ኣብ ሞያለ ኣብ መንጎ ሓይልታት ጸጥታ ኦሮምያን ሶማሌን ውግእ ተወሊዑ፤ ኣማኢት ኢትዮጵያውያን ናብ ኬንያ ሰጊሮም

Eastleigh Voice reported on Thursday evening that security officials on both the Oromia and Somali sides confirmed there were dead and wounded in Moyale but did not disclose numbers, citing operational secrecy. A town official on the Oromia-administered side called the fighting a war declared on our people early in the morning, while a Somali resident who had fled to Kenya said forces on the Borana side opened fire first and that houses and offices owned by Garre residents were burned. The outlet said transport in Moyale had stopped completely and that the fighting eased around midday but was still going on. Neither account could be verified.

Wazema Radio reported on Friday that the fighting began with a dispute over a Somali regional flag raised on 18 October on an office building on the main road dividing the Oromia and Somali sections of Moyale, in which a teenager from the Oromia side was killed. It said a grenade struck the vehicle of the mayor of the Oromia-administered section, who was unhurt, that houses and businesses were burned, and that the roads linking Moyale to central Ethiopia and to Kenya were closed. It added that security forces dispersed protests at Borana University and at two secondary schools in southern Oromia. The report rests on unnamed sources and could not be verified. Neither the Oromia nor the Somali regional administration has commented.

The Kenya Red Cross said it had launched an emergency relief operation in Moyale, Marsabit county, targeting 1,000 households. Its secretary general Ahmed Idris said the priority was to make sure every family arriving in Moyale was safe, sheltered and treated with dignity. The number of people displaced is not clear.

Addis Standard reported that the fighting began at about 5:30am on Wednesday and later spread to parts of the East Borana zone, including Gumi Eldallo, Wachile and Arero districts. It cited the dispute over the Somali Regional State flag and the killing of a 13-year-old girl, Diqqoo Jaataan Aagaa, on 18 October as factors. It said that, according to eyewitnesses, neither the Ethiopian army nor the federal police had intervened by the time of the report.

Reuters said hundreds of Ethiopians, mainly women and children, had crossed into Kenya. Marsabit county commissioner Stanley Kamande said they were staying with relatives and other residents in several Kenyan villages and that no camp was ready to house them yet. Officials in Oromia could not be reached for comment.