Fresh fighting breaks out between western Ethiopian tribe and government soldiers
By ANTHONY MITCHELL Associated Press Writer
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Feb 10, 2004 (AP) — Fresh fighting has broken out between a western Ethiopian tribe and soldiers in an isolated corner of the Horn Africa country, and dozens of people may have been killed, government and U.N. officials said Tuesday.
Details were scant, but government spokesman Zemedkun Teckle said “these incidents have happened, but we are not sure the numbers of casualties so we are investigating.” Ethiopian officials have insisted that soldiers in the western Gambella region are there to maintain order – not fight.
But a U.N. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said at least 40 people had been killed in fighting in Gambella, an arid region about 800 kilometers (500 miles) west of Addis Ababa.
The clashes broke out Feb. 6 at the Dimma refugee camp, where 18,700 Sudanese refugees live, and at a nearby gold mine, the official said. The fighting later spread to the town of Dimma.
Aid agencies working in Gambella say the latest clashes have forced more than 5,000 people to flee to neighboring Sudan.
The fighting appears to be a continuation of clashes that erupted in December between the small Anuak tribe and soldiers fighting alongside Ethiopians from the interior who have moved into the region in recent years.
The fighting in December, in which as many as 150 people are thought to have been killed, came after unidentified assailants ambushed a United Nations vehicle, killing eight people, including three government officials. The ambush was blamed on Anuaks.
More than 16,000 people reportedly fled to Sudan during the fighting in December.
Human rights activists have said that tension among the five principal tribes in Gambella, including the Anuak, and Ethiopians from the central highlands has fueled the fighting.
The U.N. World Food Program said last week that the security situation in Gambella had “deteriorated significantly” in the last few weeks. But food distribution to the Sudanese refugees has not been affected, WFP said.