An incident between fishermen and herders escalated in the far North of the country. Clashes left 12 people dead and 48 injured in the Logone Birni area, near the Chadian border, according to the governor of the region, who believes the situation is now under control. He is traveling to the area today and tomorrow on a “mission of appeasement.
The rainy season is conducive to incidents between fishermen and herders in the far north of Cameroon, but never before have they caused such loss of life, admits Governor Midjiyawa Bakari. “The fishermen are used to making holes and building dykes to hold back water and fish. The fishermen are used to making holes, to putting up dikes to hold back water and fish,” he said. Sometimes the cattle fall and die in the holes.
A reinforcement of the security forces has contributed to a return to calm and the governor is going to the site on Friday and Saturday, accompanied by a delegation of religious leaders, local elected officials and traditional chiefs, to try to find a lasting solution. “In this mission of appeasement, we will deploy ourselves to make people understand that from now on, if there is a problem, they will refer to the authorities in order to find a solution, rather than fighting and that we will end up with human losses as we have just seen.
The clashes left 12 people dead and 48 wounded, divided between hospitals in Kousseri, on the Cameroonian side, and Ndjamena, on the other side of the Chadian border.