Although much of Chad's distinctiveness comes from this diversity of influences, since independence the diversity has also been an obstacle to the creation of a national identity.

The army uses its artillery systems and tanks, but well-equipped insurgents have probably managed to destroy over 20 of Chad's 60 tanks, and probably shot down a Mi-24 Hind gunship, which has bombed enemy positions near the border with Sudan.

St Chad's College, one of the two so-called " recognised colleges " of the University of Durham, has a Rector as titular head ( the Dean of Durham Cathecdral ex officio ) while the academic head is the Principal.

In fact, Bede has stressed throughout his narrative that Chad's holiness communicated across boundaries of culture and politics, to Theodore, for example, in his own lifetime.

Due to the somewhat confused nature of Chad's appointment and the continued references to ' chads ' – small pieces of ballot papers punched out by voters using voting machines – in the 2000 US Presidential Election it has been jocularly suggested that Chad is the patron saint of botched elections.

Michael Ramsey's name has been given to Ramsey House, a residence of St Chad's College, University of Durham.

Archbishop Michael Ramsey described the college thus, ' I have always loved Saint Chad's College and it has been a joy to see the college go from strength to strength .... My spiritual home in Durham since 1939, Saint Chad's College represents to me the wholeness of faith and practice so needed in the universities and in the nation '.

Though most Durham colleges are primarily residential rather than teaching institutions, St Chad's has its own research and academic staff.

In addition to the usual sports and cultural activities offered in most colleges, St Chad's has an international placement programme.

St Chad's is a " recognised college " of Durham University, but it is not maintained or governed by the university ( St John's College has the same status ).

One way of understanding the college's status is to appreciate that being " recognised " has more to do with the students than with the college itself, as this means that the statutory requirement of Durham students to be a member of a college can be satisfied by being a member of St Chad's College.

St Chad's has a number of dedicated postgraduate residences and an unusually high percentage ( more than 30 %) of postgraduate students.

St Chad's also has retained its own distinctive academic hood ( of black stuff with green lining and trim ): previously designed for pre-1970s ordinands, the hood is today worn by graduates of the North East Institute for Theological Education and by Honorary Fellows.

Though all Durham University students now participate in large matriculation ceremonies in the Cathedral, St Chad's has, for over a hundred years, conducted its own matriculation.

Since its foundation, St Chad's College Boat Club has a distinguished record of winning races and regattas.

2011 has seen the re-establishment of a theatre company at St Chad's, Green Door Productions, which aims to promote all aspects of theatre within the college, be it acting, directing, set design or backstage work.

Joseph Cassidy has been Principal of St Chad's since 1997.

In addition, St Chad's has over 30 College Fellows, Research Fellows and Research Associates.

Moundou has grown as an industrial centre, home to the Gala Brewery, which produces Chad's most popular beer and the cotton and oil industries.

A causeway of higher ground has been constructed to allow people to walk from Porthill Bridge towards St Chad's Church during most flood events.

Birmingham is the see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham which has its cathedral at St. Chad's.

Chad's Ennedi Range, located within the Sahara Desert in the northeast part of the country near Libya and Sudan has a geology similar to the Colorado Plateau and has produced a number of natural arches and similar landforms, although only Aloba can claim to be on the top ten list of longest arches in the world.

In the movie, she was actually Chad's girlfriend, but while she shows a definite interest in him, in the cartoon they never do more than occasionally hug.

The origins of Chad's peoples, however, remain unclear.

For almost the next 1, 000 years, these states, their relations with each other, and their effects on the peoples who lived in stateless societies along their peripheries dominated Chad's political history.

Two fundamental themes dominated Chad's colonial experience with the French: an absence of policies designed to unify the territory and an exceptionally slow pace of modernization.

Rainfall in the Guinea zone, located in Chad's southwestern tip, ranges between.

Except in the far northwest and south, where its borders converge, Chad's average width is about 800 kilometers.

Chad's neighbors include Libya to the north, Niger and Nigeria to the west, Sudan to the east, Central African Republic to the south, and Cameroon to the southwest.

These vast distances from the sea have had a profound impact on Chad's historical and contemporary development.

The larger, northern portion of the basin is bounded within Chad by the Tibesti Mountains in the northwest, the Ennedi Plateau in the northeast, the Ouaddaï Highlands in the east along the border with Sudan, the Guéra Massif in central Chad, and the Mandara Mountains along Chad's southwestern border with Cameroon.

East of the lake, the basin rises gradually to the Ouaddaï Highlands, which mark Chad's eastern border and also divide the Chad and Nile watersheds.

The Chari River contributes 95 percent of Lake Chad's water, an average annual volume of 40 billion cubic meters, 95 % of which is lost to evaporation.

Landlocked Chad's economic development suffers from its geographic remoteness, drought, lack of infrastructure, and political turmoil.

Chad's armed forces numbered about 36, 000 at the end of the Habré regime, but swelled to an estimated 50, 000 in the early days of Déby's rule.

President Habré hoped to pursue closer relations with Arab states as a potential opportunity to break out of his Chad's post-imperial dependence on France, and to assert Chad's unwillingness to serve as an arena for superpower rivalries.

The group that finally overthrew President Patassé consisted of – in addition to Bozizé's own rebels – 100 soldiers from Chad's Military.

Libya long claimed the Aouzou Strip, a strip of land in northern Chad rich with uranium deposits that was intensely involved in Chad's civil war in the 1970s and 1980s.

* February 12 – Prime Minister Hissène Habré starts the Battle of N ' Djamena in an attempt to overthrow Chad's President Félix Malloum.

He was made an honorary fellow of St Chad's College, Durham and awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Durham in 1998 ; and in 2002 was awarded the Templeton Prize for his contributions to research at the interface between science and religion.

The Chari River, fed by its tributary the Logone, provides over 90 % of Lake Chad's water, with a small amount coming from the Yobe River in Nigeria / Niger.

Lake Chad's volume of is very small relative to that of Lake Tanganyika () and Lake Victoria (), African lakes with similar surface areas.