At least 20 people have been killed and 16 injured in nearly a week of inter-communal violence in eastern Chad, according to parliament and local sources on Monday.
The clashes erupted in Ouaddai province, an area where tensions between farming and herding communities have long persisted. Local authorities said the violence began last Tuesday when two armed youths from the Zaghawa community stole a motorcycle from a member of the Ouaddai ethnic group. The incident quickly escalated into armed retaliation, leaving eight people, including the alleged thieves, dead.
The violence intensified on Saturday when at least 12 Ouaddai residents were reported killed in a reprisal attack by members of the Zaghawa community.
Fourteen members of the ruling party representing Ouaddai strongly condemned the violence in a joint statement calling on the government to step up security measures in the region. “We condemn the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of these crimes,” said Yacine Abdraman Sakine, a local MP, criticizing what he described as official inaction against the repeated bloodshed.
The state government delegate, Ismael Yamouda Djorbo, described the unrest as “terrorism” after a visit to the affected area, but did not give an official death toll.
Eastern Chad, which borders the conflicted Sudan, has long suffered from inter-communal violence, particularly between Ouaddai farmers and Zaghawa, or Arab, pastoralists. Similar violence in the region claimed a dozen lives near the state capital Abeche in November 2018.
The latest bloodshed comes just weeks after 42 people were killed in a separate incident in Mandakao, in southwestern Chad, during clashes between Fulani herders and Ngambaye farmers over land disputes.
The Chad Human Rights Commission condemned the violence in Ouaddai and called on the government to take decisive action to prevent further outbreaks.