Ethiopia-Somali unrest kills 12
2006-02-17 10:34
Mogadishu - Rival Somali sub-clans battled over pasture and wells just inside Ethiopia, leaving at least 12 dead and more than two dozen wounded after two days of fighting on Thursday as competition for water and pasture heats up in the drought-stricken region, said officials.
They said that clashes in the Ethiopian village of Yamarug began on Wednesday between heavily armed militia members from the Marehan and Majereteen factions of the larger Darod clan in a dispute over the precious resources.
Yamarug was a remote and desolate outpost in southeastern Ethiopia only about 30 metres from the border with central Somalia and eyewitness accounts of the fighting were sketchy.
According to officials in nearby towns in Somalia, where the wounded from the two factions were brought for treatment, at least 12 and as many as 17 people were reported to have been killed.
17 fighters injured
A nurse at a hospital in Galkayo, where the Majereteen casualties were brought, said the facility was treating 17 injured fighters who spoke of the same number being killed on both sides in the two days of fighting.
In the town of Abudwaq, where the Marehan casualties were brought, a district official said that the nine wounded spoke of 12 people being killed although he said the actual number would likely rise.
The official said: "The fighting has not stopped and militiamen from both sides heading to reinforce the area."
In the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, an official with the information ministry confirmed the clashes, but could not confirm their seriousness or any casualties.
Fact-finding mission
The official said: "There were clashes between Somali sub-clans at the border. We have sent out a fact-finding mission and are waiting for the results of the investigation."
According to Somalia observers, tensions between the two factions had run high for some time, but they had managed to live together in the Yamarug area for years without violence.
They said those tensions likely erupted into fighting due to the scorching drought that had hit east Africa, threatening more than eight million people with starvation in four countries, including Ethiopia and Somalia.
According to the United Nations agencies, about 3.4 million people - 1.7 million each in southeast Ethiopia and southern and central Somalia - were at-risk and in need of dire assistance to stave off famine.