Violent clashes between Arab and non-Arab tribes in two eastern regions of Chad have left more than 100 dead over the past week, the government said on Tuesday.
A first wave of tribal violence occurred last week in the southeastern part of the country, killing roughly 100 people.
The clashes came just one week after fighting between rebels and the army in the same region, which borders the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, reportedly led to the deaths of around 100 guerrillas and more than 200 soldiers.
Later on Tuesday, Chadian officials announced a separate outburst of violence between Arabs and non-Arabs in the far eastern part of the country, that left "numerous victims" in recent days.
In both cases, officials furnished little explanation as to the cause of the fighting.
"Inter-tribal confrontations have taken place since Nov. 4," in two eastern Chadian villages, Chadian Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement regarding the latest bout of unrest.
"These confrontations have left numerous victims on both sides," he added.
National Administration Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir said a "problem" between Arab and the non-Arab Kibet tribes in southeastern Chad a week ago had initially left three dead in each community. But the situation rapidly degenerated.
"The Arabs in neighboring districts then organized attacks on the Kibet villages," Bachir explained by telephone from Am Timan, the main town in the Salamat region, where the clashes took place.
He said several villages had been burned in the fighting, which left "more than 100 dead," a number of wounded and forced others to flee their homes.
The head of the Chadian human rights league (LTDH), Massalbaye Tenebaye, said the violence had left "more than 140 people dead and 38 seriously wounded."
A dozen villages north of Am Timan had been destroyed, with "more than 400 huts burnt to the ground."
Tenebaye said it was hard to obtain a final assessment of the human and material damage because sections of the tribes involved appeared to be hiding in the bush, fearing a new flare-up.
Minister Bachir said calm had been restored to the region on Nov. 4. He has been in leading a delegation in Salamat for the past three days "to assess the damage and conduct enquiries."
The region of Salamat borders the Central African Republic and is across the border from Darfur, where fighting pitting Arab militias backed by the Sudanese government against non-Arab black Africans has killed at least 200,000 people since early 2003.
Last month, Salamat was the scene of clashes between the Chadian army and the country's rebel Union for the Forces of Democracy and Development (UFDD), a newly formed coalition opposed to the regime of President Idriss Deby Itno.
The rebels briefly occupied Am Timan and the eastern town of Goz Beida on Oct. 23. The incident led N'Djamena to accuse Sudan of supporting the rebels, an allegation both Khartoum and the UFDD have denied.
The Chadian authorities did not on Tuesday establish any link between the presence in the east of the UFDD rebels -- one of whose leaders is Arab -- and the clashes between Arabs and Kibets last week.
But the LTDH's Tenebaye said he could not rule out a possible connection between the two.
"Regions and ethnic groups have always been exploited for political ends," he said.
He said it was impossible for the moment to say which side had started the violence.
But the human rights league has regularly reported that attacks by rebels have often led to reprisals against the assailants' communities.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese