Chadian soldiers spread terror on the Logone

Following the suicide attacks that have struck the Chadian capital Ndjamena, local administrative authorities have taken a number of measures including the prohibition of all human activity on the Logone River.

If Cameroonian officials consider the measure, it will eventually result in numerous drifts. The newspaper Le Jour in its edition of Thursday, October 22, 2015, for example, reveals that "at the end of September 2015, Boubakari Abba, head of livestock center Tane, in the district of Goulfey and two religious leaders who went to pray for the center manager's wife who was about to give birth, were arrested by Chadian military and held for two weeks in Chad".

"They were suspected of being accomplices of Boko Haram. It took diplomatic pressure for the three men to be freed," reports Le Jour. There was also exchanges between the canton chief of Hinalé and Chadian soldiers "who wanted to seize the goods of a sugar seller. The altercation resulted in the death of the Cameroonian who was choked with indignation and succumbed to a heart attack," says the newspaper.

Examples of the abuse are many as some Cameroonians who go to villages on the Cameroon side of the Logone "must make a detour to Chad to pay for a license for navigating the river." According to the newspaper, heavily armed Chadian soldiers shoot at anything that moves.

"There were even ducks on which they fired machine guns at as they swam in the river." Le Jour reported that "patrols are behind the residence of the sub-prefect and boatmen who ventured there are fired with machine guns."

For the newspaper, "the Chadians who seem more aware of the preciousness of the water, have monopolized the Logone." But a source at the territorial administration argues that in reality, "Chadians have always believed that the Logone is theirs." She however said that "these problems were posed to the Joint Committee of Ndjamena-Kousseri."

"Discussions are being engaged, we hope that in the near future, the situation will be normalized," she says.

Meanwhile, the big fishing season opens in a few days. Thousands of families in the departments of Mayo Danay, Chari and Logone have been preparing for it for months.