Space Program of Chad

------The Chad (Africa) Space Agency------

Level = 0                                         Development: Very Low

  

Country Overview

What has been going on in Chad?

 

 

Space Agency and its Activity

What kind of space power do they have?

 

 

Weapons and Power Projection

Does Chad have space weapons?

 

 

Timeline and the Future

What are they planning over there?

Population: 12,900,000 / Language: French / GDP: $1500 / Cities: N'Djamena

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OVERVIEW

 

 

   

  A largely semi-desert country, Chad is rich in gold and uranium and stands to benefit from its recently-acquired status as an oil-exporting state.

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.

AT-A-GLANCE

  • Politics: Crises on several fronts: President Deby, in power since 1990, faces an armed rebellion by several groups and incursions from neighbouring Sudan. He survived a coup attempt shortly before gaining another term in 2006
  • Economy: Chad is enjoying an oil boom. Changes to rules governing how revenues can be spent have been controversial. Chad ranks as the world's most corrupt state
  • International: Chad cut ties with Sudan in 2006, accusing it of supporting rebels. Refugees from Central African Republic and Sudan's Darfur have been streaming in

In 1969 Muslim dissatisfaction with the first president, Ngarta Tombalbaye - a Christian southerner - developed into a guerrilla war. This, combined with a severe drought, undermined his rule and in 1975 President Tombalbaye was killed in a coup led by another southerner, Felix Malloum.

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.

In 2003 and 2004, unrest in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region spilled across the border, along with many thousands of Sudanese refugees. Tensions mounted in late 2005 when Chad accused Sudan of arming and financing rebels in the east.

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.

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 Chad's Space Infrastructure

  

  

Chad is one of the world's poorest countries, with one of the least developed space programs in the world. Not only does it certainly not have an agency, but also no infrastructure in which one would arise. Its has no scientific university and the government has no ministry devoted to science of this type.

Chad has no history of being part of any organization dealing with space, nor has any launch capability.

Chad lacks the industrial base, the educational base and the political foundation for a process like this to occur within it. It has no functioning university with an astrophysics or astronautics program, and nonexistant industry.

Chad operates no satellites and, not having a presence, has no space power.

The government of Chad in Bamako has no plans for attempting to further any ambition in space development or research. 

 

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WEAPONS AND POWER

 

 

 

 None

 

 

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Timeline of Events in Chad

...From the Past to the Future

  1883-93 - Sudanese adventurer Rabih al-Zubayr conquers the kingdoms of Ouadai, Baguirmi and Kanem-Bornu, situated in what is now Chad.

1900 - France defeats al-Zubayr's army.

1913 - French conquest of Chad completed; Chad becomes a colony within French Equatorial Africa.

1946 - Chad becomes a French overseas territory with its own territorial parliament and representation in the French National Assembly.

1960 - Chad becomes independent with a southern Christian, Francois - later Ngarta - Tombalbaye, as president.

1963 - The banning of political parties triggers violent opposition in the Muslim north, led by the Chadian National Liberation Front, or Frolinat.

1966 - Northern revolt develops into a fully-fledged guerrilla war.

1973 - French troops help put down the northern revolt, but Frolinat continues guerrilla operations throughout the 1970s and 1980s with the help of weapons supplied by Libya.

Libyan intervention

1975 - Tombalbaye deposed and killed in coup led by another southern Christian, Felix Malloum.

1977 - Libya annexes the northern Chadian Aouzou strip.

1979 - Malloum forced to flee the country; a coalition government headed by a Muslim northerner, Goukouni Oueddei, assumes power.

1980 - Libya sends in troops to support Oueddei in his fight against the Army of the North, led by a former prime minister, Hissene Habre.

1981 - Libyan troops withdraw at Oueddei's request.

1982 - Habre's troops capture the capital, N'Djamena.

1983 - The Organisation of African Unity recognises Habre's government, but Oueddei's forces continue resistance in the north with Libyan help.

1987 - The combined troops of Frolinat and the Chadian Government, with French and US assistance, force Libya out of the entire northern region apart from the Aouzou strip and parts of Tibesti.

