A new bout of intercommunal violence has left 18 people dead, including women and children, in a southwestern region of Chad, according to a new government toll.
“A deadly clash occurred on June 19, 2025 in the village of Oregomel, Mayo-Kebbi Ouest province, resulting in 18 deaths including women and children, and 17 injured,” the communications minister and government spokesperson, Gassim Cherif Mahamat, said late Saturday.

On Friday, the general delegate of the provincial government, Abdelmanane Katab, had announced 17 deaths to AFP, including eleven children and six women, in what he attributed to a “vendetta” led by “armed herders with machetes”.

“A government mission composed of several ministers was immediately dispatched to the scene to assess the situation on the ground, provide government support to bereaved families, and restore order and the authority of the state,” Mahamat said, adding that 20 suspected perpetrators of the violence had been arrested.

The violence came after a massacre last month in Mandakao where 42 people were killed when armed men from the Ngambaye ethnic group attacked Fulani herders.

A dispute between nomadic Fulani and indigenous Ngambaye farmers over the demarcation of grazing and farming areas in the vicinity is believed to be the origin of the violence, according to local sources.

The leader of the Transformateurs opposition party, Succes Masra, a Ngambaye, has been arrested and charged with inciting hatred and revolt and involvement with armed gangs.
The judiciary has highlighted what it says is an audio message appearing to incriminate Masra dating back to 2023.

According to a French translation of the message, it says: “Let us learn from each other to use a firearm. Whether girl or boy, whether man or woman… let us all be protective shields.”

In the south of the country, Christian and animist populations often feel marginalised by the predominantly Muslim administration in N’Djamena.

Agro-pastoral conflicts have resulted in more than a thousand deaths between 2021 and 2024, according to estimates from the International Crisis Group.