Country profile: Chad

A largely semi-desert country, Chad is rich in gold and uranium and stands to benefit from its recently-acquired status as an oil-exporting state.

However, Africa's fifth-largest nation suffers from inadequate infrastructure and internal conflict. Poverty is rife, and health and social conditions compare unfavourably with those elsewhere in the region.

Overview

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Chad's post-independence history has been marked by instability and violence stemming mostly from tension between the mainly Arab-Muslim north and the predominantly Christian and animist south.

AT-A-GLANCE Politics: Crises on several fronts: President Deby, in power since 1990, faces an armed rebellion by several groups and incursions from neighbouring Sudan. He survived a coup attempt in 2006 Humanitarian issues: 140,000 people are internal refugees; 200,000 refugees are from Sudan Economy: Chad is enjoying an oil boom. Changes to rules governing how revenues can be spent have been controversial. Chad ranks as the world's most corrupt state International: Chad cut ties with Sudan in 2006, accusing it of supporting rebels. Refugees from Central African Republic and Sudan's Darfur have been streaming in Timeline

In 1969 Muslim dissatisfaction with the first president, Ngarta Tombalbaye - a Christian southerner - developed into a guerrilla war. This, combined with a severe drought, undermined his rule and in 1975 President Tombalbaye was killed in a coup led by another southerner, Felix Malloum.

Mr Malloum, too, failed to end the war, and in 1979 he was replaced by a Libyan-backed northerner, Goukouki Oueddei. But the fighting continued, this time with a former defence minister, Hissen Habre, on the opposite side.

In 1982, with French help, Mr Habre captured the capital, N'Djamena, and Mr Oueddei escaped to the north, where he formed a rival government. The standoff ended in 1990, when Mr Habre was toppled by the Libyan-backed Idriss Deby.

By the mid-1990s the situation had stabilised and in 1996 Mr Deby was confirmed president in Chad's first election.

In 1998 an armed insurgency began in the north, led by President Deby's former defence chief, Youssouf Togoimi. A Libyan-brokered peace deal in 2002 failed to put an end to the fighting.

From 2003 unrest in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region spilled across the border, along with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees. They have been joined by thousands of Chadians who are fleeing rebel fighting as well as violence between ethnic Arab and ethnic African Chadians.

Chad and Sudan accuse each other of backing and harbouring rebels.

Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of a $4bn pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast. The government has moved to relax a law controlling the use of oil money, which the World Bank had made a condition of its $39m loan.

Facts

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• Full name:The Republic of Chad
• Population: 10.8 million (UN, 2007)
• Capital: N'Djamena
• Area: 1.28 million sq km (495,800 sq miles)
• Major languages: French, Arabic
• Major religions: Islam, Christianity
• Life expectancy: 49 years (men), 52 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
• Main exports: Cotton, oil, livestock, textiles
• GNI per capita: US $400 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .td
• International dialling code: +235

Leaders

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President: Idriss Deby

President Deby: Inaugurated multi-party constitution

Idriss Deby, a former coup leader, won a third term in presidential elections in May 2006, gaining 77.5% of the vote.

The main opposition parties, who accused the president of corruption and refused to field any candidates, rejected the result. Polling went ahead despite a rebel assault on the capital three weeks before election day.

The president has also been beset by splits within his Zaghawa ethnic group and by defections and desertions in the military.

He was almost toppled in April 2006, when rebels attacked the capital.

Rebels again stormed the capital in February, but they were beaten back by government forces backed by French warplanes and troops offering logistics, intelligence and protection.

Idriss Deby was born in Fada, in north-east Chad, in 1952. A career army officer, he helped Hissen Habre topple Goukouki Oueddei in 1982.

In 1989 he fled to Sudan after being accused of plotting a coup. A year later his Patriotic Salvation Movement drove Mr Habre into exile and in 1991 Mr Deby was proclaimed president.

He won Chad's first post-independence presidential election in 1996 after overseeing the introduction of a multi-party constitution. He was re-elected in 2001.

In 2005 voters supported constitutional changes allowing Deby to stand for a third term.

Media

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Radio is the main means of mass communication, but state control of the broadcast media allows few dissenting views.

State-run Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne operates national and regional radio stations. Around a dozen private radio stations are on the air, despite high licensing fees. Some of them are run by non-profit groups. These broadcasters are subject to close official scrutiny.

The only television station, Teletchad, is state-owned and its coverage favours the government.

Private newspapers critical of the government circulate freely in the capital, N'Djamena, but have little impact among the largely rural and illiterate population.

The press

• Le Progres - daily
• N'Djamena Hebdo - private weekly
• L'Observateur - private weekly
• Le Temps - private weekly
• Notre Temps - private weekly

Television

• Teletchad - state-owned

Radio

• Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne (RNT) - state-owned
• FM Liberte - private, owned by a group of human rights organisations
• La Voix du Paysan - Catholic station
• Radio Arc-en-ciel - Catholic station
• Dja FM - Chad's first private radio station
• Al-Nassr - private