ISIOLO, Kenya, Oct 22 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Ethiopians have fled into Kenya following fighting in the border town of Moyale, Kenya Red Cross and local government officials said on Thursday.
Fighting broke out on Wednesday and gunfire could still be heard a day after in parts of the town on the Ethiopian side of the border, residents said. The settlement straddles the frontier and also extends into Kenyan territory.
It was not immediately clear what had started the fighting in parts of the town in the south of Ethiopia’s Oromiya region. Officials there were not immediately reachable for comment.
“We have hundreds of people from Ethiopia, mainly children and women,” the commissioner from Kenya’s Marsabit county, Stanley Kamande, told Reuters.
“Many are staying with relatives and well-wishers in several villages at Moyale side Kenya,” he added.
The Kenya Red Cross said it was conducting an assessment to work out how many people were affected and what their needs were.
“No camp is ready to host those displaced but we shall most definitely work on it,” Red Cross official Ibrae John said.
The fighting broke out hundreds of miles away, on the other side of Ethiopia, from a conflict in the northern Tigray region between government forces and a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
(Reporting by Noor Ali in Isiolo, Ruth Nesoba and Ammu Kannampilly in Nairobi; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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