Chad, a landlocked country roughly twice the size of Texas, has had a turbulent history of religious and ethnic conflict and intermittent civil war in its 50 years of independence. Bordered by Libya to the north and Sudan to the east, it is considered to be among the world's 10 poorest countries, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index. Persistent conflict has hindered the country's development, despite significant oil reserves. One in five children dies before the age of five, and the country's child malnutrition and mortality rates are rising. Chad also is perceived to be one of the world's most corrupt countries. Foreign Policy magazine ranked Chad second on its 2009 Failed States Index, up from a ranking of fourth in 2008. Chad gained its independence from France in 1960. Composed of approximately 200 ethnic groups, Chad's diverse population is broadly divided into predominantly Muslim Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups located in the north and east, and indigenous groups practicing Christian and various traditional beliefs located in the south. The country has been politically unstable since 1965, when a tax protest led northern, Islamic tribes to rebel against the southern, Christian-dominated government. Years of authoritarian rule and civil war followed. Chad's current president, Idriss Déby Itno, a former general, took power by force when he launched a rebellion against then-President Hissein Habré from Sudan in 1989. Déby's forces, reportedly aided by Libya and Sudan and largely unopposed by French troops stationed in Chad, seized the capital, N'Djamena, in 1990, forcing Habré into exile. Habré has been sentenced to death in absentia in Chad and is slated to be tried in Senegal for human rights abuses committed under his regime. Déby, named president in 1991, pledged to create a democratic multi-party political system. Chad's first multi-party presidential elections were held in 1996; legislative elections followed in 1997. Déby won reelection in 2001, and his party won a majority of seats in the 2002 legislative elections. According to the State Department's annual human rights reports, Chad's elections have all been marked by irregularities and fraud. The opposition boycotted the most recent elections, held in 2006 after the constitution was amended to allow Déby a third term. The government initiated a dialogue with the political opposition in 2007; in August, the parties agreed to postpone the 2007 legislative elections to 2009 to allow a new census and the creation of a more representative electoral commission. A new commission was formed in July 2009 and a new census published in October. Legislative and local elections are currently scheduled to be held on November 10, 2010. The opposition now holds half the seats on the electoral commission, but questions remain regarding the body's ability to conduct a credible election. Presidential elections are anticipated in April 2011. The political dialogue between the government and the opposition has been strained, particularly following the February 2008 arrest of several opposition and civic leaders. Seven months later, in September, a commission of inquiry officially concluded that one of those arrested, Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, a respected former minister who was the spokesman of the opposition coalition, Coordination des partis politiques pour la défense de la Constitution (CPDC), had died in custody. European donors nevertheless have continued to support the 2007 political accord and are expected to provide technical support for the upcoming elections. After Déby's appointment of a new prime minister in April 2008 and the subsequent appointment of four former political opponents to high-level cabinet positions, some observers suggested that the president might be moving toward more inclusive governance. Others viewed the appointments as an attempt to divide the opposition, which, with over 100 political parties, remains weak and fragmented. Déby appointed another prime minister in March 2010 after the previous office holder resigned amid allegations of corruption. He also appointed 18 new ministers, including nine women. Some opponents of President Déby have used his perceived lack of democratic legitimacy to foment armed efforts to oust the long-serving Chadian leader. Déby has faced several coup attempts, and diverse armed political and regional factions have been active since the 1990s. Shifting rebel alliances, which include defectors from the government, gained strength in the east in 2005-2006 and launched a series of raids on strategic government positions. Inter-communal violence not directly related to the rebellion also increased. Rebels attacked the capital, N'Djamena, in April 2006, and Déby declared a state of emergency in November of that year. Critics charge that he used the state of emergency, which prohibited public rallies and campaigning and allowed the government to censor the press, to silence opposition. In October 2007, the government signed a peace agreement