No fewer than 42 people have been killed and 10 others wounded in Chad amid an escalating conflict resulting from a well dispute, authorities say.

Deputy Prime Minister Limane Mahamat said the violent clash occurred on Saturday in Wadi Fira Province, near the country’s border with Sudan, between two families. 

He said it escalated into reprisals that spiralled over a wide area.

Mr Mahamat, who led a delegation to the Igote village in the province on Sunday, said those wounded in the clash had been taken to the provincial health centre.

“The situation is under control and remains so,” said Mr Mahamat, noting the military’s “swift response” in containing the violence.

He added that the government was implementing necessary measures to forestall destabilisation in the area where the conflict erupted.

Mr Mahamat also announced the launch of “customary mediation” and judicial proceedings to establish criminal responsibility.

Chad, a landlocked country in Central Africa with a population of over 20.3 million, has been plagued by clashes between ethnic groups and between farmers and herders over water and grazing lands.

In November 2025, a dispute over a water well between two communities in Chad’s Hadjer-Lamis province led to the death of at least 33 people and left several others injured.

According to rights body Amnesty International, 98 lives were lost in farmer-herder violence linked to climate change and other issues in the Central African country between 2022 and 2024.