In Chad's far-flung east, a "dire need" for water blights lives and fuels deadly violence over access to wells in an impoverished and sweltering desert region.
Women in colourful veils carrying jerrycans of water back from the well are a common sight along reddish dirt tracks in the blazing sun.
Even in the country's second biggest city, Abeche, the taps often run dry.
Rapid urban development and a growing population, estimated by local officials to be more than 500,000 inhabitants, have accentuated the problem.
Some areas of the eastern city have a water distribution system -- but it can be patchy.
