Hundreds of Ethiopians cross into Kenya to flee regional fighting
Kenyan police say hundreds of Ethiopians, mostly women and children, fled fighting in the border town of Moyale as tensions between Oromia and Somali regional forces escalated.
Hundreds of Ethiopians have crossed the border into Kenya, fleeing fighting in the border town of Moyale, Kenyan police said on Thursday.
Most of those who crossed were women and children, according to the police, who reported gunfire and chaotic scenes in Moyale as the violence unfolded.
The people crossing were fleeing tensions between leaders of Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions. Ethiopian media said the fighting began as a dispute over raising the flag of the Somali Regional State, before escalating into armed clashes between forces from the Oromia and Somali regions.
The Kenya Red Cross said it was setting up temporary shelter and distributing essential items to those arriving. The aid response will initially reach 1,000 households, the organisation said in a statement on Thursday, adding that experts were conducting an assessment to determine how many people were affected and what they needed.
The clash is hundreds of kilometres away from the larger conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, underscoring how violence in the country has spread beyond a single front.
Ethiopia's regional rivalries have repeatedly flared into armed confrontation in recent years, with border areas such as Moyale -- which straddles the Ethiopian-Kenyan frontier -- especially vulnerable when tensions between neighbouring states rise.
Source: Al Jazeera English — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.