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.

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.

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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 in 2006

Humanitarian issues: 140,000 people are internal refugees; 200,000 refugees are from Sudan

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, but since 2009 efforts have been made to resolve the countries' differences. Chad hosts large numbers of refugees from Central African Republic and Sudan's Darfur

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, and the dispute led to severing of relations in 2006. However, since then, progress has been made towards normalising ties, with the two countries' presidents meeting for the first time in six years in 2010.

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.

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SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday ruled out talks with the rebels trying to end his 41-year-rule, raising questions about whether a flurry of Western efforts to negotiate an end to the deepening conflict can succeed.

“There will be no talks between me and them until Judgment Day,” Gaddafi told a crowd of thousands of supporters in his home city of Sirte in a remotely delivered audio message. “They need to talk with the Libyan people … and they will respond to them.”

The rally in the quiet seaside city drew men wearing green hats, women waving flags and children whose faces were painted with pro-Gaddafi slogans, and showed how far Libya may be from a negotiated end to its five-month-old conflict.

Rebels who have struggled to arm and organize themselves have suffered losses in the past week near the insurgent stronghold of Misrata and the eastern oil hub Brega, but are pushing ahead with their campaign to unseat the longtime leader.

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, when fighting may die down, neither the rebels nor Gaddafi's forces appear to have a decisive edge in a conflict that has seen some areas change hands several times.

Since March, when Western countries began their air campaign over Libya to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, expectations of a quick military end to the conflict have given way to hopes of a negotiated settlement. While foreign leaders try to drum up support for this, there is little evidence on the ground that fruitful talks will take place soon.

On Wednesday, France said Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he gave up power. The United States has said that Gaddafi must quit, but that the Libyan people must decide whether he remains in Libya after that. The African Union has proposed negotiations on ending the fighting.

In Thursday's audio address, Gaddafi seemed confident that he would prevail against the rebels and their Western backers.

“So the battle is decided in favor of the people,” he said. “NATO can't defeat you at all; they will be defeated and they will flee.”

The government brought foreign journalists to Sirte by bus to see the rally, at which supporters raised giant photos of Gaddafi and chanted slogans of allegiance. Later, youths fired guns into the air and fireworks lit up the evening sky.

The rally highlighted the depth of the divisions among Libyans — but many of those who turned out for the demonstration on a sweltering summer afternoon were united in their resentment of foreign meddling in Libyan affairs.

“The West is really making things worse” by arming the rebels and encouraging them to defeat Gaddafi by force of arms, said Jamal Allafi, a petroleum engineer at the university in Sirte.

“I cry about all this. (The rebels) are our brothers, but we are right, our leader is right, and we will be victorious,” said Iman Hussein, a university student wearing a watch whose face showed Gaddafi in uniform.

Like many others at the rally, she said she saw Libya's oil wealth as the real reason for Western involvement and the West's encouragement of a rebel movement that had wrenched many Libyans apart.

“It is impossible to divide this country. The people who want this are not Libyans,” she said. (Additional reporting by Lutfi Abu-Aun in Tripoli, editing by Tim Pearce)

(Writing by Lin Noueihed, editing by Tim Pearce)

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Thousands now camp amid the ruins of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu

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Horn of Africa drought

Life and death

'A vision of hell'

History of hunger

Refugees engulf Ethiopia town

The first new distribution of aid has begun in Mogadishu since Somali Islamist group al-Shabab lifted its ban on aid workers last week.

Two decades of conflict mean Somalia is the country worst affected by the Horn of Africa drought.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gave out dried food such as maize to some of the thousands of people who have fled to the capital recently.

An OIC official urged other aid groups to resume work in Somalia.

Some 10 million people are said to be affected by the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 60 years.

Some 3,000 people a day are arriving from Somalia in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia seeking assistance.

UN envoy to Somalia Mark Bowden has also arrived in Mogadishu to assess the humanitarian situation and discuss how the UN can help.

At the weekend, UN refugee agency chief Antonio Guterres urged aid agencies to go into Somalia to help drought victims, if obstacles of security can be overcome.

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Extended drought is causing a severe food crisis in the Horn of Africa, which includes Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Weather conditions over the Pacific means the rains have failed for two seasons and are unlikely to return until September. Food shortages are affecting up to 12 million people. The UN has not declared a famine but large areas of the region are now classified as in crisis or emergency, with malnutrition affecting up to 35-40% of children under five. The humanitarian problem is made worse by ongoing conflicts, which means that until July militant groups had only allowed aid organisations limited access to large parts of southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia. Since the beginning of 2011, around 15,000 Somalis each month have fled into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia looking for food and water. The refugee camp at Dadaab, in Kenya, has been overwhelmed by 370,000 people. Farmers unable to meet their basic food costs are abandoning their herds. High cereal and fuel prices had already forced them to sell many animals before the drought and their smaller herds are now unprofitable or dying. The refugee problem may have been preventable. However, violent conflict in the region has deterred international investment in long-term development programmes, which may have reduced the effects of the drought. Development aid would focus on reducing deforestation, topsoil erosion and overgrazing and improving water conservation. New roads and infrastructure for markets would help farmers increase their profits. The result of climate conditions, conflict and lack of investment is that 6.7 million people in Kenya and Ethiopia are currently existing on food rations, and relief agencies estimate 2.6 million in Somalia will need assistance a new emergency operation.

