War and soaring temperatures leave many rural communities in South Sudan with little or no local water sources. Women and children are subjected to violent attacks, rape, and murder when traveling to regional sources to collect water. Leaders report conflicts sparked by water shortages occurring between the many of the 60 different ethnic groups across the country.
Local authorities cite water shortages as a growing influence on the number child kidnappings in the Boma region of South Sudan. When there is a water shortage, shepherding communities spend more time on the move seeking water for their livestock, but, as a side business, they will also abduct children who can then be resold for profit.
More than 130 people are killed in the conflict between hunter and herder communities in Mali. In this instance, Dogon hunters are accused of attacking Fulani herders.
A severe drought in Northern KwaZulu-Natal sparks “water riots’ in the town of Jozini over access to water and in opposition to the installation of water meters. Violence erupts after a community protest, leading to the arrest of 23 people.
Information is leaked about an alleged secret agreement that would allow Egypt to build an air base in Sudan to attack the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt is concerned that the dam, under construction in Ethiopia just upstream of Sudan on the Blue Nile, would reduce flows into its territory. The news reports, strongly denied by Egypt, claim that Sudan would allow Egypt to launch attacks if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve water sharing between Egypt and Ethiopia. The…
Five people from a citizen water committee and local police in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, are reportedly beaten and tortured by military officers after asking the military to allow local residents to organize and take water from a local source. Residents stage protests against the violent reaction of the military.
Police use live ammunition against demonstrators in the southern part of Hargeisa. Residents of Ahmed Dhagah district in Hargeisa, mostly women and children, take to the streets protesting severe water shortages.
Environmental activist and opposition leader Sikhosiphi Radebe in South Africa is murdered after opposing industrial mining development that threatened community water and land.
In August 2012, fighting between two clans in the Lower Juba region of south Somalia kills at least three people and wounds five. Reports from the village of Waraq (near the border with Kenya) indicate that the dispute began over the ownership of new water wells.
At least four people are killed in South Africa during protests over water shortages in the northern town of Brits.