CAIRO: The Ethiopian government has sent a team of investigators to look into deadly tribal fighting in the southern part of the country near the Kenyan border. The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) reported on Monday evening that at least 18 Ethiopians had been killed in clashes between two communities over a land dispute in southern Ethiopia. The violence has led to some 20,000 people fleeing the area to Kenya. The clashes erupted last Thursday over a disagreement with the government in Addis Ababa to put the Garri community on land that the Borana tribe claimed as their own, KRCS said in a statement published on its website. Tens of thousands have also fled the country to camps in Kenya. According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Federal Affairs, the investigation team will “meet communities of both sides and officials in the area to gather information and investigate over the root causes of the violence in a bid to find lasting solutions,” a statement said. Local news reports suggested that some of the fighters had received backing from the Somalia militant Islamists, Al Shabab. However, this cannot be confirmed and no tribal leader has made such claims. Police claim to have made several culprits in the incident in which they lost several of their officers. Ethiopian forces have taken control of the security situation in the area however Kenyan security forces are reportedly on high-alert along the common border in fear of a possible spilling over of the ethnic clashes onto the Kenyan side of the border. The Garri and Borana communities reside on either side of Ethiopian and Kenyan borders and the two rival communities have a history of moving across the border to evade security forces.