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“People are suffering. We need to take action immediately to save the Somali people,” the OIC's Ahmed Mohamed Aden told the BBC.

The Saudi-based group has so far distributed aid in government-controlled areas of Mogadishu but it has also sent assessment teams to areas where al-Shabab is in charge.

The al-Qaeda linked group controls much of southern and central Somalia.

The BBC's Mohamed Moalimuu in Mogadishu says that al-Shabab prefers Islamic aid groups, even though it has said it will treat all aid agencies equally during the current crisis.

Mr Aden admitted that his staff were taking a risk by operating in Somalia but said it was worth taking because of the desperate need.

“We have moved to many areas freely. I encourage other aid groups to come and join us.”

Most foreign aid agencies withdrew from Somalia after al-Shabab banned them in 2009.

Aid workers have been kidnapped and their supplies looted during the years of anarchy since Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

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BIR AYAD, Libya (AFP) – Libya's rebels sought to consolidate their progress in the east on Thursday and ramped up for a pre-Ramadan offensive in the west as Moamer Kadhafi's refusal to quit blocked a political solution.

The insurgents said they have chased the bulk of Kadhafi's eastern army from Brega, a key oil refinery town on the front line between the rebel-held east and the mainly government-held west.

Loyalists holed up among oil installations in the town's northwest have been encircled, and fighting eased on Thursday as the rebels said their week-old offensive had been slowed by hundreds of scattered land mines.

“It has been more quiet today and yesterday, Kadhafi's troops (inside the town) are not shooting back so much. We are not sure whether it is because they are running out of ammunition or it is something else,” said rebel spokesman Mohammed Zawi.

But progress was being slowed by demining.

“We plan to advance slowly, clearing the land, creating good defensive positions,” he said, adding the rebels suffered no fatalities in a day for the first time since the offensive began.

In the west, rebels in Bir Ayad in the plains below the Nafusa Mountains exchanged sporadic fire with Kadhafi troops in Bir al-Ghanam further north, despite a NATO request for the insurgents to suspend the next phase of their planned assault on Tripoli.

The rebels fired a salvo of rockets at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT) that was answered by rocket and cannon fire from Kadhafi's forces, an AFP correspondent reported.

Rebel commanders said they were refraining from using cannon fire to avoid civilian casualties as the loyalist troops were holed up in residential areas of Bir al-Ghanam.

The insurgents say their immediate target is the strategic crossroads town of Al-Assabah, which would open up the road to the government garrison town of Gharyan, a key gateway to Tripoli.

But NATO, which still aims to destroy Kadhafi military assets in the area, has not yet given them the green light, a rebel fighter in Bir Ayad told AFP.

In the desert hamlet of Gualish, the rebels are beginning to experience what fighting would be like during Ramadan as temperatures soar around 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

During Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, the endurance of even the hardiest volunteers will be tested by desert battle without food and water during the daytime fast observed by the faithful.

“We are preparing for the battle. We hope (it will take place), God willing, before Ramadan,” or just after, said rebel commander Mokhtar Lakhdar.

“If there is fighting during Ramadan, we will fight as usual. We will not stop until we have liberated Libya,” he said in Gualish, where the mercury hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday.

Around him young rebels debated fighting during the fasting month.

“During Ramadan, it will be harder but, God willing, we will not be weakened but rather be stronger. Ramadan is a good time to be a martyr,” said Shaban Aabor, 38.

NATO said that on Wednesday aircraft under its command had hit two rocket launchers and three armed vehicles around Misrata and 13 targets in and around Zliten the next town to the west on the road to the capital.

Rebel military leaders from Misrata on Wednesday asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy for extra arms to help them overrun Tripoli within “days”, a member of their delegation said.

On the diplomatic front, France has accepted that Kadhafi could stay in Libya if he quits politics under a ceasefire deal.

But asked about that during a visit to Spain on Thursday, senior Libyan rebel Mahmud Jibril said it is up to Libyans to decide if Kadhafi can remain in the North African country if he gives up power.

“I think the most important question for us is that Kadhafi leave power, this is the first step,” Jibril told a news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez.

“When we get that step secured first then we can move to the next phase, deciding where he can stay and what kind of arrangements are needed. Who is going to decide is the Libyan people themselves,” he added.

“If he is not ready to step down then we are talking about cosmetic reforms within the current regime. That is a waste of the blood that has been spilled over the past five months. We are not interested in that.”

Jibril is the diplomatic chief of the rebel National Transitional Council.

Libya has been wracked by a civil war since a violent uprising against Kadhafi, in power for more than four decades, swept the country five months ago.

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