Chad faces a variety of complex and interrelated challenges. A rapid increase in the production of oil over the last decade has increased the potential for export earnings, but there are disagreements over how new income should be spent. There has been significant violence between government and anti-government forces based in different parts of the country, including in the north, where there are also frequent clashes between farmers and nomads over land use rights and access to water. And Chad has also had to deal with hundreds of thousands of refugees from the conflicts in neighbouring Sudan and the Central African Republic, putting further strain on one of the world’s poorest countries.

In 2008, the UN despatched a peacekeeping force to protect refugees in Eastern Chad, who had first arrived in 2004 after fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan. Violence in the region has led to serious diplomatic disputes, although the Chad-Sudan border reopened in 2010 after being closed for seven years. Former president Hissene Habré is on trial in Senegal, accused of war crimes in the 1980s.

The Chadian army has contributed troops to several peacekeeping missions, and pledged military support to help combat Boko Haram.