At least 42 people were killed in clashes between ethnic groups in eastern Chad, authorities said on Sunday, in violence triggered by a dispute over access to a water well.
Fighting broke out on Saturday in Guereda, a sub-prefecture in Wadi Fira province, a government delegate said. Senior officials, including ministers and the army chief of staff, were dispatched to the area on Sunday to assess the situation and restore order.
“The situation is under control and remains so,” Limane Mahamat, deputy prime minister in charge of territorial administration and decentralisation, said on state television. Eastern Chad has for years been affected by recurring clashes between farmers and nomadic Arab herders, often linked to competition over land and water resources.
Tensions have also been heightened by an influx of refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring Sudan. Disputes over farmland and grazing areas have resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and around 2,000 injuries between 2021 and 2024, according to estimates by the International Crisis Group.
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