Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is an independent state at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. The landlocked country is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. With a total area of around 1,284,000 km2 (496,000 sq mi), Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the twentieth largest nation by area in the world.
Hissène Habré, also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990.
Idriss Déby Itno was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the 6th president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the Northern Chad offensive. His term of office of more than 30 years makes him Chad's longest-serving president.
Moussa Faki Mahamat is a Chadian politician and diplomat who has been the elected Chairperson of the African Union Commission since 14 March 2017. Previously he was Prime Minister of Chad from 24 June 2003 to 4 February 2005 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2008 to January 2017. Faki, a member of the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), belongs to the Zaghawa ethnic group, the same group as the late President Idriss Déby.
The Chad–Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project was a controversial project to develop the production capacity of oilfields near Doba in southern Chad, and to create 1,070-kilometre (660 mi) pipeline to transport the oil to a floating storage and offloading vessel, anchored off the coast of Cameroon, near the city of Kribi.
The Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme or Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights is a human rights organization operating in Chad. According to group co-founder Delphine Djiraibe, following the rebellion by Idriss Déby that overthrew the dictatorship of Hissène Habré in 1990, she and several colleagues returned to Chad from abroad and saw widespread starvation and poverty among the people. The event motivated them to found the ATDPH to prevent similar suffering in the future.
The Hadjarai are a group of peoples comprising 6.7% of the population of Chad, or more than 150,000 people. The name is an Arabic exonym, literally meaning "[those] of the stones". It is used collectively to describe several distinct ethnic groups living in the hilly Guéra Region.
General Mahamat Nouri is a Chadian insurgent leader who currently commands the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD). A Muslim from northern Chad, he began his career as a FROLINAT rebel, and when the group's Second Army split in 1976 he sided with his kinsman Hissène Habré. As Habré's associate he obtained in 1978 the first of the many ministerial positions in his career, becoming Interior Minister in a coalition government. When Habré reached the presidency in 1982, Nouri was by his side and played an important role in the regime.
Chad achieved independence in 1960. At the time, it had no armed forces under its own flag. Since World War I, however, southern Chad, particularly the Sara ethnic group, had provided a large share of the Africans in the French army. Chadian troops also had contributed significantly to the success of the Free French Forces in World War II. In December 1940, two African battalions began the Free French military campaign against Italian forces in Libya from a base in Chad, and at the end of 1941, a force under Colonel Jacques Leclerc participated in a spectacular campaign that seized the entire Fezzan region of southern Libya. Colonel Leclerc's 3,200-man force included 2,700 Africans, the great majority of them southerners from Chad. These troops went on to contribute to the Allied victory in Tunisia. Chadians, in general, were proud of their soldiers' role in the efforts to liberate France and in the international conflict.
The following details notable events from the year 2008 in Chad. Chad is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west.
Chad is a country in Africa bordering Libya. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the main intelligence agency of the United States of America. The CIA was active in Chad in the 1980s, due to what the US perceived as a strategic interest in limiting the power of its opponent Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled Libya since 1969.
Acheikh Ibn-Oumar is a Chadian politician and military leader. In the 1980s he led the Democratic Revolutionary Council, a military-political group opposing the government of President Hissène Habré. He studied mathematics in France, and then, in the late 70's, joined the historical Chadian revolutionary mouvement FROLINAT . He held several cabinet positions within the GUNT, led by Goukouni Weddeye . In November 1984, Acheikh Ibn-Oumar was arrested in Tripoli and then transferred to Tibesti where he remained in detention until December 1985, because of serious divergences with both late Colonel Gaddafi and Goukouni. After a short-lived reconciliation with Goukouni, in 1986, Acheikh Ibn-Oumar and the CDR withdrew support for Goukouni Oueddei, leaving Goukouni isolated. Libya switched support from Goukouni to Ibn-Oumar, backing Ibn-Oumar's forces as they took Ennedi in northern Chad, and sending aircraft and tanks to help Ibn-Oumar defend against a counter-attack by Toubou forces loyal to Goukouni. In mid-November 1986, supported by Libya, Ibn-Oumar became president of a newly constituted GUNT, consisting of seven of the original eleven factions. In 1987 Ibn-Oumar's militia was driven into Darfur by French and Chadian forces, fighting the Fur people there. In defeat Acheikh Ibn Oumar distributed 1,500 automatic weapons to his Arab allies in Chad and "across the international boundary in Darfur."
Jacqueline Moudeina is a Chadian lawyer and human rights activist, who is known for her work in bringing Hissène Habré to justice for crimes against humanity, as well as those who worked with him.
Reed Brody is a Hungarian-American human rights lawyer and prosecutor. He specializes in helping victims pursue abusive leaders for atrocities, and has gained fame as the "Dictator Hunter". He was counsel for the victims in the case of the exiled former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré – who was convicted of crimes against humanity in Senegal – and has worked with the victims of Augusto Pinochet and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. He currently works with victims of the former dictator of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh. He is author of several books including To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré.
The Commission of Inquiry into the Crimes and Misappropriations Committed by Ex-President Habré, His Accomplices and/or Accessories was established on December 29, 1990, by the President of Chad, Idriss Déby. Its goal was to investigate the "illegal detentions, assassinations, disappearances, torture, mistreatment, other attacks on the physical and mental integrity of persons; plus all violations of human rights, illicit narcotics trafficking and embezzlement of state funds between 1982 and 1990", when former President Hissène Habré was in power.
Chad maintains sizable reserves of crude oil which, alongside agriculture, makes up the largest share of the landlocked former French colony's export revenue. Producing around 100,000 barrels of oil a day, most of Chad's crude comes from its reserves in the Doba Basin in southern Chad where oil was discovered in the early 1970s by foreign drillers. There is an estimated one billion barrels of oil in Chad, most of it being exploited by hundreds of rigs operated by Western companies such as Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell. However, many challenges exist to Chad's petroleum industry including but not limited to corruption, internal conflict, and geography. Since Chad is landlocked, most of Chad's oil exports are transported out of the country by a pipeline that leads to the Cameroonian port city of Kribi. This pipeline, owned by a consortium, has come under fire due to allegations of exploitation by international corruption watchdogs, and Chadian politicians. In addition, environmentalists have voiced their concerns over the pipeline's impact on the natural environment, citing several spills.
Sy Koumbo Singa Gali is a Chadian journalist and human rights activist. She joined the Chadian Ministry of Information in 1982 and remained there until 1990. Gali then worked for Jean Alingué Bawoyeu, the Chadian Prime Minister between 1991 and 1993 before becoming a journalist. She established the newspaper L’Observateur in early 1997. Gali has twice served prison sentences for her work. She worked for the United Nations as a volunteer and served as a public information officer for its peace keeping UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called MONUSCO in 2007.
Events in the year 2011 in Chad.
Events in the year 2012 in Chad.
