Over 100 killed in clashes in Ethiopia’s Afar, Somali regions

Border clashes between the Afar and Somali regions predate the six-month-old conflict in the Tigray.

Border clashes between Ethiopia’s Afar and Somali regions have killed at least 100 people, a regional official said, in the latest outbreak of violence ahead of national elections in June. About 100 civilians, many of them herders, were killed since clashes broke out on Friday and continued through to Tuesday, Ahmed Humed, the deputy police commissioner for the Afar region, told the Reuters news agency by phone. He blamed the violence on an attack by Somali regional forces. The bloodshed in territory claimed by the Somali and Afar regions highlights security woes facing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that extend well beyond the ongoing conflict farther north in Tigray.