42 Dead in Chad Clashes Over Water Access

At least 42 people died in eastern Chad when a dispute between two families over access to a water point in a remote village escalated into widespread reprisal attacks, according to the country's deputy prime minister.

The clashes unfolded on Saturday in Igote, a community in Wadi Fira province near the border with Sudan. Limane Mahamat, Chad's deputy prime minister, reported the death toll and 10 injuries during a visit to the area late Sunday. He said the injured individuals had been transported to a provincial health center for treatment. The violence quickly expanded across a broad region, drawing in additional community members and prompting a rapid military response that contained the fighting. Officials stated that the situation is now stable.

Mahamat announced the initiation of traditional mediation efforts in Igote to resolve underlying tensions, alongside formal judicial investigations to establish accountability for the deaths. Such intercommunal conflicts over scarce resources occur frequently in Chad. For instance, a similar confrontation between farmers and herders in the southwestern part of the country last year resulted in 42 fatalities and the destruction of...