Fishermen-Herders conflict leaves 12 dead in Cameroon

Cameroon

The fighting in the Far North region broke out on Tuesday, authorities said.

Photo credit: File

At least a dozen people were killed and 48 others wounded in clashes between cattle breeders and fishermen on Tuesday in the Far North region of Cameroon, authorities announced Thursday.

The governor of the region, Midjiyawa Bakari told state broadcaster, the Cameroon Radio Television that the dispute over a trivial issue before degenerating into a deadly scuffle in the Logone and Chari division of the region that borders Chad and Nigeria.

“It started as a dispute between Mousgoum fishermen and Arab Choa cattle rearers over a water source,” governor Midjiyawa told the CRTV. He said the fishermen had erected dikes to develop their fishing grounds where the Arab Choa shepherds come with their cattle to drink water in the locality of Zina, near the border with Chad.

He said an incident happened between the two peoples, then degenerating into deadly clashes between the two communities.

"At the moment, we have recorded 12 deaths and also 48 wounded who are at the hospital of Kousseri (Cameroon) and at the hospital of N'Djamena (Chad)", he explained adding that several houses, food items and cattle were also destroyed during the scuffle.

The administrative authority said they have used traditional rulers and other local authorities to talk to the communities and relative calm has returned to the localities.

Deadly clashes between communities like that of last Tuesday are relatively rare in Cameroon but repeated in neighboring countries like Chad where farmer-herder clashes left at least 22 people dead and 18 injured, August 7.