42 Killed in Chad’s Wadi Fira Province After Water Well Dispute Ignites Inter-Ethnic Fighting
A delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Limane Mahamat was dispatched to the affected region, with Chadian authorities asserting on Sunday that the situation had been brought under control.
Resource Scarcity and Regional Instability Drive Conflict
Deadly communal clashes are a recurrent issue in Chad, frequently stemming from competition over vital resources such as water and grazing land. The arrival of refugees from the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Sudan has exacerbated existing tensions over resources and security in border areas.
The Deputy Prime Minister stated on Sunday that the government is implementing all necessary measures to prevent the Sudanese conflict from destabilising Chad’s border regions.
In recent years, communal violence in Chad has claimed hundreds of lives. A similar dispute over a well in Dibebe, south-west Chad, resulted in 33 deaths in November. The International Crisis Group reports that approximately 1,000 people were killed and 2,000 injured across roughly 100 clashes between 2021 and 2024.
Amnesty International documented seven episodes of herder-farmer violence between 2022 and 2024, resulting in 98 fatalities. The organisation links these clashes to climate change and other systemic issues, asserting that authorities have failed to provide adequate protection to the population despite the recurring violence. Amnesty highlighted delayed responses from security forces and a lack of accountability for perpetrators, which has fostered a sense of impunity and marginalisation among communities.
