At least 42 people have been killed and 10 others injured following violent clashes between rival ethnic groups in eastern Chad, authorities confirmed on Sunday. The fighting in Wadi Fira province reportedly began as a dispute over access to a water well but quickly escalated into widespread violence.
Officials said the initial disagreement between two families spiralled into a cycle of retaliatory attacks that spread across several communities, resulting in burned villages and rising casualties. Chadian authorities have since deployed a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Limane Mahamat to the affected area, stating that the situation has now been brought under control.
Communal violence remains a recurring challenge in Chad, where long-standing tensions between farmers and herders often flare up over scarce water and grazing land. The latest violence comes amid additional pressure from the influx of refugees fleeing the civil war in neighbouring Sudan, further straining already limited resources.
Authorities said efforts are underway to prevent instability from spilling across the border, as regional insecurity continues to grow. Similar clashes have previously turned deadly, including an incident in November in Dibebe in the south-west, where 33 people were killed in a dispute over a well.
According to the International Crisis Group, more than 1,000 people were killed and 2,000 injured in roughly 100 communal clashes in Chad between 2021 and 2024. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has documented seven episodes of herder-farmer violence between 2022 and 2024, resulting in 98 deaths and linking the unrest to climate pressures and weak enforcement of law and order.
Amnesty also warned that delayed security responses and lack of accountability have contributed to a growing sense of impunity, leaving many communities increasingly vulnerable to recurring cycles of violence.
Melissa Enoch
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