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02 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

FACTBOX: Chad

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Here are some key facts about Chad:

* Stretching from mountains in the desert north to fertile lowlands in the south, Chad was a crossroads for trans-Saharan trade but its economic development after independence from France in 1960 was stymied by recurring conflicts.

* Chad's 9.5 million people are 50 percent Muslim, with 35 percent Christian and the rest animist. They get by on an average $240 a year and can expect to live just 48 years.

* Chad started pumping oil from its $4 billion Doba project in 2003. An international committee, including the World Bank, is monitoring how Chad spends revenues from the project, which includes a 1,000 km (620 mile) pipeline to the Gulf of Guinea.

* Current President Idriss Deby ousted dictator Hissene Habre in 1990 after invading from Sudan. He won elections in 1996 and 2001 and has been cleared to run again in 2006.

* Around 200,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region flooded into eastern Chad in 2004, straining resources among poor populations there.

* The war in Darfur has also soured relations with Sudan. Deby is a member of the Zaghawa tribe whose members live on both sides of the border and are among rebels fighting against Khartoum. Chad has also accused Sudan of supporting some 3,000 Chadian rebels on its territory.

* Deby has also had a tense relationship with his own army. In May 2004, he said soldiers who attempted a short-lived mutiny had planned to assassinate him because they were angry at a crackdown on corruption in the armed forces.

* Cotton is Chad's main export. Livestock production is a major employer and sorghum, millet and grounduts are also produced.

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