More than 2,000 people have fled Ethiopia into neighboring Kenya after ethnic clashes near the border left at least nine people dead, officials said Friday, as violence continued on the Ethiopian side.
Stanley Kamande, commissioner of Kenya’s Marsabit County, said thousands of Ethiopians had crossed into the border town of Moyale after armed fighting erupted Wednesday.
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Reports from Ethiopia put the death toll at nine, with dozens more people wounded. The figures could not be independently verified.
The clashes involve Ethiopia’s Oromo and Somali communities and follow tensions over the display of the Somali Regional State flag in territory administered by Ethiopia’s Oromia region.
Oromia and the Somali Regional State are both federal regions within Ethiopia. They are separate from Somalia, the neighboring country that shares borders with both Ethiopia and Kenya.
A woman in Moyale was also reportedly struck by a bullet fired from across the border. She received medical treatment.
Kenya mobilizes humanitarian assistance
The Kenya Red Cross said Thursday that it had begun delivering emergency aid to displaced families, with an initial focus on 1,000 households.
The organization said it was coordinating with government authorities to arrange temporary shelter, food, clean water and other essential supplies.
Moyale is a major crossing point between Kenya and Ethiopia. The town is 780 kilometers (485 miles) north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and 775 kilometers (482 miles) south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.
The fighting has fueled concern that more people could be displaced and that trade across the border could be disrupted.
