N'Djamena in the context of "Abéché"

Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 19 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. With a total area of around 1,300,000 km (500,000 sq mi), Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the twentieth largest nation by area.

Chad has several regions: the Sahara desert in the north, an arid zone in the centre known as the Sahel, and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland in Africa. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French with most education and state documents being in French. It is home to over 200 ethnic and linguistic groups. Islam (55.1%) and Christianity (41.1%) are the main religions practiced in Chad.

Operation Barkhane (French: Opération Barkhane) was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.

The French military initially intervened in Mali in early 2013 as part of Operation Serval, which successfully regained the northern half of the country from Islamist groups. Operation Barkhane was intended to follow up on that success and expanded the French military's operations over a vast area of the Sahel region. The operation had the stated aim of helping the countries' governments to maintain control of their territory and preventing the region from becoming a safe haven for Islamist terrorist groups that plan to attack France and Europe.