Chad's security forces have claimed to have killed more than 60 people loyal to a Muslim spiritual leader in clashes in the town of Kouno, around 300km south east of the capital Ndjamena. Government soldiers fought with the followers of Ahmat Ismael Bichara, a "marabout" or holy man, who had allegedly threatened a "holy war" in the country.

Arid eastern Chad has always suffered water shortages. In 2004, a quarter-million Darfuri refugees settled in the region, placing further strain on local water sources. Intensive labor by a wide range of aid groups -- drilling new wells, building dams to catch rainwater, opening up channels to feed rain into underground reservoirs -- has alleviated but not eliminated the problem.

Every morning soon after sunrise, Fatne Abdaraman walks a short distance across the Iridimi refugee camp in eastern Chad hauling a twenty-litre plastic jug. She lines it up along with other women's containers at the water distribution point, then awaits her turn to draw her daily allotment of one of Central Africa's scarcest resources, one that underpins ongoing conflict in the region.

Chad accused Sudan's army of attacking a town on its eastern border on Tuesday and blamed its neighbour for Chadian rebel raids that have disrupted international aid operations to help thousands of refugees. The Chadian accusation showed tensions flaring again between the two oil-producing neighbours, who often accuse each other of supporting cross-border rebel attacks over their frontier running along Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region.

Rebel forces fighting the Chadian government have rejected claims that they were "totally destroyed" in fighting on Wednesday. Ali Gueddei, a spokesman for the rebel National Alliance, said on Thursday that his group had lost just 27 fighters, rather than the more than 160 claimed by the government, in fighting in Am Zoer.