More than 10 feared dead in clashes in southern Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 30, 2004 (Seifenebelbal) — Information obtained from Meda Welabu District in Bale Zone — in southern Ethiopia — indicates that scores of people were killed and several houses torched when violent clashes erupted after people were denied their rights to vote in the referendum held on 24 October on border dispute between the Oromiya and Somalia regional states.

According to sources in the area, violent clashes erupted between ethnic Oromos and Somalis when about 100 ethnic Oromos were denied the right to cast their votes on the pretext that voting time was over.

The sources said more than 10 people were feared dead and several houses were torched in the grisly and deplorable clashes.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service