NAIROBI (Somaliguardian) – Conflict between Somali and Afar ethnic groups in Ethiopia has spilled into neighboring Djibouti where clashes killed several people and wounded more than 20 others on Sunday, triggering fears that hostilities may further expand to other areas in the Horn of Africa region.
It comes days after troops of Somali and Afar regional states clashed in Ethiopia, after Afar militias killed dozens of Somali civilians in the town of Garba Issa.
A main highway and railway linking Ethiopia’s landlocked capital, Addis Ababa to the seaport of Djibouti was blocked by angry Somali protesters, who also accused the Ethiopian Defense Forces of assisting Afar militias in a massacre against local civilians.
Clashes between members of the two ethnic groups erupted in the neighborhood of Balbala in Djibouti’s capital on Sunday, marking a spillover of Ethiopia’s conflict into the tiny Horn of Africa nation.
Homes, businesses and other buildings were destroyed in the violence and a video circulated on social media shows a black smoke rising above a residential area in the coastal city.
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