Fierce clashes rocked the Somali border town of Madaane in Sitti province, sparked by a wave of cross border raids according to eyewitnesses.
Local residents that spoke with Halgan Media reveal gun wielding Paramilitaries from the neighboring Afar regional state launched an assault on the town mid afternoon.
That assault soon turned into an hour long siege as Afar paramilitary forces and Somali pastoralists engaged in a bitter firefight.
Eyewitnesses informed the Halgan Media service desk that the Somalis in the town despite being under equipped with light weaponry where able to repel the cross border raid at first.
Scores of ethnic Afar Paramilitaries where killed during the first wave of the botched incursion. Over 10 rifles where reportedly seized according to eyewitnesses in the vicinity of the clashes.
However contingents of Ethiopia’s National Defense Force (ENDF) stationed nearby at an army outpost intervened in the midst of the clashes.
The intervention of the ENDF was not to halt or quell the fighting, but instead to prop up the marauding Afar paramilitary forces and the chain of events that ensued proves that notion.
Eyewitnesses reveal Ethiopian troops began indiscriminately opening fire with heavy weapons as the approached the periphery of Madaane town. This intense barrage of live rounds and shells forced the local Somalis, mainly consisting of pastoralists and destitute herdsmen to flee.
Following the retreat, dozens of Afar paramilitary forces and allied Ethiopian troops penetrated the town and layed siege. Local contacts reveal the joint unit began indiscriminately opening fire on everything in sight, including women and children.
As it stands at least 8 Somalis are confirmed dead. All the victims said to have been shot dead by the Afar paramilitary forces and allied Ethiopian troops. The death tole is expected to climb. Dozens of Somalis where wounded during the siege on the town.
The region at hand (Western Sitti province) lacks functioning hospitals and the local population are forced to seek refuge in makeshift medical clinics, which in nearly all cases are under equipped and understaffed.
The widely reviled regime based in the capital Jigjiga is yet to address the latest indiscriminate massacre of civilians. This has prompted many locals on the ground to believe that the level of criminal negligence from president Mustafa Omar (Cagjar) is a sign of complicity.
The Somali-Afar border stretches about 500 kilometers and has been the scenes of horrific atrocities over the past couple years. Indiscriminate attacks on Somali inhabited towns and villages has left hundreds dead and thousands more displaced.
Halgan Media Service Desk
Contact : info@halganmedia.net
