More than 30 die in Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia

A fierce ethnic clash over resources between the Borana and Garri tribes in southern Ethiopia left more than 30 people dead, including 2 police officers, and 20, 000 displaced.

The Kenyan Red Cross told the BBC that the 20, 000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the clashes and that it was providing them with” food, water and tarpaulins.”

According to a police officer from the Ethiopian Moyale town, where the clashes first occurred, the Boranas started the fighting over grazing land on Wednesday this week and it soon escalated when the Garris came out in their hundreds and torched down a police station killing two police officers and wounding two more. The wounded are receiving treatments in Borana town hospital, the capital of the region.

“The Garris have then stolen weapons from the police station including several grenades and AK47s,” the officer told this magazine. On Friday a special force sent from the federal government have put the fighting under control but sporadic gun fires continued throughout today.

Similar and frequent conflicts in the past have left several people dead and many displaced.

Almost all local tribesmen in the area, most of them pastoralists, are armed.