Thousands Of IDPs From Somali-Oromia States Return Home

Over 400,000 people who fled from Somali-Oromo clashes last year have started returning to their homes on areas around Somali-Oromia borders.

According to Ethiopia’s disaster management authority, the families have driven away from their villages due to ethnic conflicts in November and December 2018.

The internally displaced people from the Somali and Oromia states are now back to their lands in Moyale, Borena, Gujji, and Bale as well as in the East and West Hararghe zones in Oromia.

Mekonnen Lenjessa, the head of the Oromia Disaster Risk and Management Commission, said the government of Ethiopia had convinced both authorities of the states to take part in the process of helping the returnees.

Lenjessa said peace and stability in the troubled areas across the border between the Somali and Oromia states had been restored.

Clashes between Oromo and Somali militias began in December 2016 following territorial disputes, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Nearly three million have been displaced from their homes.