Chad, Sahel – A violent intercommunal conflict over access to a water well has resulted in the deaths of at least 33 people in a remote village in Chad, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
The fighting, which erupted on Tuesday, involved two neighboring communities from the Bahr-El-Gazel and Hadjer-Lamis regions, located in the western part of the country.
According to a government official, the dispute stemmed from a contested water well claimed by both communities, which are primarily dependent on the resource for survival in the arid environment of the Sahel.
The violence led to significant casualties, with several others left injured, though the exact number of wounded remains unclear.
“The clash, triggered by a long-standing dispute over control of the well, has left 33 people dead,” said a senior government adviser, speaking under the condition of anonymity. “Several people have also been injured, and we are monitoring the situation closely.”
State-run television channel ONAMA reported that the Chad government has already deployed a heavy security presence to the region, including senior local officials and an army contingent, in an attempt to quell the violence and restore order. Despite this, sources on the ground have indicated that tensions remain high, and the situation is far from stable.
“Even with the presence of military and government authorities, there is still a lot of uncertainty and anger among the local population,” said a local witness to the violence.
The Chad government has been grappling with repeated incidents of intercommunal violence, especially in rural areas where access to vital resources like land, water, and grazing land often sparks violent disputes.
Similar clashes have occurred in the past, with two particularly deadly incidents reported in 1999 and 2004, both of which resulted in multiple deaths.
In rural communities across Chad, such resource-based conflicts are tragically common. The Sahel region, already suffering from severe environmental challenges such as desertification, lacks sufficient infrastructure for managing and equitably distributing water resources.
As competition for dwindling supplies grows, tensions between communities over water access are becoming increasingly frequent and deadly.
Human rights organizations and local leaders have called for urgent measures to address the underlying issues driving the violence, including improving water management systems, promoting intercommunal dialogue, and enhancing security for vulnerable populations.
For now, the authorities have pledged to investigate the incident thoroughly and work toward preventing future outbreaks of such violence, though solutions to the region’s resource disputes remain elusive.
