{"id":838107,"date":"2026-10-23T12:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838107"},"modified":"2026-10-23T13:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T17:50:25","slug":"fighting-over-a-regional-flag-spreads-around-moyale-as-hundreds-of-ethiopians-flee-into-kenya-kenya-red-cross-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838107","title":{"rendered":"Fighting over a regional flag spreads around Moyale as hundreds of Ethiopians flee into Kenya, Kenya Red Cross says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Families<\/figure>\n

Families who fled the fighting in Ethiopia's Moyale gather at a Kenya Red Cross response site in Moyale, Marsabit County, Kenya, October 2026. Photo: Kenya Red Cross via X<\/em><\/p>\n

Fighting between Oromia and Somali forces in the border town of Moyale has spread to three nearby districts, and hundreds of Ethiopians, mostly women and children, have fled into Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross says.<\/p>\n

The trouble began on Sunday, October 18, when a flag of the Somali Regional State was raised at a new Somali administration office in Moyale, a town in the Borana Zone of Oromia that sits on the border with Kenya. Residents on the Oromia side objected that the flag had been put up in a place where it had never flown before. During the dispute that followed, a 13-year-old girl was shot. Residents told DW Amharic that she was killed by a bullet fired as security forces of the two regions faced each other, and that federal security forces later stepped in and told both sides to stop.<\/p>\n

The girl has been named in reports by APA and in posts on X as Diqqoo Jaataan Aagaa. Residents on the Oromia side accuse the Somali Region police of shooting her, while residents on the Somali side told Addis Standard that she was killed in crossfire. The Oromia side mayor of Moyale, Galmaa Korophichaa, told BBC Afaan Oromoo that the girl was shot as she tried to take the flag down, that she was kept at a hospital for four days, and that the Somali side then buried her and refused to hand her body to her family.<\/p>\n

By Thursday the dispute had turned into open fighting. Residents told Addis Standard that heavy gunfire started at about 5:30 in the morning in several parts of the town, including Malab, Chamuk, Bole, Kebele 01 and Waqo Dogo. South Oromia security officials told the paper that the clashes later spread to Melka Guba kebele in Gumi Eldallo district, Melka Adi and Melka Chophi kebeles in Wachile district, and an area called Ela Orbi in Arero district. Officials on both sides confirmed deaths and injuries but would not give numbers, and eyewitnesses said that, at the time of that report, neither the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) nor the Federal Police had stepped in.<\/p>\n

People who spoke to BBC Amharic described a town that has stopped. One resident said about six people were killed on Thursday, that many houses were burned, and that security forces had placed snipers and heavy machine guns on top of buildings, so nobody dared to walk on the road. Another said a 10-year-old child who was passing by was shot dead, and that people were running into the bush or across the border into Kenya. Abdirahman Karama, an aid worker in the town who spoke to BBC Somali, said that on the Somali side four people had been killed and 11 wounded, and that many homes had been destroyed. Residents said the road from Moyale to Addis Ababa was closed. BBC said it could not independently confirm the death toll and that Somali regional officials did not respond to its calls.<\/p>\n

On X, the two sides are telling very different stories. Abdirahman Ilkacase, who describes himself as news director of SNTV, wrote early Thursday that forces loyal to the Oromia regional administration "have attacked Somali civilian pastoralists." Dirre Online posted a video on Friday morning that it said showed newly deployed Oromia Special Forces on the outskirts of Moyale. From the other side, an account named Ahmed, posting as @Jigjigamedia, said the Borana community was "facing attacks today from Somali regional militia, Garre militia operating from Kenya and Somalia, and Al-Shabaab terrorists." Mulugeta Anberber wrote on Friday that the Somali Region special force had taken full control of Moyale town and the Oromia kebeles of Kotala and Tuka, and that the fighting had spread to five more districts. None of these claims could be confirmed.<\/p>\n

Across the border, the Kenya Red Cross said its teams in Moyale, in Kenya's Marsabit County, are giving families temporary shelter, tents, blankets, sleeping mats, water containers, kitchen sets, food and first aid, and that its first round of help would reach 1,000 households. "Our priority is to make sure every family arriving in Moyale is safe, sheltered and treated with dignity," its Secretary General, Dr. Ahmed Idris, said in a statement reported by Addis Standard. Kenyan police said people crossed through several points, including Sessi, Kore, Biashara, Foundation and Miti, Al Jazeera reported, and a police report seen by Reuters said a stray bullet hit a woman in the neck on the Kenyan side of Moyale. She was treated in a private hospital and is in stable condition.<\/p>\n

Moyale has seen clashes between Oromo and Somali communities before, as the long border between the two regions has never been fully settled. One resident told BBC Amharic that this time is far worse. "Today it is heavy machine guns and mortars," the resident said, in Mereja's translation from the Amharic. "There is no food, and the children and the people are suffering from hunger."<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n