Chad: Bishop Tarounga calls attention to growing insecurity.

Myriam Sandouno - Vatican City.

In an interview with Vatican News, Bishop Tarounga said the Government of Chad needs to assume its responsibilities and bring order to the restive regions.

“Southern Chad is currently living a climate of insecurity due to conflicts between herders and farmers. A new form of violence attributed to persons the government is referring to as bandits is growing and is also causing concern. The new types of attacks are sowing seeds of terror in the villages and rural areas,” said Bishop Tarounga.

The so-called bandits are exploiting the delicate security atmosphere to kill, extort and maim.

What is causing the intercommunal violence?

Intercommunal conflict over land use and water rights between agricultural-based communities and nomadic pastoral herders has been a frequent cause of inter-communal violence in Chad’s central and southern regions. The results of the conflicts are often deadly. According to analysts, the situation is aggravated by adverse weather conditions being experienced in many countries of the Sahel. In Chad, climate change has resulted in either drought or flooding. The resulting scarcity of food and search for pasture, by herders, bring communities into conflict. Chadian authorities have since identified hate speech as a growing catalyst for some of the intercommunal clashes.

The military must protect people

Bishop Tarounga wondered why Chad’s army, which has a formidable reputation for effectively repelling and combatting insurgents in the region, appeared to be struggling to find an effective solution for the inter-communal violence and bandits who have invaded.

He reminded the military of its duty to ensure people’s safety and to prevent incursions from “bandits,” who are worsening an already fragile security situation.

Climate change: an added crisis

“You can see it on people’s faces, whether you go to the countryside or the towns. We are all apprehensive about general insecurity, the army fighting rebels, the high cost of living and climate change,” explained Bishop Tarounga.

The Bishop further recalled that last year’s floods left the people with a poor harvest. “Since we are a rural region, and the lives of the majority of people depend essentially on agriculture when the harvests are not good, there is the threat of famine,” he said.

As country, Chad is now also having to host thousands of Sudanese refugees fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.