Country Profiles: Chad

Chad is located in Africa.

Chad, part of France's African holdings until 1960, endured three decades of civil warfare as well as invasions by Libya before a semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990. The government eventually drafted a democratic constitution and held flawed presidential elections in 1996 and 2001. In 1998, a rebellion broke out in northern Chad, which has sporadically flared up despite several peace agreements between the government and the rebels. In 2005, new rebel groups emerged in western Sudan and made probing attacks into eastern Chad despite signing peace agreements in December 2006 and October 2007. In June 2005, President Idriss DEBY held a referendum successfully removing constitutional term limits and won another controversial election in 2006. Sporadic rebel campaigns continued throughout 2006 and 2007. The capital experienced a significant rebel threat in early 2008, but has had no significant rebel threats since then, in part due to Chad's 2010 rapprochement with Sudan, which previously used Chadian rebels as proxies. DEBY in 2011 was reelected to his fourth term in an election that international observers described as proceeding without incident. Power remains in the hands of an ethnic minority.
CIA World Factbook

With an area of 1.284 million sq km, it is slightly more than three times the size of the U.S. state of California.

Chad shares a border with Cameroon, Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan. It is mostly broad, arid plains in center, desert in north, mountains in northwest, and lowlands in south.

People who live in Chad are called Chadians, which is also an adjective used to describe something from this country. As of July 2012, there are 10,975,648 people in Chad. The ethnic groups that reside in Chad are Sara (27.7%), Arab (12.3%), Mayo-Kebbi (11.5%), Kanem-Bornou (9%), Ouaddai (8.7%), Hadjarai (6.7%), Tandjile (6.5%), Gorane (6.3%), and Fitri-Batha (4.7%). French and Arabic are the official languages, but Sara is also spoken in the south, and more than 120 different languages and dialects are spoken there. Muslims make up 53.1% of the population, Catholics (20.1%), Protestants (14.2%), animist (7.3%), and atheist (3.1%) make up the rest.

The country's official name is the Republic of Chad, locally known as Republique du Tchad or Jumhuriyat Tshad. The capital is N'Djamena, and the country is made up of 22 regions. Though Chad gained independence from France on August 11, 1960, a constitution was not passed until March 31, 1996. The constitution can be found here through Constitution Finder. The current president is Idriss Deby Itno; the current prime minister is Emmanuel Nadingar. Information about the leaders of Chad's government can be found here. The currency is the Cooperation Financiere en Afrique Centrale francs (abbreviated XAF), which stands at 471.87 XAF per USD as of 2011.

All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...

Chad, CIA World Factbook

Background Notes: Chad, U.S. Department of State

2011 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Chad, U.S. Department of State.

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