Hundreds dead as ethnic clashes erupt in Ethiopia
Troops called in to quell fighting along border between regional states
Clashes that erupted in Ethiopia this month between two of the country’s largest ethnic groups have killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more, the government said late on Monday.
The killing of two local administrators coupled with long-running land disputes led to an outbreak of fighting between the Oromo and Somali peoples in the south and east, government spokesman Negeri Lencho said.
“We can say hundreds of the Oromo ethnicity were killed … and there were also deaths from the Somali side, we don’t know exactly how many,” Negeri told a press conference.
The fighting that started along the border between the regional states belonging to the two ethnic groups has been quelled by police soldiers, Negeri said.
Ethiopia is divided into ethnically-based federal regions and the Oromo and Somali people have for years argued over who controls arable land along their shared border.
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A 2004 referendum decided the issue, but clashes have persisted with officials from both sides trading accusations that local armed forces are involved.
In April, the presidents of the two regions signed an agreement to settle the unrest. Negeri said two officials from the Oromia region were arrested by Somali regional forces and killed on September 11, provoking violent protests by the Oromos, the country’s largest ethnic group.
Oromos have accused the Somali region’s ‘Liyu’ or special police of being involved in the incidents. The force was set up in 2007 to fight rebels in the Somali region.