Hundreds of Ethiopians, mainly women, children and young people, have crossed into Kenya after fighting broke out in the border town of Moyale, Kenyan officials and the Kenya Red Cross said.
Stanley Kamande, the Marsabit county commissioner, said: "We have hundreds of people from Ethiopia, mainly children and women." The cause of the fighting and who was involved have not been established.
What happened
Fighting broke out on Wednesday 21 October in Moyale, a town in Ethiopia's Oromiya region that straddles the border with Kenya's Marsabit county. Gunfire could still be heard on the Ethiopian side on Thursday.
Oromiya officials were not immediately reachable for comment, and we found no statement from Ethiopian federal or regional authorities. One Kenyan woman in Moyale town was hit in the neck by a stray bullet. A police report seen by a news agency said the bullet was removed at a private hospital and she is stable. Kenyan police are on high alert, and Moyale town on the Kenyan side has remained calm.
The response in Kenya
Kamande said many of the new arrivals are staying with relatives and well-wishers in several villages on the Kenyan side. Ibrae John, a Red Cross official, said: "No camp is ready to host those displaced, but we shall most definitely work on it."
The Kenya Red Cross said in a statement late on Thursday: "Many have arrived with very few belongings and urgently need shelter, food, water and health care." It said its response will initially reach 1,000 households, with tents, blankets, sleeping mats, jerrycans, kitchen sets and fortified porridge flour, and that it had started setting up a temporary shelter. Kenyan local government officials were due to meet on Friday 23 October to coordinate aid.
