Chad: dozens of people killed in inter-communal clashes between farmer and herder communities

More than two dozen people were killed during the last week of March in clashes between rival farmer and herder communities in a region of southern Chad that frequently sees similar land disputes, the country’s authorities have said. communications minister told AFP on Monday.
The fighting was triggered by the “assassination” of a nomadic Arab-speaking herder and raged between 17-21 March in three villages in the southern fertile region of Moyen-Chari. It came as at least another 42 people had been killed after armed clashes between rival communities in eastern Chad, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Security and Immigration. One village was torched in the clashes and 175 people have been arrested, the ministry added. In 2019, then President Idriss Deby Itno said such violence between farmers and nomadic herders, which has worsened in recent years with droughts and population growth, had become a “national concern.”
According to a report released in February by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the period from July to December 2023 was characterized by a decrease in the number of reported inter- or intra-communal conflicts in Mali compared to the previous six-month period. Despite this positive trend, southern Mali remains the most conflict-affected region, with 57% of recorded conflicts, including 50% in Logone Oriental Province and 50% in Mandoul Province. The downward trend in conflicts is particularly evident in the east, where no inter-communal conflicts were reported. The conflicts recorded continue to be characterized by the difficulties of coexistence between farmers and herders due to the scarcity of pasture and agricultural land.