37 dead in intercommunal conflicts in Chad – president

Thirty-seven people have been killed in intercommunal clashes in eastern Chad since the beginning of the week, local media quoted Chadian President, Idriss Deby, as saying on Friday.
“Three days ago, 37 Chadians were killed in Ouaddai,” said Deby during the traditional news conference held on Friday at the presidential palace marking the national day on Aug. 11.
According to Deby, among the various factors that create tensions between communities is the massive spread of illegal weapons, especially from neighbouring Libya.
“It is a total war we must wage against those, who carry weapons and are responsible for the deaths of men,” he said.
In the two neighbouring eastern provinces of Ouaddai and Sila, even the government forces were attacked, according to the president.
“Smarter and more coherent” provisions have been put in place, including the creation of “special units for disarmament”, Deby said.
“Inter-community conflicts must not last, and I will personally take care of this issue,” he added.
In May, still in the province of Ouaddai, twelve people were killed by “heavily armed individuals’’, while at the same time about twenty people lost their lives in the intercommunal conflicts in the province of Sila. (Xinhua/NAN)