Chad

A country stretched between the Sahara and the Sahel that has been at war with itself for most of its independence. The Kanem-Bornu empire ruled around Lake Chad for a thousand years, one of the longest-lasting states in African history, trading across the desert and converting to Islam in the eleventh century. France conquered the region late and administered it as the least valued part of French Equatorial Africa, investing almost nothing and recruiting soldiers. Independence came in 1960, and the north-south division - Muslim and largely pastoral in the north, Christian and animist farming in the south, with the state initially in southern hands - produced rebellion within six years. Libya occupied the northern Aouzou strip and the Toyota War of 1987 saw Chadian forces in pickup trucks defeat a mechanised Libyan army, one of the more remarkable asymmetric victories on record. Hissene Habre's rule killed tens of thousands and he was convicted of crimes against humanity in Senegal in 2016, the first African leader tried by another African country. Idriss Deby ruled from 1990 until killed at the front in 2021, and his son succeeded him. Lake Chad has lost most of its surface area since the 1960s. Ndjamena is the capital. The country has about eighteen million people and is the fifth largest in Africa. French and Arabic are both official, with over a hundred languages spoken. The Ennedi massif and the Lakes of Ounianga are World Heritage sites. Chad is landlocked and among the hottest countries in the world. Oil exports began in 2003 through a pipeline to Cameroon.

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