Border Violence Displaces Thousands: over 50,000 flee into Kenya; host families strain to cope

A harrowing memory continues to trouble Hawa Hassan, who fled her home in Ethiopia’s Moyale region, leaving nearly all her possessions behind. She said her house was torched amid the violence, but the incident that remains etched in her mind is the shooting of a 13-year-old girl who was sitting beside a wall.According to Hassan, the girl had not even touched a flag, a detail she cited while describing the tensions over flag displays in the disputed border region.

Her account of the teenager’s killing, however, could not be independently verified.The escape into neighbouring Kenya was equally traumatic. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Hassan said several women gave birth while fleeing, while many families arrived without food, cooking equipment or bedding.

Newborn babies were left sleeping on bare floors. Cases of diarrhoea were spreading, and families were increasingly worried about malaria as mosquito populations grew.For thousands of people, crossing into Kenya has meant escaping gunfire only to confront another battle for survival.