Sahel Edition

Sahel: Herders and farmers’ conflicts intensify in southern ChadF

Posted On 18 May 2023

Number of times this article was read : 800

Eleven villagers in southern Chad have been killed by “bandits,” in a region troubled by violence between herders and sedentary farmers, the military said on Thursday. The attack occurred on Wednesday, coinciding with an announcement by Chad that it had joined with neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in an unprecedented crackdown. “Armed bandit cattle rustlers attacked the village of Mankade in Laramanaye district, killing 11 villagers and making off with their cattle,” Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Ibrahim told AFP. “The security forces pursued them, killing seven bandits and capturing eight others,” he said, adding that the stolen cattle had been recovered.

The incident occurred in the far south of the vast Sahel country, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the frontier with CAR. Laramanaye’s deputy prefect, Djimet Blama Souck, told AFP that 12 villagers, including women and children, had been killed. On May 8, 17 villagers in the region died in a similar attack, which the Chadian army blamed on Chadian “bandits” who had crossed from the CAR.

On Wednesday, the defence minister told AFP that his troops last week had pursued the assailants across the border, and working with the CAR army had killed around a dozen of them. That operation is now over, he said on Thursday, adding that “dozens of thieves were killed,” and the Chadian forces had returned home with 30 prisoners and 130 stolen cattle. The assertion could not be verified independently in this remote area, and it has not been confirmed by the CAR government, which on Wednesday said only that a “consultation mission” from both countries’ armies had met “in order to calm the situation.”

Ties between the CAR and Chad, two of the poorest and most troubled countries in the world, have often been tense. Relations have been marked by mutual accusations that the other country is harbouring armed rebels. The fertile border areas of Chad, Cameroon and CAR have been gripped by confrontation between predominantly Muslim nomadic herders and sedentary farmers who are typically Christian or animist. Tensions are historically rooted in rivalry over land. The farmers often accuse the herders of letting their cattle trample their crops and eat them, while the herders say they have the traditional right to graze there.

AFP

More on the Sahel

West Africa: Jihadist Attacks Intensify in Northern Benin Amid Cross-Border Insurgency Pressure$

Jihadist attacks in northern Benin have intensified in recent weeks, with militants linked to JNIM claiming a deadly assault on a military position near the Niger border and carrying out additional raids on security posts along the country’s volatile frontiers with Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The violence underscores how northern Benin has become part of a wider cross-border insurgency spilling south from the central Sahel, even as authorities bolster Operation Mirador and try to prevent armed groups from entrenching themselves on Beninese soil.

Desert Locusts Stir Fresh Worries in North-West Africa$

Small desert locust swarms recently detected along the western Sahara corridor have prompted stepped-up monitoring across parts of North and West Africa, where shifting rainfall can quickly turn quiet desert areas into launchpads for wider infestations.

Mali Army, Russian Allies Accused of Executing Civilians Near Mauritania Border$

Seven Malian refugees traveling from Mauritania were allegedly executed by Malian soldiers and Russian Africa Corps personnel near Ahl El Kory, close to the Mauritanian border, after their vehicles were stopped on March 6. Local sources say the unarmed Fulani civilians were shot or had their throats cut, while other passengers were beaten, questioned as suspected jihadists, then released.