Communal Clashes Force 30,000 People to Flee Cameroon to Chad
Communal Clashes Force 30,000 People to Flee Cameroon to Chad
More than 30,000 people fled Cameroon to neighboring Chad because of inter-communal clashes in the north of the country this month, the United Nations Refugee Agency said.
At least 22 have died and 30 others were seriously injured in several days of fighting since clashes broke out in the border village of Ouloumsa on Dec. 5, following a dispute between herders, fishermen and farmers over dwindling water resources. The climate crisis is exacerbating tensions in the region, the agency said.
“In recent decades, the surface of Lake Chad -- of which the Logone River is a main tributary -- has decreased by as much as 95%,” it said. “Fishermen and farmers have dug vast trenches to retain the remaining river water so they can fish and cultivate crops. But the muddy trenches are trapping and sometimes killing cattle belonging to the herders, sparking tension and fighting.”
Security forces have been deployed to the area, but the situation remains volatile.
The central African nation is also dealing with escalating violence in the country’s English-speaking regions in the northeast and southeast of the country.
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