First democratic elections

1990 - Habre toppled after his army is defeated by rebels of the Sudan-based and Libyan-backed Patriotic Salvation Movement, led by a former Habre ally, Idriss Deby.

1993 - National democracy conference sets up a transitional government with Deby as interim president and calls for free elections within a year.

1994 - International Court of Justice rejects Libyan claims on Aouzou and rules that Chad had sovereignty over the strip.

1996 - Deby wins Chad's first multi-party presidential election.

1997 - Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement triumphs on legislative elections.

Oil exports, via Cameroon, began in 2003

  • Export pipeline is more than 1,000km long
  • By law, 80% of oil income must go to education, health, development

2000 July - Rebels of the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) say they have captured the key government garrison town of Bardai in the north.

2001 20 March - Court of appeal in Senegal upholds ruling that former Chadian President Habre should not be made to stand trial in Senegal, where he is in exile. It decided that Senegal's courts do not have the jurisdiction to try Habre on torture charges during his eight years in power in Chad.

2001 May - Deby declared winner in 20 May presidential election. Six unsuccessful presidential candidates are picked up for questioning by police but are released an hour later.

2001 June - Chad's highest court confirms Idriss Deby's re-election even though results from 25% of polling stations were cancelled because of irregularities.

2001 August - President Deby sworn in for a second five-year term.

Peace deals

2002 January - Government and Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) rebels sign Libyan-brokered peace deal intended to end three-year civil war.

2002 May - MDJT rebels and government forces clash in the far north; 64 are killed in the first outbreak of fighting since January's peace accord.

2003 January - Government signs peace deal with National Resistance Army (ANR) rebels, active in the east.

2003 October - Chad becomes an oil exporter with the opening of a pipeline connecting its oil fields with Cameroon.

2003 December - MDJT, government sign another peace accord. MDJT hardliners reject deal.

Darfur impact

2004 January-February - Thousands of Sudanese refugees arrive in Chad to escape fighting in Darfur region of western Sudan.

2004 April-May - Chadian troops clash with pro-Sudanese government militias as fighting in Sudan's Darfur region spills over the border.

2005 June - Voters back constitutional changes which allow the president to stand for a third term in 2006.

2005 November - Former president, Hissene Habre, is arrested in Senegal over allegations of crimes against humanity.

Rebels in the east want to oust President Deby

2005 December - Rebels attack the town of Adre, near the Sudanese border. Chad accuses Sudan of being behind the incident.

2006 January - President Deby backs a law to reduce the amount of oil money spent on development. The move angers the World Bank, which suspends loans and orders the account used to collect oil revenues to be frozen.

2006 March - Government says an attempted military coup has been thwarted.

Rebel battle

2006 April - Rebels seeking to oust President Deby battle government forces on the outskirts of the capital. Hundreds of people are killed. Chad cuts diplomatic ties with Sudan, accusing it of backing the rebels.

2006 May - President Deby is declared the winner of presidential elections. The main opposition parties boycott the poll.

2006 January-June - Thousands of refugees flee eastern areas as marauding Arab Janjaweed militia from Sudan's Darfur region penetrate deeper into Chad.

Eastern villagers have endured deadly attacks

2006 July - Parliament approves the establishment of Chad's first state oil company, the Societe des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT), which is expected to give Chad greater control over its energy assets.

2006 August - President Deby threatens to expel US energy giant Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas for failing to honour tax obligations, but relents after coming to an agreement with the companies.

2006 October - The army puts tanks on the street of the capital in anticipation of an apparent rebel advance.

2006 November - State of emergency imposed in eastern areas bordering Sudan's Darfur region after a spate of ethnic violence.

International relief agencies evacuate non-essential staff from the eastern town of Abeche, a hub for aid work, following an escalation of rebel activitiy.

2006 December - Private newspapers stop publishing and several radio stations alter their programming to protest against state censorship under the state of emergency.

TODAY AND INTO THE FUTURE

 

 

Nothing Planned

 

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