Dozens dead in fresh Chad ethnic fighting

At least 37 people have been killed in fresh fighting this week between farmers and herders from rival ethnic groups in Chad, President Idriss Deby said yesterday.

The violence broke out over three days in the province of Ouaddai, a strategic area on the eastern border with Sudan, he said. “The intercommunal conflict has become a national concern,” Deby told a press conference to mark the country’s independence day. “We are witnessing a terrible phenomenon.”

Eastern Chad is in the grip of a cycle of violence between nomadic camel herders -- many from the Zaghawa ethnic group from which Deby hails -- and sedentary farmers from the Ouaddian community