in Sirte, Libya, with the main rebel groups based in eastern Chad. However, the agreement was not fully implemented, and the fighting has continued, sporadically. The Sirte agreement was the latest in a series of failed negotiations to bring a peaceful settlement to the rebellion. In early February 2008, rebel forces advanced on the capital in an unsuccessful attempt to force Déby from power. Hundreds of civilians were reportedly killed in the fighting, and an estimated 30,000 Chadians fled across the Cameroon border, 10 miles from N'Djamena. Rebel groups later attacked and briefly held several towns in eastern Chad in June 2008. In August 2008, a Chadian court issued death sentences in absentia for several of the rebel leaders. Chad's main armed groups, who have been divided by ethnic and personal rivalries, agreed in November 2008 to unify their efforts to overthrow Déby. Their new rebel alliance, Union des forces de la résistance (UFR), which is composed of diverse rebel groups and led by Timane Erdimi, a nephew of President Déby, launched an advance in the east in early May 2009. They were repelled by Chadian forces, who pursued them into Sudanese territory. Like former rebel groupings, the UFR has been prone to infighting and faces a strategic disadvantage against the Chadian military's air power. After one of its factions clashed with Chadian forces in late April 2010, reportedly sustaining significant loses according to some media reports, a new rebel grouping, Alliance national pour le changement démocratique (ANCD) emerged, headed by former UFR leader Mahamat Nouri. Chad's ethnic rivalries are complex and fluid, and they have been compounded by conflict over land and limited natural resources such as water. An increasing focus of concern has become ethnic violence between President Déby's ethnic group, the Zaghawa, and the Tama (both of which are non-Arab, predominantly Muslim, ethnic groups in eastern Chad). Conflict within the factionalized Zaghawa tribe also is a factor. The Zaghawa, who compose less than 3% of Chad's population, control a majority of government positions. Both Chad and the Darfur region of Sudan are home to the Zaghawa, elements of which have played key roles in Chad's complex inter-ethnic alliances and conflicts and in the Darfur conflict. The ongoing conflict in Darfur has displaced more than 2 million Sudanese and led large numbers to flee into Chad, generating a humanitarian crisis in the east. Refugee inflows from Darfur and the CAR have also increased social tensions linked to increasing demand on local resources, despite the provision of aid to the refugees by international aid groups. The Darfur conflict has also heightened political instability in Chad. Chad and Sudan have periodically accused one another of sponsoring rebellions against their respective governments, despite a May 2007 peace agreement signed by the two countries in Saudi Arabia and another agreement signed in Dakar, Senegal, in March 2008. A 2009 report by a U.N. panel of experts supported such allegations. Chad has alleged that Sudan backed the February 2008 assault on N'Djamena and the June advance in the east. Reports suggest that one of the Darfur rebel groups may have provided support to the Chadian army during the attack. Sudan in turn accused Chad of backing Sudanese rebels involved in a May 2008 attack on Omdurman, a suburb of the Sudanese capitol. The two governments renewed diplomatic ties in November 2008 after mediation by Libya, but allegations of support for each other's respective rebel groups continued. Another agreement was signed in Qatar in early May 2009, only days before a May 2009 advance by Chadian rebels, purportedly staged from Sudan. In response, the Chadian Air Force conducted strikes against rebels within Sudanese territory, which the Sudanese government in turn characterized as "acts of war." Sudan threatened to shoot down Chadian planes if they crossed into Sudanese airspace again. Reports suggest that the Sudanese Air Force bombed a refugee camp in Chad on May 28, 2009 as it pursued Sudanese rebels in the area; Chad conducted further bombing raids in Darfur in July. The United Nations, the African Union, the United States and other international actors pressed the two governments to resume talks, and diplomatic communication resumed in October. On January 15, 2010, the governments of Chad and Sudan signed an agreement in N'Djamena to deny rebel groups the use of their territories and to normalize relations. Following the agreement, President Déby visited Khartoum and appointed a Chadian ambassador to the Sudanese capital in February. The U.N. Secretary-General reports that relations between the governments have "improved significantly." Trade across the Chad-Sudan border at three crossing points that had been closed since 2003 resumed in April 2010. Chad and Sudan have deployed a cross-border force of 3,000 to counter criminal activity and movement by armed opposition groups; the force rotates the location of its joint command between Abeche, Chad, and El Geneina, Sudan.