Nearly 50,000 people have crossed from southern Ethiopia into Kenya to escape fighting that began last week, the United Nations said Wednesday, as the humanitarian crisis along the border rapidly worsened.
The estimate, supplied by local authorities, marks a steep increase from the 36,000 arrivals recorded Tuesday by the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. The displacement followed clashes between the forces of Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions.
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“According to local authorities, up to an estimated 50,000 people have crossed into Kenya,” Fatima Mohammed-Cole, UNHCR’s representative in Kenya, said.
The number remains fluid, she warned, as people continue to cross the border and new arrivals are registered.
The violence began Oct. 20 after a flag representing the Somali region was raised in Moyale, a city jointly administered by Somali and Oromia. Several people were killed in the clashes, sources told AFP on Saturday.
Women and children make up a large share of those who fled, Mohammed-Cole said. Some have found refuge with relatives or in host communities, while others are sheltering in schools, churches and other temporary sites.
“While some are staying with relatives and host communities, others have sought shelter in temporary locations like schools and churches,” she added.
UNHCR has dispatched an emergency team to the area and is coordinating with the Kenyan government and humanitarian groups, including the Red Cross, to assist the displaced population.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, has about 130 million residents and faces multiple armed conflicts across its vast territory.
Borders between the country’s regions, many of which were drawn in their current form in 1991, have frequently become flashpoints for violence.
The federal government has been fighting rebel groups for several years in Oromia and Amhara, Ethiopia’s two most populous regions.
In the north, renewed fighting has also erupted in Tigray following months of tension. The region endured a devastating war between 2020 and 2022.
At the same time, diplomatic tensions with neighboring Eritrea have raised fears of another conflict between the two volatile Horn of Africa countries.
