CHAD



Republic of Chad

République du Tchad

CAPITAL : N'Djamena (formerly Fort-Lamy)

FLAG: The flag is a tricolor of blue, yellow, and red vertical stripes.

ANTHEM: La Tchadienne begins "Peuple Tchadien, debout et à l'ouvrage!" ("People of Chad, stand up and set to work!").

MONETARY UNIT: The Communauté Financière Africaine franc (CFA Fr), which was originally pegged to the French franc, has been pegged to the euro since January 1999 with a rate of 655.957 CFA francs to 1 euro. The CFA franc is issued in coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 500 CFA francs and notes of 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 CFA francs. CFA Fr1 = $0.00167 (or $1 = CFA Fr597.577) as of May 2003.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; National Holiday, 11 January; Labor Day, 1 May; African Independence Day, 25 May; Independence Day, 11 August; Assumption, 15 August; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Proclamation of the Republic, 28 November; Christmas, 25 December. Movable religious holidays include 'Id al-Fitr, 'Id al-'Adha', Milad an-Nabi, Easter Monday, Ascension, and Pentecost Monday.

TIME: 1 PM = noon GMT.


LANGUAGES

More than 120 languages and dialects are spoken by the different ethnic groups, but Arabic is commonly spoken in the north and Sara and Sango languages in the south. French and Arabic are the official languages.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Chad is divided into 28 departments and 98 sub-prefectures, in addition to the city of N'Djamena. In many areas, the traditional chief still retains power as the head of his people.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Chad was admitted to UN membership on 20 September 1960 and is a member of ECA and all the nonregional specialized agencies except IAEA and IMO. It is also a member of the African Development Bank, G-77, and African Union. It is a signatory to the Law of the Sea and a member of the WTO. Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Nigeria are members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, formed in 1964.

FISHING

Fish, either fresh or dried, forms an important element in the diet of the people living in the major valleys. The catch from the Chari and Logone rivers and the Chad Basin was approximately 84,000 tons in 2000. Production is far below potential.

FORESTRY

Chad has wooded areas covering more than 25% of its land area but no real forests. The only exportable forest product is gum arabic, the yield of which has averaged 300 to 400 tons a year. Roundwood removals were estimated at 6.6 million cu m (233 million cu ft) in 2000, 89% for fuel. Acacia trees were extensively planted in 1978.

INSURANCE

In 1986, there were three local companies and about a dozen French companies providing insurance in Chad. The domestic insurance companies operating in 1999 included Societe Mutuelle d'Assurances des Cadres (SMAC), Faugere and Jutheau (les Assureurs Conseils Tchadiens), and Star Nationale.

HOUSING

Forty thousand buildings and homes were destroyed during the civil war. According to the latest available figures, the total housing stock numbered 700,000, with 7.2 people per dwelling. In 2000, about 27% of the population had access to improved water systems and only 29% had access to improved sanitation systems.

DEPENDENCIES

Chad has no territories or colonies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Azevedo, Mario Joaquim. Chad: A Nation in Search of Its Future. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1998.

——. Roots of Violence: A History of War in Chad. Australia: Gordon and Breach, 1998.

Bigman, Laura. History and Hunger in West Africa: Food Production and Entitlement in Guinea–Bissau and Cape Verde. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1993.

Burr, Millard. Africa's Thirty Years War: Libya, Chad, and the Sudan, 1963–1993. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999.

Collelo, Thomas, (ed.). Chad: A Country Study. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1990.

Decalo, Samuel. Historical Dictionary of Chad. 3rd ed. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1997.

——. Historical Dictionary of Chad. [computer file] Boulder, Colo.: netLibrary, Inc., 2000.

Dun and Bradstreet's Export Guide to Chad. Parsippany, N.J.: Dun and Bradstreet, 1999.

Nolutshungu, Sam C. Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in Chad. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996.

Also read article about Chad from Wikipedia

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mariam
what is current political situation in chad?
what are the important festivals in chad? please send me answer

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