Ethiopia clashes drive thousands into Kenya

Massive lines formed outside UNHCR offices on the Kenyan side of Moyale as thousands of Ethiopians fled violent clashes across the border. Many of these families say they were caught in the crossfire of the ongoing conflict between Ethiopian Somalis and Oromo. Our houses were torched. We have no food. We arrived in Kenya with lots of problems. The bullets continued to hit and injure people on the Kenyan side. We saw a lot of dead bodies along the way. Thank you very much. Since mid-October, two rival ethnic groups, the Ethiopian Somalis and the Oromo, have been fighting over control of the town of Moyale, which stretches on both sides of the Ethiopian-Kenyan border. From the Kenyan side of the city, plumes of smoke were visible and gunshots could be heard in the distance in recent weeks. And the violent clashes have driven most of the city's Ethiopian population away from their homes. The UN's Refugee Agency says as many as 50,000 civilians may have already been displaced by the conflict in the past two weeks and have crossed into Kenya. People are saying the fighting is still continued. People are still crossing. In fact, we're getting very little information from across. The only thing we hear is shooting during the night and during the day. Ethiopia has long been plagued by internal armed conflicts between the country's multiple ethnic groups. Experts have warned ongoing clashes opposing the federal army to separatist rebels in the northern Tigray region could take some of the government's focus and resources away from the conflict in Moyale.