Chad is a crossroads: where Central-West Africa meets the Sahel, and the Maghreb meets the tropics. The population is diverse too, vastly so, more than a hundred ethno-linguistic groups broadly split between an Islamic North and Christian South.
In N’Djamena, its dusty, low-slung capital, people move freely from bars and clubs facing Cameroon across the Chari River, to sandy streets that speak of the deep deserts to the north, often in the same neighbourhood. It is a secular state, proud of its tolerance, and thus far free from the sectarian violence that has torn apart the neighbouring Central African Republic to the south.
