Chad, French Tchad, republic (495,752 sq mi/1,283,998 sq km; 1993 population 6,288,261; 2004 estimated population 9,538,544); (cap.) N’djamena, N central Africa. The official language is French.
Geography
Bordered by the Central African Republic (S), Sudan (E), Libya (N), and Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria (W). Chad is one of the poorest nations in Africa. The terrain in the S is wooded savanna; it becomes brush country near Lake Chad. The only important rivers are the Chari River and the Logone River, both of which flow into Lake Chad and are used for irrigation and seasonal navigation. N Chad is part of the Sahara desert; areas of the mountainous Tibesti region there are 11,000 ft/3,353 m high.
Population
French and Arabic are the official languages, but it is estimated that 200 languages and dialects are spoken throughout Chad. The country comprises two distinct, and often hostile, population groupings. In the politically dominant S, where the bulk of the population is concentrated, live sedentary agricultural peoples, including the Sara, Massa, Ngambaye, and Moudang; most are Christians, but some follow traditional religions. In the N are seminomadic and nomadic Muslim peoples, including Arabs and Gouranes.
Economy
The economy is based primarily on sedentary subsistence agriculture and nomadic pastoralism. The best farming zone is in the S, where rainfall is sufficient for the cultivation of cotton and groundnuts (the country’s leading cash crops) as well as some cattle and fish for export and some subsistence crops, including millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, and yams. During drought periods Chad requires food aid to meet necessary levels. Natron is the country’s chief mineral; tungsten has been found in the arid Tibesti region. Petroleum was discovered around Lake Chad in 1970 and in the S in 1974; but little production takes place. Industry is limited to food processing and the production of textiles and light consumer goods. The country has no railroads and few all-weather roads, although funds from the World Bank have been put toward the development of the road system. Its landlocked position, great distance from the coast, poor transportation network, and inadequate natural resources have severely hampered economic development. Chad is an ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) member of the EU.
History to 1900
Traditionally, the region around Lake Chad was a focal point for trans-Saharan trade routes. Arab traders penetrated the area in the 7th century. Shortly thereafter, nomads from N Africa, probably related to the Toubou, entered the region; they eventually established the state of Kanem, which reached its zenith in the 13th century. Its kings converted to Islam, the religion also practiced by the successor state of Bornu. The Wadai and Bagirmi empires arose in the 16th century; they warred with Bornu and in the 18th century surpassed it in power. By the early 1890s all of these states, weakened by internal dissension, fell under the control of the Sudanese conqueror Rabah el Zobaír. French expeditions advanced into the region in 1890, and French sovereignty over Chad was recognized by agreements among the European powers.
History 1900 to 1986
In 1900, French forces defeated Rabah’s army, and by 1913 the conquest of Chad was completed; it was organized as a French colony in French Equatorial Africa and remained under military rule. S Chad was later linked administratively with Ubangi-Chari (now the Central African Republic), but in 1946 it again became a separate colony with its was own territorial legislature. In the French constitutional referendum of 1958, Chad chose autonomy within the French Community. Full independence was attained on August 11, 1960, with Ngarta Tombalbaye as the first president. Tombalbaye steadily strengthened his control over the country, and by 1962 it had become a one-party state. Chad suffered severely from the W African drought that began in the late 1960s and continued unabated into the 1970s. Chad has suffered from civil or external war almost from independence. Discontent among N Muslim tribes with the increasing power of Tombalbaye’s government evolved into a full-scale guerrilla war in 1966. Invoking its defense pact with France, the government of Chad requested French troops to help battle the guerrillas. These troops were withdrawn in 1971. The revolt had been carried out by the Chad National Liberation Front (FROLINAT), which figured prominently in fighting between Chad and Libya throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, Libya occupied various parts of Chad and supplied FROLINAT (which initially did not oppose Libyan expansionism) with arms.
History 1986 to Present
In 1986, the FROLINAT faction led by Gonkouni Oueddei signed an alliance with the Chadian government (and with French and U.S. military aid), began to fight Libya. By mid-1987 President Hissène Habré’s forces had driven Libya from the entire N region with the exception of the uranium-rich Aouzou Strip (which Libya annexed in 1973 and which Chad claims) and parts of Tibesti. The strip runs along the border from Niger in the W to the Sudan, and is 43,000 sq mi/114,000 sq km in area. Diplomatic relations between Chad and Libya improved in 1989 as the two nations sought a resolution to the dispute over the Aouzou Strip from which Libya withdrew in 1994 after the International Court of Justice awarded the Strip to Chad in 1993. In 1990, Idriss Deby, leader of the Patriotic Salvation Movement, overthrew the pro-Western government and promised democratic reforms, a new constitution, and free elections. A new constitution was adopted on March 31, 1996. Presidential elections took place in June and July 1996 with fifteen candidates in the first round, followed by legislative elections in January and March 1997 with the participation of twenty-one of the sixty-five political parties. In 1998, rebellion broke out in N Chad, which sporadically flares up despite two peace agreements signed in 2001 and 2003. Chad is divided into fourteen prefectures: Batha, Biltine, Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, Chari-Baguirmi, Guéra, Kanem, Lac, Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, Mayo-Kébbi, Moyen-Chari, Ouaddaí, Salamat, and Tandjilé.
Government
President Lt. General Idriss Deby is still chief of state (since December 1990) with Prime Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat head of government (since July 2003).
