Chad’s military says it has deployed several hundred troops along the border with Cameroon to stop rebels from abducting civilians after armed men kidnapped a dozen Cameroonians, including a popular traditional ruler this week. Chad’s military has freed the kidnap victims but says troops need civilian help to stop a wave of local intercommunal violence.
The latest wave of violence between the Moussey and Massa communities erupted in border areas late last month.
Officials in Cameroon say that since then, several hundred civilians have been reluctant to return to the Gobo district, located along the central African state’s northern border with Chad.
Many civilians have fled to safer towns and villages.
Forty-three-year-old cattle rancher Timothe Woundai is one of the displaced civilians. He said he, his wife and three children found refuge the Gobo district village of Yakreo.
Woundai said tensions degenerated into ongoing violence after a member of the Moussey community was killed and had his goats stolen. He said Moussey community members launched attacks on their Massa community neighbors using weapons including guns, machetes and bow and arrows to kill civilians. He said Moussey community members also accuse Massa community members of regularly stealing cattle.
Military officials in Cameroon say at least five people have been killed and scores wounded amid the violence between the two communities. Both communities say about 13 people have died so far, with several dozen houses torched.
When the conflict began, civilians said Voutsou Tairia, the traditional ruler of Bougoudoum village, and a dozen civilians were abducted and taken to Chad.
Chadian officials say Voutsou was rescued from captivity by government troops, flown to Cameroon in a Chadian military helicopter and handed to Cameroon’s military and government officials this week.
Authorities in Chad have provided no details about where and how the traditional ruler and the others were rescued. Officials say Voutsou and the freed civilians were given free medical care.
Abdelkerim Seid Bauche is governor of Mayo-Kebbi East, an administrative region in Chad.
He said Chad deployed troops on its side of the border Wednesday to stop rebels and armed gangs from abducting civilians and crossing with weapons into Mayo-Kebbi East.
Abdelkerim said after handing Voutsou to Cameroon officials he is launching a fervent appeal to civilians on both sides of the Chad-Cameroon border to help restore peace by reporting armed men and strangers hiding among civilians in towns and villages to government troops and administrative officials.
Abdelkerim added that Chad is very concerned about the ongoing violence because weapons are illegally circulating across the porous border and can be used by armed gangs to destabilize communities.
Meanwhile, Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North Region, said troops have also been deployed on the Cameroon side of the border to make sure that armed gangs and criminals escaping Chad’s military onslaught do not find safety on Cameroon’s territory.
He said armed men responsible for the fresh wave of violence along the border will be punished.
Accusations of cattle stealing and violence have plagued relations between the Massa and Moussey communities for years. Cameroon says President Paul Biya has dispatched a delegation to negotiate peace between the two communities.
