SOS Children's Villages (Chad)

Chad is facing difficult times: the overall political, military and security situation in one of Africa's poorest nations remains highly volatile and unforeseeable. Frequent droughts and water scarcity turn life into a daily challenge for the majority of Chadians. It is against this background that SOS Children's Villages is helping the most vulnerable segment of the population to live in peace and security.

The Republic of Chad reached independence from France in 1960 under the leadership of Francois Tombalbaye. The post-independence history of Chad has been rather turbulent: violence due to religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims, natural disasters and armed rebellion have been a heavy burden for this country sometimes referred to as "The Dead Heart of Africa".

Chad endured three decades of civil war and multiple invasions from neighbouring Libya until peace could be restored in 1990 and the first elections were held.

An armed insurgency in the country's northern region began in 1998. As a result of the crisis in Darfur, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees fled to Chad. In early 2008, the Chadian capital N'djamena experienced rebel attacks in which civilians were killed. The number of internally displaced people has nearly doubled since 2006: 140,000 Chadians are now internally displaced and additionally, there are around 200,000 Sudanese refugees living in Chad. The humanitarian situation in the