By Islam El-Sakka
Sporadic gunfire echoed from the Ethiopian border town of Moyale on Friday as civilians continued fleeing into Kenya to escape violence stemming from a regional dispute between the Oromia and Somali regional states. Cargo trucks remained stranded on both sides of the border as tensions persisted.
Rising displacement numbers
The United Nations refugee agency said Wednesday that up to an estimated 50,000 people had crossed into Kenya, up from 36,000 reported Tuesday, citing local authorities. Registration and verification were ongoing. Benedict Munywoki, deputy county commissioner for Moyale Sub-County, said some of those fleeing were staying in town rather than in camps, making an accurate count difficult.
Humanitarian efforts underway
The UN refugee agency, the International Organization for Migration, and the Kenya Red Cross were working to provide medical care, food, and shelter. At a Kenya Red Cross camp, people cooked over wood fires while health workers screened children for malnutrition. Seifu Negash, an Ethiopian doctor who fled into Kenya, was volunteering to treat fellow refugees. Local residents have also opened their homes to the displaced.
Boundary dispute fuels violence
The conflict monitoring organization ACLED traced the latest fighting to an October 18 confrontation over the opening of a Somali regional administration office and the raising of its flag in a disputed part of Moyale. The town is divided between the Oromia and Somali administrations. The fighting is rooted in a longstanding boundary dispute between the Borana, who are Oromo, and the Garre, who are Somali, according to ACLED senior East Africa analyst Jalale Getachew Birru. A 13-year-old Oromo girl was killed in the initial confrontation, and fighting subsequently spread to other communities, involving regional police and local militias. ACLED said fighting appeared to have subsided by Wednesday, though tensions remained high.
Security concerns in Kenya
Kenyan police reported last week that a woman was wounded in the neck by a bullet in Moyale, though they did not identify the shot's origin. Local leaders in Kenya’s Marsabit County have appealed for support, warning that the arrivals could overwhelm communities already struggling with food and water shortages.
Separate conflicts elsewhere in Ethiopia
The border dispute comes as Ethiopia faces other conflicts. In northern Tigray, rebels vowed to keep fighting after losing control of the regional capital, Mekelle, earlier this month. In Oromia, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church said two attacks killed at least 60 Orthodox Christians on October 20 and 24, with regional authorities blaming the Oromo Liberation Army. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army are among seven groups that formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival in September, seeking to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government from power.
