At least 23 people have been killed in a seven-day offensive between herders and farmers in the fertile south of Chad, Communications Minister Abdraman Koulamallah confirmed on Monday.
The "murder" of a man from an Arab community reportedly ignited the fresh clashes which raged between 21 and 27 March in three villages in the Moyen-Chari region -- Balwaï, Kolo and Balkoutou -- Koulamallah told AFP.
According to the minister, the victim's clan launched a retaliatory attack against the Sara-Kaba farming community, killing 14 people among them four women and two children.
Another nine people from the Arab community also died during the clashes, which continued for seven days.
Arrests
Koulamallah however assures that calm has returned, stating that 21 people have been arrested following the violence.
"Investigations are continuing to find all the perpetrators, co-perpetrators and accomplices of these crimes", the minister said.
The fresh fighting came in the wake of a similar conflict that killed 42 people in the desert east of Chad.
Grazing fields and land ownership disputes are increasingly fanning clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders in the Sahelian region.
