More than 14,000 Ethiopians have fled fighting into Kenya, according to a Kenya Red Cross estimate reported on Saturday, as aid workers warned of shortages of food, water and sanitation facilities in Moyale.
The organisation said more than 10,900 people were staying in six temporary camps in the Kenyan border town, while about 4,000 others were with relatives and host families. Anadolu reported the figures on 24 October.
Malik Adan, the Red Cross head for the Upper Eastern region, appealed for food, water, sanitary supplies and additional toilets to prevent diarrhoeal disease.
The estimate follows an earlier count given directly to Channel Africa by Red Cross emergency operator Antony Muchiri. He reported 8,753 arrivals on Friday, 23 October, and said the number continued to rise. These are successive estimates of displacement, rather than separate groups to be added together.
Muchiri said most arrivals were women, children and young people. Some were staying with local residents, while others sought shelter in schools, churches, mosques and public spaces. Authorities had asked people sleeping on the streets to move to designated evacuation centres.
The initial humanitarian response targeted 1,000 households. Muchiri identified water and sanitation as its biggest priorities. Supplies included tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats, kitchen utensils, water containers and soap.
The Red Cross also dispatched fortified cereal for young children. Muchiri said primary healthcare outreach would assist injured people and patients who had fled without medication for existing conditions. He warned that host families could experience shortages if cross-border movement remained disrupted.
Moyale straddles the Ethiopia-Kenya border. A hospital official on the Ethiopian side told Reuters on Friday that nine people had died and around 30 injured people had reached the facility over several days. The account was not a consolidated government casualty toll.
The Red Cross response also includes helping relatives separated during displacement reconnect through its family-links service.
