Fighting in southern Ethiopia has forced roughly fifty thousand people to cross the border into Kenya. The United Nations refugee agency released these figures on Wednesday, citing local authorities.
The total marks a steep increase from the thirty-six thousand refugees recorded by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday. This rapid surge follows armed fighting between the military forces of southern Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions.
Fatima Mohammed-Cole, the UNHCR representative for Kenya, said local officials estimate that fifty thousand individuals have made the crossing. She warned that the arrival figures could change rapidly as new movements continue across the border.
The violence erupted on October twenty-first after a Somali regional flag was raised in Moyale. The city is jointly administered by the Somali and Oromia regional administrations. Local sources confirmed that multiple people have died in the clashes.
Mohammed-Cole said a large portion of the displaced population consists of women and children. Some refugees are staying with relatives and local host communities, while others are sheltering temporarily in schools and churches.
The UN agency has deployed an emergency team to the border region. The agency is working with the Kenyan government and groups like the Red Cross to deliver assistance to the arrivals.
Ethiopia, which has a population of approximately one hundred and thirty million people, faces multiple armed conflicts across its territory. Disputes along regional borderlands, drawn in 1991, frequently trigger violent confrontations.
The federal government has spent several years fighting rebel movements in the Oromia and Amhara regions. Combat has also resumed in the northern Tigray region following months of rising tensions.
Diplomatic disputes with neighboring Eritrea have raised concerns about potential conflict between the nations in the Horn of Africa.
