Up to 50,000 flee Ethiopia clashes into Kenya, UNHCR says

Up to an estimated 50,000 people have crossed from southern Ethiopia into Kenya since fighting erupted around Moyale, the UN refugee agency said, citing local authorities. UNHCR stressed that the figure remains fluid while registration and verification continue. Many arrivals are women and children, staying with host families or in temporary shelters including schools and churches.

The violence began last week between forces from Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions. Reuters reported at least nine deaths and about 30 wounded by 23 October, when Kenyan officials had counted 2,500 displaced people. AFP said the movement accelerated from an estimated 36,000 on Tuesday to 50,000 by Wednesday. Those figures describe different moments and should not be read as contradictory final totals.

UNHCR has deployed an emergency team and is working with Kenyan authorities, IOM, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the Kenya Red Cross. Food, safe water, shelter, sanitation and health care are the stated priorities. Relief supplies initially mobilised for nearly 12,000 people are below the highest local estimate, making verified registration and safer accommodation away from the border urgent. The cause and responsibility for individual attacks remain under investigation.