Ethiopia: Hundreds dead in ethnic clashes between Oromo and Somali groups
Clashes that erupted in Ethiopia earlier this month between two of the country’s largest ethnic groups have killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more, the government said.
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 on Monday.
The fighting that started along the border between the regional states belonging to the two ethnic groups has been quelled by police and soldiers, Negeri said.