Fighting over boreholes in arid northern Kenya kills at least four people as competition for resources grows in the drought-hit region between the Murulle and Garre clans in El Wak, Mandera District.
One person is killed and five injured when security forces open fire on protests over an attempt to privatize water services in Lere, northwestern Mali.
Riots break out after a water drilling rig that had been drilling water wells for one community in the capital is transferred by government authorities to the western part of the country. Five people died and fifteen are wounded in the demonstration.
Ethiopian Somalis attack a Borana community in the Oromia region over ownership of a new borehole being drilled on the disputed border between them. Three people from the Oromia village of Kafa are killed and seven injured, and the entire community driven from their homes. The drilling rig is destroyed, as well.
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.
Scarce water and land resources have forced herdsmen, mainly of the Fulani ethnic group, to move into regions of the country that are used as farmland, leading to deathly conflicts between the herdsmen and farmers. In 2016 alone these conflicts led to 2,500 deaths. The violence has continued into 2018.
Since South Sudan’s independence in 2011, ongoing violent conflicts have harmed and destroyed water infrastructure across the country.
On Saturday, on the outskirts of Garbaharey, Gedo, Somalia, militants set fire to a water well and two water pumps. No casualties are reported and the attack causes an unknown amount of damage. No group claims responsibility, but the militant group al-Shabaab is thought to be responsible for the attack.
Several farmers from Mwatate, Kenya are attacked, one killed, by camel herders after attempts to chase camels from the agricultural land. The camel herders have moved to the area to find land and water for their stock. Farmers are also concerned about the potential spread of disease and pollution of the local water sources from camel feces and urine.
A landmine explodes in Luuq town, Gedo Region, Somalia. The landmine is targeting a tanker providing water to Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers. Three people are killed and an unknown number of people are injured in the attack. No group claims responsibility for the incident, although unnamed sources suspect Al-Shabaab.