New Clashes in Southern Chad Leave Eleven Dead

The military reported on Thursday that 11 villagers in southern Chad were killed by “bandits” in a region plagued by conflict between herders and sedentary farmers.

The incident took place on Wednesday, the same day that neighbors Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) announced a joint, unprecedented crackdown.

Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Ibrahim told AFP that “armed bandit cattle rustlers attacked the village of Mankade in Laramanaye district, killing 11 villagers and making off with their cattle.”

He claimed that “the security forces pursued them, killing seven bandits and capturing eight others,” and that the animals that had been taken had been found.

The incident took place 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the border with CAR in the far south of the vast Sahel region.

Djimet Blama Souck, the deputy prefect of Laramanaye, told AFP that 12 villagers had died, including women and children.

Similar attacks occurred in the area on May 8 and claimed the lives of 17 civilians. The Chadian army attributed the attacks on Chadian “bandits” who had fled the CAR.

The defense minister said on Wednesday that his troops had hunted down the attackers across the border last week and, in collaboration with the CAR army, had killed about a dozen of them.

He declared on Thursday that the operation was finished, adding that “dozens of thieves were killed,” and that the Chadian forces had returned home with 30 captives and 130 animals that they had taken.

The CAR administration has not acknowledged the claim, which could not be independently verified in this isolated territory. On Wednesday, the government of the CAR only revealed that an army “consultation mission” from both nations had convened “to calm the situation.”

Relations between the CAR and Chad, two of the world’s poorest and most unstable nations, have frequently been hostile.

Mutual claims that the other country is sheltering armed rebels have characterized relations.

Conflict between sedentary farmers who are mainly Christian or animist and predominantly Muslim nomadic herders has seized the fertile border regions of Chad, Cameroon, and CAR.

Land disputes have historically been the source of conflict.

The herders claim they have a historical right to graze there, but the farmers frequently accuse them of allowing their animals to trample and consume their crops.