GEOGRAPHY

Chad is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges. Apart from the fertile lowlands in the south, the country is arid in the centre and largely desert in the mountainous north. The population is concentrated in the south. Chad has borders with Libya, Niger, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Sudan.

HISTORY

Chad, formerly part of France's Central African colonial administration, became independent on 11 August 1960, although a large part of the north of the country remained under French military administration until 1964. Francois Tombalbaye, the leader of the PPT party, became President. He declared single party rule in 1963. In 1965 the National Front for the Liberation of Chad (FRONILAT), started a rebellion in the north and the east of the country claiming that the government was run solely in the interests of southerners. This set a persistent pattern in the country's politics of armed rebellions based on claims of ethno-regional bias in central government. At no time has the government in N'Djamena proven able to control the whole of the country's territory, in the face of a constant proliferation of armed insurgencies. In 1975 Tombalbaye was killed in an army coup led by General Felix Malloum, who assumed the Presidency. During the late 1970s and 1980s, Chad sought assistance from France to counter the FRONILAT insurgency, part of which was backed by Libya, who had effectively annexed the Aouzou strip in the far north of the country.

In 1978 Malloum attempted to diffuse the rebellion in the north by inviting the leader of an anti-Libyan FRONILAT faction, Hissene Habre, into the government. A three year period of chronic instability ensued, as the different armed factions making up the government constantly clashed. Military interventions, first by Libya and then by a peacekeeping mission from the Organisation for African Unity, were incapable of bringing stability. In June 1982 Habre's armed group took over N'djamena, effectively settling the prolonged battle for the control of the capital and for the Presidency. However, the armed dispute with Libya over the sovereignty of the Aouzou strip continued.

POLITICS

Political negotiations over constitutional arrangements were cut short in 1989 when one of Habre's former security chiefs Idriss Deby launched a rebellion from the Darfur region of Sudan. He overthrew Habre in November 1990. A national conference was eventually convened in January 1993, but a new constitution was not approved until 1996. It was followed in the same year by presidential and multi-party legislative elections. Deby was confirmed as President, amid opposition claims of fraud.

In 1994, the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of Chad in the dispute with Libya over the Aouzou strip. Libyan withdrawal began shortly after. In June 1997 however a new rebellion emerged in the North - the Movement for Justice and Democracy in Chad (MDJT), led by former Defence Minister Youssof Togomini. Despite at times deploying thousands of troops, the Chadian government has been unable to defeat it, although there have been periodic peace agreements. In September 2002 Togomini was killed, but the MDJT continues to control large parts of the north of the country.

Further presidential and legislative elections took place in 2001 and 2002 respectively (both for five year terms). Amid many claims of fraud, Deby was re-elected and his party (the MPS) and its allies strengthened their position in parliament. In June 2005 an amendment was successfully passed by referendum to repeal the constitutional provision limiting the presidential mandate to two terms. Idriss Deby sucessfully stood for a third term as president in elections on May 3 2006. The elections were boycotted by the main opposition parties. This election occurred in the midst of continued instability and violence in the east and south-east of the country, which is linked to instability in neighbouring Darfur (Sudan). In April 2006 rebels reached the capital N’Djamena, but were replused by loyalist forces. Instability has continued in the east of the country in 2007, including a significant conflagration in late November. An EU force of around 4,000 troops has now been agreed on by all parties and deployment is scheduled for early 2008. It will protect humanitarian workers, including those in the proposed UN mission, which should also deploy in early 2008.

BBC News - Africa

HUMAN RIGHTS

Chad has a poor human rights record, although the situation has improved since the end of Hissein Habre's regime. In November 2004, a de-facto moratorium on judicial executions was ended. Four individuals were executed for murder, despite the fact the appeal procedure had not been completed. The use of judicial measures against the press is another area of concern. For example, two journalists were given prison sentences in July 2005, one for criticising the recent constitutional modification. Harassment of the media continues, according to reports from human rights groups. There have also been reports of human rights abuse on all sides in the conflict in the east, including the recruitment of child soldiers.

