Ethnic clashes in Cameroon over cattle rustling kills several

Clashes between two ethnic communities in northern Cameroon over cattle theft have killed three people and wounded a dozen more, local authorities said on Monday.

The violence erupted in the district of Gobo, in the Far North region, a tract of land wedged between Nigeria to the west and Chad to the east.

"Three people were killed and about 10 others injured, houses burned down, shops looted," regional Governor Bakari Midjiyawa said.

Police were deployed to restore calm while all activities – agriculture, livestock, fishing, education – were suspended, he added.

'Only enemy is poverty'

The violence occurred after "repeated incidents of cattle theft", according to public radio CRTV.

A Massa cattle buyer, who sought to purchase goats, was killed on the road, according to a witness interviewed Monday by CRTV.

The Moussey and the Massa "are peoples who have lived side by side for millennia, there are weddings, they meet in festivals", the governor said in a press briefing Sunday.

"Suddenly, they stare at each other, they fight... The only enemy, I remind you, is poverty. Rather than waging war, we must fight poverty."

Cross-border attacks

Clashes between ethnic groups are rare in Cameroon but are frequent in Chad and Nigeria, particularly between sedentary farmers and semi-nomadic herders.

Cameroon's Far North is also struggling with cross-border attacks by insurgents from northeastern Nigeria.

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