An estimated 50,000 Ethiopians fled to Kenya in recent weeks. They seek to escape a violent regional dispute.
At a Kenya Red Cross camp, refugees cooked food in large pots over wood fires on Thursday.
People heard gunfire coming from the southern Ethiopian border town of Moyale on Friday. Cargo trucks were stranded on both sides of the border.
ACLED is a conflict monitoring organization. It traced the latest fighting to an October 18 confrontation. That was over the opening of a Somali regional administration office. It is in a disputed part of Ethiopian Moyale.
The town is divided between the Oromia and Somali regional administrations. The Borana, who are Oromo, and the Garre, who are Somali, have had a longstanding boundary dispute.
Benedict Munywoki is an official in Kenya’s Moyale Sub-County. He said Thursday that some of those fleeing Ethiopia are staying in town rather than in camps. That makes an accurate count of the refugees difficult.
The United Nations refugee agency, the International Organization for Migration, and the Kenya Red Cross work to provide medical care, food, and shelter.
Local leaders in Kenya’s Marsabit County appeal for support. They are concerned that the arrivals could overwhelm their communities. Many already struggle with food and water shortages.
More conflicts roil other parts of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church says that 14 Orthodox Christians were killed in the central Merti district on October 20. Attackers killed 46 in the Shirka district on October 24. They burned 20 homes. The church called on authorities to protect civilians and bring those responsible to justice.
Regional officials claim an armed opposition group, the Oromo Liberation Army, carried out the attack. That group’s leader has previously denied targeting civilians.
“We do not know the full identity of those who carried out this massacre, but we know the God who sees every tear,” says an eyewitness quoted on International Christian Concern. “We ask the wider church to stand with us in prayer that the government would protect the vulnerable, that the cycle of violence would end, and that the light of Christ would still shine in Oromia even in this dark hour.”
In northern Tigray, rebels restarted fighting in January. That broke a November 2022 peace agreement.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army are among seven groups that formed the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival in September. They want to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government from power.
Pray for the people of Ethiopia, including those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask God to bring His peace to the region.
He makes wars cease to the end of the Earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire. — Psalm 46:9
