Al Shabaab, a group fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia, diverts water from the Jubba River, causing a flood that forced Somali, Kenyan, and U.S. military forces to move to higher ground where they were later ambushed. One soldier from the U.S. was killed in the ambush.
At least two demonstrators are killed and others wounded when protests against water shortages are broken up by police firing live bullets. The shortages were caused by a work stoppage by private water vendors protesting new taxes.
Pro-apartheid council cuts off water to the Wesselton township of 50,000 blacks following protests over miserable sanitation and living conditions.
Bomb blast destroyed the main water pipeline, cutting off water for the city of Lusaka, population 3 million.
Attacks by Islamic militants on utilities cut water supply to Timbuktu, Mali. There are also reports that Malian forces carried out executions in the conflict area near the towns of Sevare, Mopti, and Niono with bodies being dumped in water wells.
In Chereponi district, Ghana, houses are burned to the ground, animals are killed, and many flee as violence erupts along ethnic lines between Chokosis and Bimobas peoples who are fighting over land and water resources.
Starting in the 1980s, rapid recession of Lake Chad draws Nigerian fishermen farther into Cameroonian territory, leading to several military encounters. By the 1990s, more than thirty Lake Chad villages are founded by Nigerians are counted in Cameroon. In 2002, the border dispute goes to the International Court of Justice, which rules in Cameroon’s favor.
Demonstrations over water and power shortages in Conakry, Fria, and Dinguiraye turn violent, with dozens injured.
A guard at water wells in the Um Burma area, Sudan is attacked and severely injured by paramilitaries.
Union of South African troops capture Windhoek, capital of German Southwest Africa in May 1915. Retreating German troops poison wells – “a violation of the Hague convention.”