The most recent Chadian Civil War begins in December 2005.

Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been swamped by the civil war between the Arab-Muslims of the north and the Sub-Saharan-Christians of the south.

As a result, leadership and presidency in Chad drifts back and forth between the Christian southerners and Muslim northerners.

When one side is in power, the other side usually starts a revolutionary war to counter it.

France, the former colonial power, and Chad's northern neighbor Libya hav both become involved at various times throughout the civil was.

By the mid-1990s the civil wars had stabilized somewhat, and in 1996 Idriss Déby, a northerner, had been confirmed president in Chad's first democratic election.

In 1998 an armed rebellion began in the north, led by President Déby's former defense chief, Youssouf Togoimi.

A Libyan peace deal in 2002 failed to put an end to the fighting.

In 2003, conflict in the neighboring Darfur region in Sudan leaked across the border into Chad.

Refugees from Sudan were joined by Chadian civilians who were trying to escape rebel violence and eventually filled the camps.

It ii clear that Chad's rebels receive weapons and assistance from the government of Sudan.

At the same time, Sudan's rebels get help from Chad's government.

In February 2008, three rebel groups join forces and launched an attack on Chad's capital, N'Djamena.

After launching an assault that fails to seize the presidential palace, the attack is decisively repulsed.

France sends in troops to shore up the government.

Many of the rebels are former allies of President Idriss Déby.

They accuse him of corruption towards members of his own tribe.