Chad: Failure to Protect Victims of Herder-farmer Violence

The Chadian authorities have failed to protect the victims of armed clashes between herders and farmers as well as their right to truth, justice, and reparations, Amnesty International said in a new report.

“Live off the land and die for it: Human rights violations in conflicts between herders and farmers in Chad” documents seven episodes of herder-farmer violence – driven among other reasons by climate change pressures – in four provinces between 2022 and 2024 that left 98 people dead, more than 100 injured, and hundreds of families without homes or sources of income. In total, there are thousands of victims of these clashes, according to the United Nations data shared over the last years.

“Faced with recurring violence between herders and farmers, the authorities are failing to adequately protect the population. The security forces’ response is often delayed,and those suspected of killings,looting,and destruction of property are rarely brought to justice,fueling a sense of impunity and marginalization within communities,” said Agnès Callamard,Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Deadly violence amid climate change

On 26 August 2019, in the village of Sandana, in Moyen-Chari, a conflict that started with cattle trespassing on a field escalated: seven people were killed, eight wounded, and more than 140 cattle were stolen. On 9 February 2022, another attack in the same village left 13 people dead.

Several less publicized attacks are documented in the report, including in Pala Koudja, in Logone Occidental. On 30 August 2024, the repeated trespassing of a herd into a field triggered a violent altercation between herders and farmers, leaving three people dead and seven wounded. During the night, unidentified individuals set fire to 53 homes.

Tensions between herders and farmers are exacerbated by demographic pressure, the effects of human-induced climate change, notably on herd movements, and competition for access to natural resources. Rising