Families who fled fighting in Ethiopia's Moyale are short of food, shelter, water and healthcare on the Kenyan side of the border. That is the finding of a new assessment by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its partners, Addis Standard reported via AllAfrica. The assessment found that 71% of surveyed households did not have enough food, and 80% named food as their most urgent need.
The Kenyan government and the Marsabit County administration carried out the survey on October 29 and 30, with support from UN agencies and aid groups. It covered 758 households in temporary sites and host communities in Moyale. Almost all of them, 96%, had fled Ethiopia, mainly from the Oromia and Somali regions. Nine in 10 respondents said their whole village had fled. About 50,000 people had reached Kenya's Moyale area by October 29.
Children make up more than half of the displaced, and many are under five. Some 44% of households said they lacked enough drinking water. More than three-quarters had no handwashing facilities. Conditions were worst at the Somare, Taqwa Mosque and St. Mary's Catholic sites. More than half of households struggled to reach health facilities, mainly because of high costs and a lack of medicines. Most families are staying with relatives or hosts. Others are sheltering in schools or temporary sites, and some sleep in the open.
IOM Kenya Chief of Mission Nomagugu Ncube said the families face serious shortages of food, water and shelter. She said the communities hosting them already have limited resources, and called for aid to reach both groups. Henok Ochalla, a senior emergency coordinator with the UN refugee agency, told Africanews that women and children are hit hardest. He said many of the women are pregnant or breastfeeding. Mothers at the Al-Huda camp told Africanews they arrived on foot with very little and still had no bedding.
According to Africanews, Ochalla's team gives the people in its care three meals a day. He warned that the agency could not cope with larger numbers on its current funding. The UNHCR had profiled about 14,000 people by November 6. Africanews noted that this was not a full count of everyone who had crossed.
The fighting began on October 18 in Ethiopia's Moyale. It was triggered by a dispute over the opening of a Somali Regional State administration office and the raising of its flag. Gunfire between Somali regional forces and Oromia local militias killed a 13-year-old girl. Residents gave conflicting accounts of how she died. Addis Standard reported that the clashes later spread to several districts in the East Borana Zone. By November 4, fighting was continuing in seven districts, and mediation had failed to produce a lasting deal.
The IOM and its partners are appealing for urgent funding. They want to scale up food aid, emergency shelter, clean water, sanitation and healthcare for displaced families and their hosts.