Ethiopia’s Border Fighting Has Driven 35,000 People Into Kenya

A stray bullet strikes a teenage girl cooking at a refugee camp. Children suspected of having measles wait for laboratory results, while mothers give birth on concrete floors. Across the border, gunfire and explosions continue to echo from Ethiopia.

More than 35,000 people who fled fighting in the Ethiopian border town of Moyale have sought refuge in Kenya, sleeping in temporary camps or staying with families as food, clean water and sanitation supplies run short, Kenyan officials said.

Marsabit County Commissioner Stanley Kamande confirmed the figure after visiting eight camps housing about 15,000 people. Another 20,000 Oromo- and Somali-speaking people have been taken in by Kenyan households, he said.

“There are crucial needs,” Kamande told Impact Newswire. “Blankets, tents, mosquito nets, washrooms and sanitation facilities.”

At Sessi camp, roughly 1,500 people have no toilets and are forced to defecate in the open, exposing residents to health risks as overcrowding intensifies.

Local traders and residents have stepped in to support the displaced. In Manyatta Burji camp, Amina Mohammed organises the purchase and preparation of food, while Galgallo Jarso transports water and maintains the limited sanitation facilities.

Bole Guyo oversees cooking for the arrivals. “I cook food, provide them with water,” Guyo said. “The refugees are so many refugees. Here, women, elderly persons and different communities who have fled Ethiopia.”

Moyale Sub-county Administrator Dida Golicha said the county had distributed rice and beans to the camps but warned that the growing numbers were becoming difficult to manage without additional assistance.

Public Health Officer Abdi Shuku reported three suspected measles cases among children under five. Samples have been sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) laboratories in Nairobi, and the children have been isolated pending results.

Three women have given birth in the camps over the past two days, according to local officials. Health services are under increasing pressure from overcrowding and shortages of water and sanitation facilities.

Kenya Red Cross Upper Eastern Region Manager Malik Adan said his teams had distributed shelter kits and porridge for young children. He called on other humanitarian organisations to support the response.

The influx has also disrupted cross-border commerce. Trucks have been unable to transport goods in either direction, while some shops near the Kenyan side of the border crossing have closed amid fears of stray bullets and continued insecurity, the Kenya News Agency reported on Oct. 25.

DISPUTE OVER REGIONAL BOUNDARIES

The latest violence began on Sept. 20 after a 13-year-old Borana girl was killed following an incident in which she pulled down a flag planted by residents of Ethiopia’s Somali Region, who claim the Ethiopian side of Moyale. More than 10 people have died since, according to local accounts.

Residents on both sides say the violence has turned a town whose communities have long shared commercial, linguistic and family ties into a conflict zone.

Bashir Dadi Tufa, a train captain from Moyale, Ethiopia, was at work when the shooting began at around 4 p.m.

“We were going about our business as usual,” he said. “Bullets began to rain into our premises. We fled to Kenya.”

Tufa said he remained worried about his house and whether looters had already emptied it. Even after crossing into Kenya, he did not feel safe. “We keep crossing our fingers that we don’t get caught by the stray bullets.”

Dawit Tandong, a Sudanese trader who had travelled to Moyale to buy clothes, was stranded after bus services stopped. He said he had lost his entire stock, while his children remained in western Ethiopia. He appealed to Kenyan authorities to help him reach Addis Ababa.

On Saturday evening, a stray bullet struck 16-year-old Nyajuok Deng in the neck as she helped cook at St. Mary Catholic Church Refugee Camp. The bullet did not penetrate deeply. She underwent a minor procedure and was reported to be stable.

Her brother, Al Dood Deng, a trader also caught up in the fighting, was unable to return home.

Marfa Martelle gave birth on the cold concrete floor of a camp. She said she was grateful that her baby was healthy and watched the child sleep with a small smile.

Kenyan security forces have reinforced the border to prevent the fighting from spilling across into Kenya. But on Saturday night, gunfire and the glow of burning buildings remained visible and audible for nearly two hours from elevated points inside Moyale town.

A spent bullet landed on the roof of the Moyale Constituency Cafeteria while observers stood nearby.

The violence is rooted in a longstanding dispute over the administrative boundary between Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions. The two regions share a border stretching more than 1,400 km, where competing territorial claims, access to resources and control of trade routes have contributed to recurring conflict, according to research by the Rift Valley Institute.

Ethiopia held a referendum in 2004 to address disputes affecting hundreds of local administrative areas along the boundary. The process assigned most of the contested areas to one region or the other, but researchers have found that it did not resolve underlying tensions. Moyale was among the areas where the referendum could not be held, according to a 2020 conflict research memorandum by the London School of Economics.

Violence along the Oromia-Somali boundary escalated sharply in 2017-2019, displacing more than 1 million people, according to the Rift Valley Institute. Researchers have linked the conflict to unresolved boundaries, competition over scarce resources and the failure to implement or sustain political agreements.

Local development researcher Dida Fayo, who shares Borana ancestry with many of the displaced, said the current fighting reflected a 27-year administrative dispute that successive Ethiopian federal governments had failed to settle.

“It is impossible for one city to live under two administrative regions,” he said.

Fayo said Moyale also occupied a strategic position on a trade corridor linking Kenya’s LAPSSET infrastructure project with Ethiopia’s wider economic ambitions. The LAPSSET corridor is a Kenyan-led infrastructure programme intended to connect the country’s northern regions with neighbouring countries through transport, energy and other infrastructure.

A lasting peace, Fayo said, would require a clear decision by Ethiopia’s federal government on the disputed administration.

Johnny Clegg (South Africa)

Most Famous Song: “Scatterlings of Africa”

Short Bio: Johnny Clegg (1953-2019) was a South African musician, dancer, and anthropologist. Known as “The
White Zulu,” he was celebrated for his innovative, ethnically integrated musical collaborations (with bands like Juluka and Savuka) that openly challenged apartheid. He blended traditional Zulu music and dance with Western rock and pop.

Read More at the Source