Ethnic clashes kill 18 Ethiopians, displace thousands
Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:26pm GMT
By Katy Migiro
NAIROBI, July 30 (AlertNet) - At least 18 people have been killed in fierce
fighting between two communities over land in southern Ethiopia and 20,000
refugees have fled to Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said on
Monday.
Fighting broke out last Thursday because of a dispute over the Ethiopian
government's decision to settle the Garri community on land which the Borana
claim to own, KRCS said in a statement on its website.
Thousands of refugees, segregated by ethnicity, are camped out in schools
and a mosque around the Kenyan town of Moyale. Others are being given refuge
by local Kenyan residents.
"Most of the families are in the open cold with their children for lack of
shelter," KRCS said.
"The humanitarian situation is dire bearing in mind that the effects of the
HOA [Horn of Africa] drought on the populations in the conflict areas are
also still being felt," it said.
The Garri and Borana communities straddle the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders.
Life in arid northern Kenya is precarious, with millions still reliant upon
food aid following a severe drought in 2011. Heavily armed pastoralist
communities regularly clash over land, water and cattle in the remote
borderlands.
Some refugees started to return to Ethiopia on Monday after Ethiopia's
federal government intervened in the clash-hit areas, Abbas Gullet, the
secretary general of KRCS, told AlertNet.
"The federal security forces are taking control of the security situation
from regional security officials and they are looking for an amicable
solution to the disputes," Gullet said.
At least 12 people have been injured, but they are reluctant to seek medical
help at facilities thought to belong to rival communities, KRCS said.
"The reported injuries include gun wounds, fractures, bleeding, and internal
bleeding," it said.
The KRCS Moyale Branch response team is waiting for more casualties to reach
the Kenyan border from the Ethiopian interior where the fighting is taking
place, KRCS said.
(AlertNet is a humanitarian news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Visit www.trust.org/alertnet)
(Reporting by Katy Migiro; Editing by Duncan Miriri and Diana Abdallah)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
*********************************************************************
30,000 Enter Kenya to Escape Ethiopian Ethnic Clash
*
http://www.voanews.com/content/thirty_thousand_enter_kenya_to_escape_ethiopi
an_ethnic_clash/1449052.html
Mohammed Yusuf
July 30, 2012
NAIROBI - The Kenyan Red Cross says more than 30,000 refugees have entered
the country from Ethiopia in the past few days to escape fighting in their
own country, though the ethnic battles now seem to have been contained and
the exodus has turned to a trickle.
The Kenyan Red Cross says the fighting was triggered by a dispute over land
between the Garri and Borana ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia, about
1.5 kilometers from the Kenyan border.
The clashes, which started four days ago, have killed dozens and displaced
tens of thousands to temporary camps in the town of Moyale on the Kenyan
side of the border.
Nelly Muluka, Kenya Red Cross communication manager in Moyale, said the flow
of refugees has slowed.
"We are not really receiving many people at the moment, but according to the
Kenya Red Cross registration in the two camps, we have a figure of 33,000
people who have crossed from Ethiopia following the conflict," said Muluka.
The Ethiopian government says the clashes were caused by administrative
issues rather than land disputes. Government spokesman Bereket told the
French news agency the federal police intervened and the situation is now
under control.
Muluka said Ethiopian police are maintaining a heavy presence along the
Ethiopian-Kenyan border. She said the Red Cross has distributed blankets,
mosquito nets and food. Muluka said the refugees appear to be reluctant to
go back to their villages.
"When talking to people they don't seem to be in a hurry to go back because
they say they have lost most of their properties, all they owned, to the
conflict. Some of them even lost their relatives, and for that fear they
don't seem to be in a hurry," said Muluka.
The area where the clashes erupted is in the Oromia region of southern
Ethiopia. The area is frequented by pastoral communities who heavily rely on
land for animal grazing.
Related Articles
*
<
http://www.voanews.com/content/ethiopa_faces_political_crisis_says_former_d
efense_minister/1447250.html> Does Ethiopia Face a 'Political Crisis'?
Received on Mon Jul 30 2012 - 15:53:14 EDT
