Twelve people have been killed in clashes between herders and farmers in southern Chad, where ethnic friction over land is common, the authorities said Friday.

“A herder who was moving his animals was killed by farmers on Wednesday and in reprisal, herders armed with guns killed 11 farmers,” the governor of Moyen-Chari province, Ali Ahmat Akhabach, told AFP by phone

The incident took place on Wednesday in the village of Sandana, about 550 kilometres (320 miles) south of the capital N’Djamena, he said.

“The toll is 12 dead, and several armed people were arrested,” Ahmat Akhabach said. “The situation is currently under control.”

In a statement, the Chadian Convention for Human Rights, an NGO, attacked what it called a “savage killing” and “the use of force… as a way to resolve” disputes.

Squabbles of this kind are common in central and southern Chad, typically pitching semi-nomadic Arab herders against darker-skinned sedentary farmers.

Clashes erupt when animals graze on farmers’ fields, destroying the crops.

In February 2021, 35 people were killed in southern Chad in similar circumstances, and 22 died in the more arid eastern part of the country in August. (AFP)