At least six people have been beheaded and four left injured over the past few days in renewed inter-communal clashes pitting farmers against one another in the sub-prefecture of Goré, Logone Oriental province, in southerly Chad. As many times happen in this sort of deal, these flares have grown up out of disputes over the right of herders to graze cattle in cultivated areas.
The first case was just a week ago in Timberi, some twenty kilometers from Goré. An argument erupted between one of the herders and a farmer, culminating in the latter’s death. Later, a herder was killed in revenge.
Two days before, another herder had reportedly led his drovers into a farmer’s peanut field, 7 kilometers from Goré. The farmer had demanded compensation, tension had mounted, and they had brandished machetes at each other, according to the canton chief of Goré, Médard Betoubam Allarassem. The herder was killed, while the farmer was injured.
The herder’s brothers fought back with arms and carried out retaliation. According to a statement by the public prosecutor for Goré, Nerambaye Ndoubamian, the next Wednesday, three bodies were found in the farmers’ fields. The authorities say four were wounded during the manhunt.
Since then, the situation has deteriorated, and the peasants have locked themselves in the host villages, not allowing them to go to the fields for fear of being attacked. According to concordant sources, the authorities of the province of Logone Oriental are in Buldé to restore order. According to the prosecutor, the suspect is already in custody, while the other two are on the run.