At least 15 people were killed last Thursday during clashes between shepherds and farmers in northeastern Central Africa, near the border with Chad, we were told on Tuesday 15 June. This is one of the most violent incidents recorded for many years in a region where such conflicts between farmers and herdsmen are recurring.
It all started with a Chadian Arab shepherd who let his oxen plunder a farmer’s field in the village of Tiri, in the prefecture of Bamingui-Bangoran, explains the prefect Bata Wapi Yepi. An argument breaks out, the breeder is finally killed after injuring the farmer with a knife.
We are nearing the end of transhumanism. The shepherds, who arrived from Chad or Sudan in December, have moved back to their countries of origin since the return of the rainy season. They are therefore very numerous during this period and are all armed with Kalashnikov rifles.
Punitive surgery
They will start the same day a “punitive operation” on the village of Tiri where they shoot at everything that moves, burn more than 60 houses, a church, grain, describes prefect Bamangui-Bangoran.
The human path is also very heavy: at least fourteen people were killed, including a woman who was cut in the neck, according to this administrative official who speaks of a “real massacre of defenseless peasants”.
Recurring conflicts
Since then, the more than 3,000 inhabitants of this village have moved out into the bush or to the nearby town of Ndélé. “We calm them down so that they return to their homes,” Bata Wapi Yepi explained, assuring that parts of Minusca and Faca “protect” the village from now on.
Conflicts between farmers and shepherds are recurring in this region during a period of transhumance, recalls the Sultan of Ndélé, Senoussi Ibrahim. But “this is the first time I have seen violence on this scale since I adopted this post,” he said.
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