At least 42 people have been killed in violent clashes between ethnic groups in eastern Chad, following a dispute that reportedly began over access to a water well in the Wadi Fira province.
According to a government official, the fighting broke out on Saturday in the sub-prefecture of Guereda and quickly escalated into broader ethnic violence involving local farming and nomadic herding communities.
Authorities confirmed that several senior government officials, including ministers and military leadership, were deployed to the affected area to restore order and assess the situation. Officials later stated that the violence had been brought under control.
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of territorial administration, Limane Mahamat, announced on state media that the situation had stabilised following intervention by security forces.
Eastern Chad has experienced recurring communal violence in recent years, largely driven by disputes over farmland and grazing resources. These tensions have been further intensified by the influx of refugees escaping conflict in neighbouring Sudan.
Reports from humanitarian monitoring groups indicate that such clashes have led to more than a thousand deaths and thousands of injuries in the region between 2021 and 2024.
