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Clashes took place in the province of Salamat where farmers were attacked when they encountered a roadblock.
Thirty-five people have been killed in the fighting between semi-nomadic herders and farmers in southeastern Chad in recent days, according to a senior official.
The deaths occurred in the province of Salamat where farmers were attacked when they encountered a roadblock, the provincial secretary general, Mara Maad, told AFP news agency on Wednesday.
The farmer accused local cattle ranchers and launched an attack on them on Monday, prompting authorities to send troops who restored order the same day, Maad added.
“Inter-communal clashes left 35 people dead, including one soldier,” Maad said.
Pastoralists and sedentary farmers have a long and troubled history in southern Chad, where guns are plentiful and violence often erupts after livestock destroy crops.
Previous murderous incidents
In November last year, 22 people were killed in clashes between herders and farmers in Kabbie, which is also in the south, while nearly 50 were killed in ethnic conflicts across Chad over the two following months.
In a speech on December 31, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said he was “distressed” and “dismayed” by the deadly clashes that have taken place in recent months.
Political scientist Evariste Ngarlem Tolde told AFP news agency that such clashes had assumed “worrying proportions” in recent years.
“The local authorities have a blatant bias since they keep herds, which does not help an amicable settlement of these inter-community conflicts”, he declared.
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