Twenty people were killed in ethnic clashes in east Chad after the desertion of former rebels loyal to the defence minister stoked tensions in the region bordering Sudan’s Darfur, government sources said on Monday.
The violence between the Tama and Zaghawa communities broke out after an armed group of Tama fighters, who had served under Defence Minister Mahamat Nour, abandoned the eastern town of Guereda last week and moved close to the Sudanese border. They accused Chad’s armed forces of trying to disarm them.
Details of the inter-communal fighting were scarce but it appeared armed Zaghawa clansmen had taken advantage of the absence of Nour’s men in Guereda to settle scores with Tamas. Clan rivalries run deep in eastern Chad and, as in Darfur, many local residents go about armed and clashes are frequent.
News of the latest violence emerged as European Union foreign ministers were meeting in Luxembourg to announce final details of the planned deployment of an EU peacekeeping force in eastern Chad to protect civilians, refugees and aid workers.
Chad President Idriss Itno Déby flew on Sunday to Biltine, the main town of the eastern Wadi Fira border region, and instructed the local governor to travel to Guereda to calm the situation, the government sources, who asked not to be named, said.
”There are 20 dead and lots of material damage,” one said.
The desertion of the group of Nour’s men, former members of the rebel United Front for Democratic Change, which he once led, raised fears of fresh splits inside Chad’s fractious armed forces at a time when Déby’s government is trying to push through a peace deal with other eastern rebels still under arms. — Reuters