World Country Chad

About the world country Chad, its location, size, population, and who is in power.

NATIONS OF THE WORLD

CHAD

Location: Landlocked in central Africa, south of Libya. Size: 495,753 sq. mi. (1,284,000 sq. km.). Population: 4,787,000.

Who Really Rules: Chad alternates between periods of internal warfare and "national unity" government. Political factions are communally based among the 240 tribes from 12 major ethnic groups. Black tribes in the agricultural south ran the country following independence from France, but the nomadic and seminomadic peoples of the Muslim north have been more successful militarily.

In December, 1980, troops from Libya, which occupies a stretch of Chadian border territory believed to contain uranium, aided the winning faction in Chad's civil war. The following month, Libyan officials announced a merger between the two countries.