The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) says it is taking care of 8,000 Ethiopians who have fled to Kenya from the border town of Moyale.The majority are children and women, including pregnant and lactating mothers, according to KRCS. The ethnic Oromo refugees began arriving in Kenya’s Moyale on March 10, starting from 10 PM according to Marsabit county deputy governor, Solomon Gubo.This was few hours after the Ethiopian military said it “mistakenly” killed nine civilians and injured 12 others in the town.
No one can be sure how many people took the decision to flee. Deutsche Welle Amharic put the number at 50,000, citing Moyale Mayor Aschalaw Yohannes. However, the number has been put as 8,000 by Kenyan media.
The Ethiopian government and state media are conspicuously silent about the displaced citizens. The only reaction came from commissioner of disaster risk management, Mitiku Kassa who said that to arrange the repatriation, return and to provide assistance if need be, they are waiting for information from the Command Post and from their own branch in the area.
KRCS is appealing for urgent additional support, indicating shelter, food, water supply and sanitation as the key areas requiring urgent interventions. “Some of the refugees further moved with their livestock, therefore adding pressure on the existing resources,” it said.
In the meantime Kenyan media reported that the refugees narrated how they were flushed out of their homes by soldiers. Daily Nation quoted Harsame Halakhe, a 68-year-old father of 19, as saying that when the soldiers raided their homes, they ordered them to lie down and shot some of them dead. “Even places of worship, including mosques, became chambers of death. People were killed in a mosque as we watched. We escaped death narrowly and fled with children and cattle,” he was quoted as saying.
Despite the government’s characterization of the shooting as an accident, many contested it was deliberate and premediated. AFP quoted residents as saying that the shooting took place in an area known for its opposition to the government, and came amid worsening relations between the populace and soldiers deployed to Moyale under a nationwide state of emergency declared last month.
In stark contrast to the doublespeak of government officials, Taye Dendea, the Oromia regional justice office head said that saying the killing was an accident is tantamount to insulting people. He said action by the national defence force is disappointing, and imprisoning only the five members of the army directly involved is not enough. “Those ordered it should also be held criminally responsible,” he was quoted as saying.