Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have crossed into Kenya's Moyale town in Marsabit County to escape deadly fighting on the Ethiopian side of the border, stretching relief efforts and prompting Marsabit leaders to appeal to President William Ruto to intervene.

Marsabit County Commissioner Stanley Kamande said about 15,000 people are sheltering in eight temporary camps, while more than 20,000 others are being hosted by relatives and well-wishers, putting the total at about 35,000, according to figures reported by Sifa FM and the Kenya News Agency. Hundreds more, mostly women, children and the elderly, are said to be arriving daily.

The Kenya Red Cross had earlier put the number at more than 14,000 as of Saturday, October 24, with about 10,900 in six camps. Local leaders have cited figures as high as 50,000. None of the estimates has been independently verified.

Flag dispute turned deadly

The violence in Ethiopian Moyale, a town claimed by both the Oromia and Somali regional states, has been linked to the opening of a Somali Regional State administrative office and the raising of its flag in an area Oromia regards as its own.

According to Ethiopia's Addis Standard, tension rose after a 13-year-old girl was shot dead on October 18, and the dispute escalated into heavy fighting between forces from the two regions from October 22. Residents described heavy machine-gun fire and homes and businesses being torched across seven districts.

In the early days of the fighting, a hospital official in Ethiopian Moyale reported at least nine people dead and about 30 wounded, according to Pulse Kenya and Reuters. Later reports put the toll above a dozen, but no confirmed figure has been published.

Leaders appeal for calm

At a press conference in Nairobi on Sunday, Moyale MP Guyo Waqo Jaldesa and Saku MP Dido Ali Rasso asked President Ruto to engage Ethiopian authorities to help restore calm along the border.

"We are deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict on the Ethiopian side of the border in Moyale," Rasso said, as reported by The Star.

The leaders urged communities in Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera, where Oromo and Somali communities live side by side, not to turn on civilians. "We strongly appeal to our local community members not to harm innocent civilians who live or work in our region," they said.

The appeal follows reports, carried by Addis Standard, of retaliatory attacks on Oromo residents in Mandera. Security personnel have been flown in from Nairobi, and leaders asked the county to protect civilians.

Moyale MP Jaldesa warned against importing the conflict, saying, according to Sifa FM: "What is happening in Moyale, Ethiopia, is bigger than us and should not be brought to the Kenyan side."

Camps stretched

Kamande said the displaced urgently need blankets, tents, mosquito nets and sanitation facilities, with cold nights and too few toilets worsening conditions in the camps. The Kenya Red Cross has distributed tents, blankets, water containers and fortified flour for young children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, while the county government has supplied rice and beans.

"Our priority is to make sure every family arriving in Moyale is safe, sheltered and treated with dignity," Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Dr Ahmed Idris said.

Aid officials have warned that supplies may not keep pace with arrivals, and that poor sanitation raises the risk of diarrhoeal disease.

The fighting has also choked trade at one of the busiest crossings on the Nairobi-Addis Ababa corridor. Trucks cannot move in either direction, and several businesses near the One-Stop Border Post on the Kenyan side have shut for fear of stray bullets.

Neither the Oromia nor the Somali regional government had issued a formal statement on the clashes by the time of the latest reports.

Photos: Houses burning in Moyale (Eastleigh Voice via Kahawa Tungu); officials visit displaced families in Moyale (The Star)