Ethnic clashes in Ethiopia.

28 July 2012 Last updated at 13:29 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia are reported to have left at least 18 people dead and 12 others injured.

More than 20,000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting, the Kenyan Red Cross says.

A spokesman told the BBC that people were continuing to cross the border although Ethiopian government forces had intervened to stop the fighting.

The clashes, in the Moyale area, are thought to have been sparked by a simmering dispute over land rights.

Fighting involving the Borana and Garri communities is said to have started mid-week, and to have continued until Friday.

Local reports speak of armed militias taking up positions in outlying villages on Wednesday, with the fighting spreading to Moyale town, on the Ethiopia-Kenya border, on Thursday.

Many of those who fled across the border into the Kenyan side of Moyale are having to sleep out in the open.

The Red Cross says it is providing those who have been displaced with food, water and tarpaulins.

It's like a domino effect in the Middle East, all these Countries plagued by tribal warfare and Government overthrows.

Panda wrote:

It's like a domino effect in the Middle East, all these Countries plagued by tribal warfare and Government overthrows.

I just hope that it will not turn into another Biafra/Nigeria tragedy

fuzeta wrote:

Panda wrote:

It's like a domino effect in the Middle East, all these Countries plagued by tribal warfare and Government overthrows.

I just hope that it will not turn into another Biafra/Nigeria tragedy

So do I fuzeta, the displacement of all these families is really tragic, even if their Country returned to some kind of peace, who is going to pay to rebuild
their homes, schools to educate the children?