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.
Disputes between two tribes in Libya, the Zwai and Tebu, include attacks on power stations and power cut for the pumps that operate the ‘Man Made River’ pipeline system, leading to water shortages.
Continued sectarian violence in the Central African Republic between Muslim and Christian militias includes reports of Muslim civilians being killed and their bodies thrown down water wells.
Despite continuing talks between Georgia and Russia following a 2008 war over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, violence continues in the region. Georgia says civilians along the line suffer violence and kidnappings, that school children are detained regularly by Russian troops, and that water and gas supplies are regularly cut off.
Unidentified groups attack the Bourgin water treatment plant in Merida, Venezuela and contaminate the local supply with diesel fuel. The contamination is discovered through water quality testing and the water supply to Merida is shut off for a short period for cleaning.
Armed Janjaweed militia burn and loot a South Darfur refugee camp, killing a local sheikh, injuring others, looting property and livestock, and destroying all water wells.
In Nigeria, Tiv/Agatu farmers and Fulanis herdsmen clash over access to grazing land and water points. In April 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan orders military operations in Benue, Nasarawa, and Plateau states in an effort to reduce the violence.
After Russia annexes Crimea from the Ukraine, they accuse the Ukraine of cutting off the water supply in the North Crimea Canal, leading to a water shortage for Crimea’s agricultural fields growing grapes, rice, maize, and soya. The canal delivers water from the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine and accounts for 80% of Crimea’s water supply. The Ukraine government denies any political motive for the cut in supply, describing the reduced flow as a temporary result of building a flow…
Insurgents from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seize the Fallujah Dam in Iraq and close the floodgates to cause upstream flooding and to cut downstream water supply. The objective is to flood the area around the city of Fallujah to force government troops to retreat and lift a siege, while cutting water supplies and hydroelectricity generation for other parts of the country.
Tensions revive in the area of Jammu and Kashmir in early 2014 when upper caste women reportedly restrict access to higher quality water sources.