Kenyan authorities, UNHCR and the Kenya Red Cross have begun registering people who crossed the border after fighting in Ethiopia's Moyale. UN agencies are appealing for $8.9 million, and a UK minister has told Parliament that needs are rising while resources remain under pressure.
Kenyan authorities, working with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Kenya Red Cross Society, have begun registering Ethiopians who fled renewed clashes in the border town of Moyale. More than 50,000 people have reportedly crossed into Kenya since fighting intensified in late October, Addis Standard reported on 4 November, citing Kenyan media. Registration began around 31 October at reception sites including the Harhosa and OMC camps in Marsabit County. Arrivals receive coded blue wristbands, to be followed by household profiling and assistance cards.
Many of those displaced are sheltering in schools, churches and camps or with relatives and host families. Kenyan authorities have stepped up border security amid reports of stray bullets landing on the Kenyan side.
Appeal for $8.9 million
UN agencies are seeking $8.9 million to support about 50,000 people for three months, the Daily Nation reported. UNHCR's representative in Kenya, Fatima Mohammed-Cole, said the agency was "mobilising emergency relief supplies, including essential household items and temporary shelter materials, to support nearly 12,000 people". The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Kenya and its partners were planning for up to 80,000 people. "The situation remains fluid, and the numbers of arrivals could increase in the coming days," said IOM's Kenya chief of mission, Nomagugu Ncube.
Roots of the fighting
Moyale is jointly administered by the Oromia and Somali regional states and has a history of territorial disputes, at times involving Borana Oromo and Garre Somali communities. According to Addis Standard, the latest escalation followed a dispute over the raising of the Somali Regional State flag and the opening of a related administrative office around 18 October. Tensions rose further after a 13-year-old girl was killed. By 22 October, there were reports of heavy gunfire, casualties and destroyed homes in Moyale and nearby areas. CERHA found no statement on the displacement from Ethiopia's federal government in the reports reviewed.
Westminster
In a Commons written answer published on 2 November, Kirsty McNeill, answering for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, told Richard Holden (Conservative, Basildon and Billericay) that "recent displacement linked to conflict in Ethiopia's Moyale region" had prompted food, water, shelter, health and protection support. "However, humanitarian needs are increasing and available resources remain under pressure," she said. She added that the World Food Programme would suspend cash transfers to refugees in Kenya at the end of October and had warned that food assistance may stop by March 2027 without more funding. The question was tabled on 26 October; as a written answer, there is no debate transcript or video.
Image: The Marsabit–Moyale road in northern Kenya, the main route south from the border town, 2010. Lindsey Nicholson, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.