It is estimated that as many as 50,000 residents have fled to Chad since violent clashes between herders, farmers and fishermen first broke out\u00a0in Logone-Chari in Cameroon\u2019s Far North region on Sunday, December 5.<\/p>\n
The clashes \u2013 between fishermen and farmers of the Mousgoum<\/em> and Massa communities and ethnic Arab Choa herders \u2013 began in Ouloumsa. But the fighting over water scarcity, which has been ongoing, escalated and spread to villages and communities along Cameroon\u2019s northern border with Chad.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, December 8, fierce fighting broke out in the Cameroonian city of Kousseri. By that time thousands of residents from the villages, towns and communities had already started fleeing to Chad\u2019s \u00a0capital, N\u2019Djamena, which is few kilometres across the Chari and Logone rivers that mark the border with Cameroon.<\/p>\n A traditional leader told Reuters the violence began when a herder wanted to bring his cattle to the banks of a river but was prevented by farmers and fishermen.<\/p>\n Fighting later erupted in the city of Kousseri where the cattle market was destroyed<\/p>\n The exact number of those killed and wounded was not known.<\/p>\n A woman refugee in Chad, Zara Ndgouni, said: \u201cThe violent clashes were horrific. The conflicting parties could hardly recognise their enemies and were just attacking everyone. We first fled to Kousseri, but it was even worse there so we fled to Chad where we were welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n She said: \u201cAlhamdulillah, we thank the Chadian government for the hospitality. We are still alive but we are in dire need of almost everything. We do not have covers to protect ourselves and our children from the cold. We don\u2019t have mats and tents to shelter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could not bring anything from home because there was no time and we were forced by the fighting to flee. We are innocent, but many of us have lost their loved ones. Many of our houses are burnt down. We lost all our belongings. We came here five days ago; we are hungry, no food, nothing. We don\u2019t have mats; we sleep on the bare floor.\u201d<\/p>\n Ndgouni said many of the displaced people \u201chave not eaten for these five days. We ask the government to consider our call and help us.\u201d<\/p>\n Moussa Faki Mahamat, the president of the Commission of the African Union, said at a session at the United Nations Security Council on December 9 that \u201cthe deterioration of climatic conditions, rainfall deficits and subsequent droughts have contributed to exacerbate social and intercommunity tension due to the contraction of living resources, water and pastures, in particular\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe massive emergence of youth, a human result of the population explosion, is worryingly increasing the excessive pressure on natural resources,\u201d he said. \u201cThe scarcity of resources, the scarcity of water and agro-food resources, in particular, feeds intercommunity conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n Moussa Ousman, a journalist in Kousseri said the communal clash had displaced more than 50,000 and claimed more than 100 lives in less than a week.<\/p>\n \u2018\u2019At the moment, the situation has improved a bit in Kousseri \u2013 some people can be seen moving in the street, few bikes have resumed work but most of the business places, including the Kousseri main market are still closed. More than 26 shops and many houses and vehicles have been burnt down to ashes,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n Ousman said defence and security forces had been deployed to all the strategic places in the Lagone-et-Chari capital to ensure security of property and to protect those still in the town. A number of people had been arrested for questioning.<\/p>\n