At least 10 people have been murdered in clashes between farmers and herders in southern Chad, an area that frequently experiences such violence, a local governor told AFP on Saturday.

Conflict between sedentary farmers who are mainly Christian or animist and predominantly Muslim nomadic herders has seized the fertile border regions of Chad, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic.

Tensions are historically rooted in rivalry over land.

The farmers often accuse the herders of letting their cattle trample their crops and eat them, while the herders say they have the traditional right to graze there.

The latest outbreak of violence occurred on Thursday, when a 12-year-old herder took his animals onto a farmer’s peanut field, leading to an altercation that left the child dead, Adoum Forteye Amadou, the governor of the Madoul region, told AFP by telephone.

His parents then killed nine farmers in revenge, Amadou said, adding that the incident occurred near the village of Bara II, 600 kilometres southeast of the capital of N’Djamena.

“Five herders, the authors of the killing spree, have been arrested, as well as the murderer of the young herder,” he said.