ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian official says 28 people were killed and 43 children kidnapped by armed members of a South Sudanese tribe between March 10 and 12.
Spokesman Chol Chany for Ethiopia’s Gambella region said Wednesday that over 1,000 Murle tribespeople carried out the attack. A similar incident in April 2016 saw 208 people killed and 125 children kidnapped.
Spokesman Mawien Makol Arik for South Sudan’s foreign ministry says he is aware of fighting in Gambella. He says Ethiopian troops have not crossed the border into South Sudan in pursuit of the accused attackers.
Over the years Ethiopian and South Sudanese tribes have raided each other, often to steal cattle and abduct children to be used as herders.
Gambella is currently hosting close to 300,000 refugees from South Sudan’s civil war.
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