At least 42 people were killed on Saturday in intercommunal clashes in eastern Chad, the government delegate on the ground told AFP on Sunday.

"The conflict erupted following a dispute over a well between two families living" in the area, said Brahim Issa Galmaye, the government delegate to the Wadi Fira province, in the sub-prefecture of Guéréda. "At least 42 people were killed," he added.

Several ministers, senior local officials and the chief of staff of the armed forces were dispatched to the scene on Sunday.

"The situation is under control and remains in control," said Limane Mahamat, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, on public television in the evening.

For several years, eastern Chad, a transhumance zone and strategic region on the border with war-torn Sudan, has been plagued by conflicts between different communities, mainly between sedentary indigenous farmers and nomadic Arab herders.

In neighbouring Sudan, the civil war that has pitted the Sudanese army against the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023 has caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced more than 12 million people, including nearly one million in Chad, according to the UN.

Addressing the violence, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that it "stems from a context," referring to the conflict in Sudan. "We will do everything to contain the situation and prevent our country from being drawn into this conflict, which, I repeat, does not concern us in any way," he insisted.

Last November, at least 33 people were killed in intercommunal clashes in a village in Hadjer-Lamis province, in central Chad, following a dispute over access to a water well.

Chad is frequently affected by episodes of intercommunal violence, particularly in certain rural areas where conflicts related to land, livestock, and access to water sometimes take a deadly turn.

Agro-pastoral conflicts have caused more than a thousand deaths and 2,000 injuries between 2021 and 2024, according to estimates by the NGO International Crisis Group (ICG).