KIGALI, Rwanda

Up to 30,000 people in northern Cameroon fled to Chad following recent ethnic clashes that claimed 22 lives, the UN's refugee agency said on Friday.

Since Dec. 5, at least 22 people have been killed and 30 others seriously injured during several days of ongoing fighting, the UNHCR said in a statement.

Clashes broke out in the border village of Ouloumsa following a dispute between herders, fishermen, and farmers over dwindling water resources.

The violence then spread to neighboring villages, leaving 10 villages burned to the ground.

“On Dec. 8, fighting broke out in the Cameroonian city of Kousseri – a commercial hub with some 200,000 inhabitants. Kousseri's cattle market was destroyed in the fighting. At least 10,000 people have fled Kousseri to Chad's capital N'djamena,” the statement said.

At least 80% of the new arrivals are women, including many who are pregnant, and children, it said.

They have found refuge in N'Djamena and villages along Chad's bank of the Logone River while those injured in the violence have been admitted to two hospitals in N'Djamena.

The climate crisis is exacerbating tensions in northern Cameroon.

In recent decades, the surface of Lake Chad – of which the Logone River is the main tributary – has decreased by as much as 95%.

Fishermen and farmers have dug vast trenches to retain the remaining river water so they can fish and cultivate crops.

But the muddy trenches are trapping and sometimes killing cattle belonging to the herders, sparking tension and fighting.

Intercommunal violence first broke out in August, leaving 45 people dead and 23,000 forcibly displaced, 8,500 of whom have remained in Chad since then, according to UNHCR.

Chad is home to close to a million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) and Cameroon hosts more than 1.5 million refugees and IDPs.

The UNHCR said financial resources to respond to the situation in both countries remain critically low.

The funding requirement is $99.6 million for Cameroon in 2021 and $141 million for Chad, which are only 52% and 54% funded respectively.