Eight killed in south Ethiopia attack blamed on Oromo militia

Eight people were killed in an attack in southern Ethiopia close to the Kenyan border, Anadolu Agency reported, saying local authorities blamed an armed Oromo militia for targeting ethnic Somali civilians.

The killings are the latest in a dispute over administrative boundaries between Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions, which has pushed families across the border into Kenya and left thousands unable to return to their homes.

Nation Africa reported that about 10,000 Kenyans had been driven from their homes in Moyale, the Kenyan town that faces the Ethiopian town of the same name, by stray bullets and attacks linked to the fighting on the other side of the border.

Africanews reported from Al-Huda temporary camp in Kenya, where families who fled the October fighting in Ethiopian Moyale are sheltering in tents and in the homes of local residents. Henok Ochalla, a senior emergency coordinator with the UN refugee agency, said women and children make up most of those affected, with medical care and nutrition among their immediate needs.

The conflict monitoring group ACLED traced the latest round of fighting to an October 18 confrontation over an administration office and a flag raised in a disputed area, according to Africanews.

UNHCR had profiled some 14,000 people by November 6 to establish who had arrived and what help they needed. The agency said the figure was not a total count of those who had crossed into Kenya. Ochalla said the response was limited by dwindling financial resources, and that a larger influx would outstrip capacity unless donors provided more.

Shukria Dalacha, a displaced mother, said she had been in the camp for 10 days and had received no assistance from any institution or organisation. She said she was struggling to breastfeed her newborn and appealed for milk for the baby.

Kerko Mohammed, 70, who fled Ethiopia and is staying with a Kenyan host, said the fighting between Somali and Oromo communities forced her out as gunshots could be heard through the walls of houses. She said the two households share food and water but her family still needs bedding and other supplies.

Aid workers at the displacement sites are handing out blankets, sleeping mats, jerrycans and mosquito nets. Ochalla's team supplies three meals a day to the refugees it cares for.