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

ECONOMY

Basic Economic Facts

GDP: US$6.55 billion (2006 est.)
Annual Growth: 1.3% (2006 est.)
Inflation: 7.9% (2006 est)
Major economic sectors: Oil, Cotton, Livestock
Major trade partners: European Union, Nigeria, United States
Exchange rate: 1 Euro = CFA 655.957 (fixed)

Chad is experiencing an unprecedented oil boom, leading to an exponential growth rate – around 30% in 2004. Recently revised World Bank estimates put reserves as high as 2Bn Barrels. The fields in the southern Doba basin came on stream only in 2003 but output is now at 180,000 barrels a day, which is expected to be its peak, unless substantial new reserves are found and brought on stream. . The fields are being developed by a consortium led by ExxonMobil.

Under the impulsion of the World Bank, a partner in the creation of the oil pipeline between Doba and Kribi (in Cameroon), a special arrangement was established in 2003 to manage oil revenues. Under this plan, which was voted into Chadian law, 10% of direct revenues are put in a “future generations” account to be used when oil revenue declines. Of the remaining 90%, the majority is to go to a stabilisation account, which was only to be used for spending in “priority sectors” - principally health and education. However, In December 2005 the parliament passed a law which allows for significant sums from the future generations account to be transferred back to the government, and for the definition of priority sectors to be widened to include the security sector and local administration. This change in the law caused a rift with the World Bank, and further negotiations in the summer of 2006 were necessary to repair relations.

The Cotton sector, the traditional backbone of the economy before oil, still employs up to 300,000 Chadians. But the parastatal responsible for developing and marketing the crop has significant deficits and management problems.

World Bank

IMF Country Reports - Chad

DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AID

Chad is an extremely poor, landlocked country, facing serious problems of desertification, droughts and hunger. Conflict has added to the problem, creating 120,000 IDPs, according to the UNHCR. Socio-economic indicators are extremely poor. Chad is ranked 171 out of 177 countries in the UNDP's 2006 Human Development Index, which represents a decline in recent years despite the oil boom. The IMF approved a new three year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility loan of 38M$ in February 2005. This followed a period of poor relations with the IMF, which resulted in delays in the funding disbursements in 2004. IMF funding is in any case set to decline as Chad's oil revenues rise. The UK does not have a bilateral assistance programme, but has provided some humanitarian aid via NGOs and UN agencies.

United Nations Development Programme

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

After two and a half decades of tension related to the border dispute and to Libyan support for Chadian dissidents, relations with the Libyan regime have improved since the late 1990s, despite suspicions that Ghadafi continues to support the MDJT (see above). Chad was a founding member of the Libyan backed organisation COMESSA (now called CENSAD) formed in 1997. Chad's relations with its neighbour to the South, the Central African Republic, have improved since General (now President) Bozize took power in Bangui in 2003, using Chad as a rear base.

Relations with Sudan are complex. Frequent agreements not to support rebels in each others’ countries have not held. The result is ongoing rebel activity on both sides of the border. Around 220,000 refugees from Darfur and a further 120,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) are now present in Chad, according to UNHCR. It is widely believed that Deby is under pressure from his own Zagahwa ethnic group to support the largely Zagahwa rebellion in Darfur. However, he is reluctant to do so as he fears that losing Sudanese support would compromise the security of his regime.

Chad has generally looked to France as its main ally in international affairs. France considers Chad an important part of its Africa policy, not least due to the presence of a French military base near N'djamena, which hosts the "Epervier" operation established in 1986 to attempt to control northern Chad and counter Libyan incursions. While relations were strained at times in the 1990s, France and the Chadian government are now close. Chad is a member of the Franc Zone and a founding member of the French backed regional body CEMAC. In 2003 and 2004 the Chadian army participated in American led operations against insurgents from Algeria who had entered Chad from Niger, as part of the "Pan-Sahel Initiative".

Investir en zone franc

African Union

Chad's Relations with the UK

The UK is represented in Chad via its High Commission in Yaounde, Cameroon. The UK has no major commercial or political links with Chad, although Chad's oil sector offers new commercial opportunities.

UK representation in Chad
Chadian representation in the UK

UK exports in goods to Chad were worth £3.06 million in 2006 (down from 4.94 in 2005) and Chadian exports to the UK over the same period were worth £ 0.24 million (down from 0.36 in 2005).

UK Trade & Investment Country Profile: Chad

TRAVEL

Last reviewed: 18 December 2007