Border dispute leaves 20 dead
2006-02-20 09:24
Mogadishu - At least eight people were killed and more than 13 wounded on Sunday in the fifth day of fighting between rival Somali sub-clans over disputed pasture and wells just inside Ethiopia, bringing the death toll to 20, witnesses said.
The 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, they said.
"The elders were unable to secure a ceasefire and fighting on Sunday killed at least eight people and left 13 wounded," Mohamoud Omar, a truck-owner who witnessed the clashes told AFP.
"The fighting continued until darkness, but no agreement has been reached up to now to stop it," Omar said, adding that more battlewagons and ammunition arrived from the lawless Somalia.
Villagers said intense fighting took place on Wednesday and Thursday - when 12 people died - but there was sporadic gunfire on Friday and Saturday.
"The fighting might continue until warring sides reach an agreement," said an elder who requested to remain unnamed.
Yamarug is a remote and desolate outpost in southeastern Ethiopia only about 30m from the border with central Somalia and eyewitness accounts of the fighting were sketchy.
Tensions between the two factions have run high for some time but they have managed to live together in the Yamarug area for years without violence, according to Somali observers.
They said those tensions likely erupted into fighting due to the scorching drought that has hit east Africa, threatening more than eight million people with starvation in four countries, including Ethiopia and Somalia.
About 3.4 million people - 1.7 million each in southeast Ethiopia and southern and central Somalia - are at-risk and in dire need of assistance to stave off famine, according to UN agencies.
- AFP