about chad

official name: Republic of Chad (R�publique du Tchad)
capital: N'Djamena
head of state: President Lt. Gen. Idriss Deby
state: multi-party democracy
population: 9,826,419
independence: from France in 1960
languages: French (official), Arabic (official) Sara and Sango plus over 100 other languages and dialects
religion: Traditional (animistic) African 25%, Christian 25%, Muslim 50%
currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF)
media: NA

legal wise

status of homosexuality: legal (male and female)
age of consent: 18
laws covering homosexual activity: Has no sodomy laws and homosexuality is not mentioned as a criminal offense.

background information and government attitudes:
The area around Lake Chad has been inhabited since at least 500 B.C. In the 8th century A.D. Berbers began migrating to the area. Islam arrived in 1085, and by the 16th century a trio of rival kingdoms flourished: the Kanem-Bornu, Baguirmi, and Ouadda�. In 1883�1893, all three kingdoms came under the rule of the Sudanese conqueror Rabih al-Zubayr. In 1900, Rabih was overthrown by the French, who absorbed these kingdoms into the colony of French Equatorial Africa, as part of Ubangi-Shari (now the Central African Republic), in 1913. In 1946, the territory, now known as Chad, became an autonomous republic within the French Community. An independence movement led by the first premier and president, Fran�ois (later Ngarta) Tombalbaye, achieved complete independence on Aug. 11, 1960. Tombalbaye was killed in the 1975 coup and succeeded by Gen. F�lix Malloum, who faced a Libyan-financed civil war throughout his tenure in office. In 1977, Libya seized a strip of Chadian land and launched an invasion two years later.

Nine rival groups meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, in March 1979 agreed to form a provisional government headed by Goukouni Oueddei, a former rebel leader. Fighting broke out again in Chad in March 1980, when Defense Minister Hissen Habr� challenged Goukouni and seized the capital. Libyan president Muammar al-Qaddafi, in Jan. 1981, proposed a merger of Chad with Libya. The Libyan proposal was rejected and Libyan troops withdrew from Chad that year, but in 1983 they poured back into the northern part of the country in support of Goukouni. France, in turn, sent troops into southern Chad in support of Habr�. Government troops then launched an offensive in early 1987 that drove the Libyans out of most of the country.

In 1990, Idriss D�by, a former defense minister and head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement, overthrew Habr�, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the legislature. In 1994 a new constitution was drafted and an amnesty for political prisoners was declared. D�by won multiparty elections in 1996 and was reelected in 2001. His rule has been marked by repression and corruption. D�by has faced about a half-dozen insurgencies since taking office.

In June 2000 the World Bank agreed to provide more than $200 million to build a $3.7-billion pipeline connecting the oil fields in Chad to those in Cameroon. Oil revenues are estimated to earn $2.5 billion over the next 30 years. Human rights groups are concerned they will only benefit the oil companies and the political elite in Cameroon and Chad. The World Bank, however, has forced Chad to agree to spend 80% of the resulting oil revenues on education, health, infrastructure, and other social welfare projects desperately needed by this impoverished country. In Nov. 2004, Chad received its first oil check. In the next 25 years Chad is expected to make $80 million per year, increasing the government treasury by 50%.

In 2004, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Chad to escape the fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, where they face hunger and disease in desperately undersupplied refugee camps.

In 2005, more than 77% of voters approved a referendum that would allow President D�by to run for a third term.

communication

main lines in use: 11,800 (2002)
cellular telephones: 65,000 (2003).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 4, shortwave 5 (2002).
Television broadcast stations: 1 (2002).
Internet hosts: 8 (2004).
Internet users: 15,000 (2002).

links and contacts
NA

hiv/aids and homosexuality in chad - case of man who have sex with men in prison