ADDIS ABABA – At least 150 people have been killed in southern Ethiopia in more than a week of clashes between rival clans over land ownership following a jurisdictional re-alignment, officials said Monday.
Aid officials in the region said that the fighting erupted late last month between the Guji and Borena tribesmen in a region between Yabello and Finchewa, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa.
The conflict was sparked after the jurisdictional re-alignement saw land formerly belonging to Borenas awarded to Gujis, who claimed ownership of the newly-acquired land, they said.
“At least 150 people have been killed in the area between Yabello and Finchewa … over the last 10 days, because of a conflict over land between the Guji and the Borenas,” an aid official from the region said.
“Thousands of poeple have been displaced,” said the official, contacted from Yabello.
Other humanitarian officials confirmed the fighting, but said they could not confirm the casualty figures.
“We have received reports from local sources saying that up to 100 people have been killed in inter-clan clashes but this figure has not yet been confirmed,” said Liz Lucas, spokeswoman of British aid group Oxfam in the capital.
Federal police were yet to confirm the skirmishes.
Ethiopia’s arid southern region has been a scene of repeated conflicts between pastoralist communities battling for scarce water and pasture.
