SUMMARY

Fighting between the Moba and the Chakosi can be traced to a relatively small dispute between two peanut truck drivers over the loading of peanut sacks in the Barkoissi town of the Savanes region of Togo on 28 October 1991.

Besides this apparently minor dispute, tensions existed previously between the two communities, mainly over land tenure and associated rights. Both ethnic groups, employed a highly complex traditional system of land management, with Moba lands intertwined amongst Chakosi communal areas. This existing balance, maintained by inter-tribal arrangements was, however, disturbed by various land reforms of the 1980s. Further, while these reforms ultimately did not achieve any significant changes, they did leave some inter-ethnic tensions simmering.

The main tactic employed by the two groups was that of sporadic shoot-outs. Further, reports indicate that violence was not long-lasting, subsiding by the morning of 29 October 1991.

The non-state conflict between the Moba and the Chakosi is first included in UCDP data in 1991. In October that year clashes resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.