a peacekeeping force for Chad to protect refugees from violence in Darfur.

2008 February - Rebel offensive reaches the streets of N'Djamena, coming close to the presidential palace; France sends extra troops.

Rebels are repulsed in fighting that leaves more than 100 dead.

2008 March - The presidents of Chad and Sudan sign an accord in Senegal aimed at halting five years of hostilities between the two countries.

2008 May - Violence between Chadian and Sudanese militias flares up, leading to Sudan cutting diplomatic relations and Chad responding by closing its border and cutting economic ties.

2008 July - Security forces say they killed more than 70 followers of Muslim spiritual leader Ahmat Israel Bichara, who had threatened to launch a holy war, in fighting in southeast Chad.

2009 January - Eight rebel groups unite to form new rebel alliance, the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), with Rally of Democratic Forces leader Timan Erdimi as its leader.

2009 March - European Union peacekeepers in eastern Chad hand over to a new, larger UN force known as Minurcat.

2009 May - UN Security Council condemns a major anti-government rebel offensive in the east.