The Yemeni Interior Ministry claims up to 4,000 people die annually from water-related violence including raids on wells and other fights over water access involving armed groups. A report from Yemen’s pro-government newspaper estimates that 70-80% of conflicts in rural areas are about water. The UNFAO estimates that about 20 million Yemenis do not have access to drinking water because of the ongoing civil war.
Militant groups in Pakistan take advantage of severe flooding to reorganize and gain political power. Military resources in the country have been diverted to humanitarian relief efforts.
Protesters in poor communities of Cape Town, South Africa riot over inadequate water and power. Hundreds burn tires, destroy cars, and throw rocks at police in anger over the lack of basic services.
Water shortages due to drought and mismanagement contribute to violent unrest of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, India. During one protest, police shoot into a crowd, killing five protestors.
During the 2011 Libyan Civil War, forces loyal to dictator Muammar Gaddafi gain control of a water operations center and cut off water supply to the capital. The system controls Libya’s Great Manmade River”a system of pumps, pipes, and canals that brings water from distant aquifers to Tripoli and other cities. Half the country is left without running water, prompting the UN and neighboring countries to mobilize tanker ships to deliver water to coastal cities.
Fighting around Malakal, in South Sudan, displaces thousands and leaves many dead. A military checkpoint and water pipeline to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) compound and nearby Protection of Civilians area are targeted and destroyed.
The militant Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf threatens to poison the water supply in Isabela, a mainly Christian town on Basilan Island in the country’s south. In October, residents in six nearby villages are suspected for contamination due to water that smelled like gasoline. Local officials respond by closing pipelines and bringing in drinking water by truck. In the months following the 9/11 attacks on New York, numerous false alarms of terrorist activity are reported around the world.
Botswana’s president Festus Mogae sends troops to the Kalahari Desert to destroy wells and empty water sources of indigenous Khoisan (also known as Bushmen), ostensibly in an effort to remove them from their ancestral lands and assimilate them into modern society. Critics blame the government of taking away water rights in favor of mining interests and labeled the government’s actions a “siege”; Botswana is condemned by international observers. Against expectations, a band of Bushmen retreat into the desert and survive…
Jordan makes public its plans to irrigate the Jordan Valley by tapping the Yarmouk River; Israel responds by commencing drainage of the Huleh swamps located in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria; border skirmishes ensue between Israel and Syria.
Tajik guerrilla commander Makhmud Khudoberdyev threatens to blow up a dam on the Kairakum channel if his political demands are not met.