Several people have died in clashes in recent days between the regional forces of Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions in and around Moyale, a town near the border with Kenya that is jointly administered by the two regions, with fighting erupting on Tuesday after a Somali regional flag was hoisted in the town, AFP reported. The ACLED conflict monitor put the toll at a 13-year-old girl and at least five others, a figure AFP said it could not independently verify, while residents speaking to AFP by telephone, with shots audible in the background, described Somali fighters firing heavy weapons from large buildings and several civilians killed and wounded. At least 10,000 people have fled across the border into Kenya, a Red Cross worker there told Kenyan television, and the Ethiopian federal government had yet to react to the clashes.
Clashes between Ethiopian regional forces in Moyale kill at least six
Clashes between Somali and Oromia regional forces in Moyale, a town on Ethiopia's border with Kenya administered jointly by the two regions, have killed at least six people, including a 13-year-old girl, and driven at least 10,000 people to flee into Kenya, AFP reported.
Why it matters: Fighting between the forces of two Ethiopian regions, rather than with insurgents, over a jointly administered border town is a dangerous escalation of the territorial disputes that recur along Ethiopia's internal borders, and it is already spilling across the Kenyan frontier.
Data as of AFP report of October 24, 2026 via Arab News, read in full. Single-sourced: the toll is from the ACLED conflict monitor as reported by AFP, which said it could not independently verify it, and the Ethiopian federal government had yet to react in the report. Correction: the first version of this item, published at 07:41 ET, misstated the regions, location and toll from a faulty source summary and has been replaced in full. Developing item.
Sources
- Several dead in clashes between rival Ethiopia regional armies - AFP, via Arab News - 2026-10-24