Highlights: Chad: dozens of deaths in a few days in intercommunal violence. Around forty people have been killed and dozens of others injured since Saturday. Clashes between antagonistic sedentary communities in the province of Ouaddaï, in the east of the country. It all started two years ago, when a member of the Mouro community wanted to build a Koranic school in the village of a Birgit community, which the latter had refused. The minority Birgit hold the chiefdom of this canton populated mainly by Mouro, who feel marginalized.

Around forty people have been killed and dozens of others injured since Saturday, during clashes between antagonistic sedentary communities in the province of Ouaddaï,…

Chad: dozens of deaths in a few days in intercommunal violence

Around forty people have been killed and dozens of others injured since Saturday, during clashes between antagonistic sedentary communities in the province of Ouaddaï, in the east of the country. The minority Birgit hold the chiefdom of this canton populated mainly by Mouro, who feel marginalized.

The Tileguey village in Chad. © RFI

By: RFI Follow

It all started two years ago, when a member of the Mouro community wanted to build a Koranic school in the village of a Birgit community, which the latter had refused. Clashes followed which left three people dead at the time. This Saturday, the man returned to the village and went to his abandoned construction site. This ignited the situation, with the Birgits attacking him violently, but he managed to escape from them.

This person will then bring together members of their Mouro community, who will organize a punitive expedition the next day. Dozens of men armed to the teeth attack the village of Tileguey, where they surprise their “

enemy brothers

” in the middle of prayer. A real massacre ensued, 27 people were killed on the spot, while twelve injured were later evacuated to a nearby hospital, according to administrative and hospital sources on site.

175 people arrested

The canton then goes into turmoil. Manhunts increased between the two communities until Tuesday, when the transitional government, which seemed to have taken stock of this explosion of violence, sent a strong delegation led by the Minister of Public Security to the site. no one, General Mahamat Charfadine Margui, to restore calm.

Latest assessment given by his ministry's website yesterday: 42 dead on both sides, as well as numerous injured. 175 people who allegedly participated in this violence were arrested, according to the same source.

An advisor from Ouaddaï, the name given to the transitional deputies, denounces “

a major security failure

” when this violence broke out. “

There were only three police officers, fifteen gendarmes and around twenty nomad guards present in the entire canton when all this violence was unleashed. They couldn’t do anything

Chad: dozens of deaths in a few days in intercommunal violence

Chad: dozens of deaths in a few days in intercommunal violence

175 people arrested

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