However, Africa's fifth-largest nation suffers from inadequate infrastructure and internal conflict. Poverty is rife, and health and social conditions compare unfavourably with those elsewhere in the region.

Chad's post-independence history has been marked by instability and violence stemming mostly from tension between the mainly Arab-Muslim north and the predominantly Christian and animist south.

Mr Malloum, too, failed to end the war, and in 1979 he was replaced by a Libyan-backed northerner, Goukouki Oueddei. But the fighting continued, this time with a former defence minister, Hissen Habre, on the opposite side.

In 1982, with French help, Mr Habre captured the capital, N'Djamena, and Mr Oueddei escaped to the north, where he formed a rival government. The standoff ended in 1990, when Mr Habre was toppled by the Libyan-backed Idriss Deby.

By the mid-1990s the situation had stabilised and in 1996 Mr Deby was confirmed president in Chad's first election.

In 1998 an armed insurgency began in the north, led by President Deby's former defence chief, Youssouf Togoimi. A Libyan-brokered peace deal in 2002 failed to put an end to the fighting.

From 2003 unrest in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region spilled across the border, along with hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees. They have been joined by thousands of Chadians who are fleeing rebel fighting as well as violence between ethnic Arab and ethnic African Chadians.

Chad and Sudan accuse each other of backing and harbouring rebels.

Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of a $4bn pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast. The government has moved to relax a law controlling the use of oil money, which the World Bank had made a condition of its $39m loan.

• Full name: The Republic of Chad
• Population: 9.1 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: N'Djamena
• Area: 1.28 million sq km (495,800 sq miles)
• Major languages: French, Arabic
• Major religions: Islam, Christianity
• Life expectancy: 42 years (men), 45 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
• Main exports: Cotton, oil, livestock, textiles
• GNI per capita: US $400 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .td
• International dialling code: +235

President: Idriss Deby

Idriss Deby, a former coup leader, won a third term in presidential elections in May 2006, gaining 77.5% of the vote.

The main opposition parties, who accused the president of corruption and refused to field any candidates, rejected the result. Polling went ahead despite a rebel assault on the capital three weeks before election day.

The president has also been beset by splits within his Zaghawa ethnic group and by defections and desertions in the military.

Idriss Deby was born in Fada, in north-east Chad, in 1952. A career army officer, he helped Hissen Habre topple Goukouki Oueddei in 1982.

In 1989 he fled to Sudan after being accused of plotting a coup. A year later his Patriotic Salvation Movement drove Mr Habre into exile and in 1991 Mr Deby was proclaimed president.

He won Chad's first post-independence presidential election in 1996 after overseeing the introduction of a multi-party constitution. He was re-elected in 2001.

In 2005 voters supported constitutional changes allowing Deby to stand for a third term.

Radio is the main means of mass communication, but state control of the broadcast media allows few dissenting views.

State-run Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne operates national and regional radio stations. Around a dozen private radio stations are on the air, despite high licensing fees. Some of them are run by non-profit groups. These broadcasters are subject to close official scrutiny.

The only television station, Teletchad, is state-owned and its coverage favours the government.

Private newspapers critical of the government circulate freely in the capital, N'Djamena, but have little impact among the largely rural and illiterate population.

The press

It has emerged from a 21-year civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south which is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. Southern rebels said they were battling oppression and marginalisation.

After two years of bargaining the government and rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal in January 2005.

The economic dividends of peace could be great. Sudan has large areas of cultivatable land, as well as gold and cotton. Its oil reserves are ripe for further exploitation.

But while the government and southern rebels inched closer to peace, fighting broke out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003 when rebels seeking greater autonomy began an insurrection.

Up to two million people have fled their homes and tens of thousands of people have been killed. Pro-government Arab militias are accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab groups in the region.

Sudan's name comes from the Arabic "bilad al-sudan", or land of the blacks. Arabic is the official language and Islam is the religion of the state, but the country has a large non-Arabic speaking and non-Muslim population which has rejected attempts by the government in Khartoum to impose Islamic Sharia law on the country as a whole.

President Omar al-Bashir has been locked in a power struggle with Hassan al-Turabi, his former mentor and the main ideologue of Sudan's Islamist government. Since 2001 Mr Turabi has spent periods in detention and has been accused, but not tried, over an alleged coup plot.

• Full name: Republic of Sudan
• Population: 35 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Khartoum
• Area: 2.5 million sq km (966,757 sq miles)
• Major languages: Arabic; Nubian, others
• Major religions: Islam, Christianity
• Life expectancy: 55 years (men), 58 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: Sudanese dinar
• Main exports: Oil, cotton, sesame, livestock and hides, gum arabic
• GNI per capita: US $640 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .sd
• International dialling code: +249

President: Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir entered into a power-sharing administration in July 2005 alongside his former enemy, the southern ex-rebel leader John Garang, who has since died. The event was a key stage in the implementation of the January 2005 peace deal.

Mr Bashir is Sudan's overall leader, but Mr Garang's successor, Salva Kiir, heads an interim administration in the south.

Omar al-Bashir took power in the June 1989 military coup against the elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

He dissolved parliament, banned political parties and set up and chaired the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, which ruled through a civilian government.

He formed an alliance with Hassan al-Turabi, the leader of the National lslamic Front, who became the regime's ideologue and is thought to be behind the introduction of Sharia law in the north in 1991. In 1993 Mr Bashir dissolved the Revolutionary Command for National Salvation, concentrating power in his own hands.

Mr Bashir was elected president in 1996, and Hassan al-Turabi became speaker of parliament. A new constitution was drawn up and some opposition activity was permitted.

President Bashir won re-election in 2000. Supporters of the National Congress Party filled the parliament. The opposition boycotted the poll, accusing Mr Bashir of vote-rigging.

Born in 1944 into a farming family, Omar al-Bashir joined the army as a young man and rose through the ranks. He fought in the Egyptian army in the 1973 war with Israel and led the military campaign against rebels in southern Sudan.

Sudanese broadcasting is highly restricted. State-run radio and TV reflect government policy. Sudan TV has a permanent military censor to ensure that the news reflects official views.

There are no privately-owned TV stations apart from a cable service jointly owned by the government and private investors. Satelllite dishes are a common sight in affluent areas and pan-Arab stations are popular among viewers.

State-run national radio networks broadcast a mixture of news, music and cultural programmes. International broadcasters are also heard, including the BBC which is relayed on FM in Khartoum and other parts of the north, and in Juba in the south. Several opposition and clandestine stations broadcast to Sudan.

The private press enjoys a greater degree of freedom than the state broadcasters and offers a limited forum for opposition views, but the state retains and uses powers to influence what is published.

In the semi-autonomous south, the lack of infrastructure limits media operations. However, broadcasters and newspapers, some with foreign funding, are active. The region's president has said he wants to "create space for the media to enjoy freedom".

The press