More than 50,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Ethiopia’s disputed Moyale area, a Kenya Red Cross official said, as families seeking safety across the border face shortages of food, shelter and bedding, Al Jazeera reports.

Kenya Red Cross regional head Malik Adan said the estimate had risen from about 36,000 and included people in temporary settlements and those staying with relatives or host families. The overall total has not been independently established, and no final figure has been confirmed.

A government-led assessment conducted on October 29 and 30 estimated that 35,950 people had been displaced as of October 24. About 25,000 were staying with host families and nearly 11,000 in temporary sites. The assessment and the newer Red Cross estimate cover different reporting periods.

The violence stems from a long-running dispute over land and administrative control between Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional administrations. Tensions escalated around October 18 over the raising of the Somali regional flag in the disputed area.

Mwasaru Mercy, Kenya’s acting commissioner for refugee affairs, told Al Jazeera that a multi-agency government team had been deployed to Moyale and was working with local authorities and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Gunfire could still be heard, she said, raising fears of further displacement.

“There are no contingency food stocks specifically for this incident because it happened abruptly,” Mercy said.

Authorities are registering arrivals and assessing their needs, but have not established a refugee camp because security must improve first. UNHCR’s representative in Kenya, Fatima Mohammed Cole, said many arrivals were women and children, with crowded conditions raising concerns about disease.

The violence has also affected Kenyans. Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja said during a November 5 visit that one Kenyan had died after being struck by a stray bullet. A police report indicated that an Ethiopian man also died from gunshot wounds sustained in Kenya. Kanja said additional officers would be deployed along the border.

Inside Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society said it was distributing emergency shelter and household supplies to 1,000 displaced households, in an operation separate from assistance in Kenya.

Host communities are struggling to sustain their support. Moyale Cross-Border Peace Committee member Abdi Maalim told Al Jazeera that households previously cooking for five or six people were now feeding 20 or 30. He also reported stranded freight trucks and sharply reduced business activity at the trading hub.

Sources