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| Country | Chad | | | Flag |  | | | Capital | name: N'Djamena geographic coordinates: 12 07 N, 15 03 E time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) | | | Population | 9,885,661 (July 2007 est.) | | | GMT | +1 | | | Location | Central Africa, south of Libya
see map | | | Area | total: 1.284 million sq km land: 1,259,200 sq km water: 24,800 sq km | | | Ethnic groups | Sara 27.7%, Arab 12.3%, Mayo-Kebbi 11.5%, Kanem-Bornou 9%, Ouaddai 8.7%, Hadjarai 6.7%, Tandjile 6.5%, Gorane 6.3%, Fitri-Batha 4.7%, other 6.4%, unknown 0.3% (1993 census) | | | Religions | Muslim 53.1%, Catholic 20.1%, Protestant 14.2%, animist 7.3%, other 0.5%, unknown 1.7%, atheist 3.1% (1993 census) | | | Languages | French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects | | | Government type | republic | | | National holiday | Independence Day, 11 August (1960) | | | Constitution | passed by referendum 31 March 1996; a June 2005 referendum removed constitutional term limits | | | Legal system | based on French civil law system and Chadian customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | | | Background | Chad, part of France's African holdings until 1960, endured three decades of civil warfare as well as invasions by Libya before a semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990. The government eventually drafted a democratic constitution, and held flawed presidential elections in 1996 and 2001. In 1998, a rebellion broke out in northern Chad, which sporadically flares up despite several peace agreements between the government and the rebels. In 2005 new rebel groups emerged in western Sudan and have made probing attacks into eastern Chad. Power remains in the hands of an ethnic minority. In June 2005, President Idriss DEBY held a referendum successfully removing constitutional term limits. | | Internet country code | .td | |
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