Tensions remained high along the Moyale border onn Sunday after Kenyan and Ethiopian forces exchanged gunfire in a fresh cross-border security incident.
According to a police occurrence report filed at Moyale Police Station (OB No. 32/22/11/2025), Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) advanced from the Sesii area into Kenya, firing as they moved toward Moyale town. The report says the intruding troops penetrated up to two kilometres inside Kenyan territory, triggering a rapid and forceful response from Kenyan security agencies.
Reports indicated that the Kenyan Police, Administration Police, and the Border Patrol Unit first engaged the intruders in a prolonged two-hour exchange of gunfire.
Later, the Kenya Defence Forces joined the operation, ultimately forcing the Ethiopian soldiers to retreat back across the border.
While neither of the authorities have commented onn the incident, DiploBrief has learnt a security team was dispatched on Sunday to the area to analyse the situation.
A KDF officer involved in the operation also confirmed the incident.
There have been no official reports of casualties on the Kenyan side, though sources suggest the incursion may have been sparked by an earlier, unconfirmed incident involving the death of an Ethiopian soldier allegedly shot by a Kenyan team — a claim yet to be substantiated by either government.
This latest clash is not the first time Kenya and Ethiopia have traded shots along this volatile border. In April 2020, KDF troops and militiamen linked to the Garre community reportedly engaged in a fierce gunfight.
The skirmish broke out after Kenyan forces began digging trenches as part of a crackdown on illicit smuggling and illegal crossings — a move fiercely resisted by elements in Ethiopia.
Earlier, in 2006, Ethiopian security forces crossed into Kenya near Moyale in pursuit of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels, triggering a confrontation with combined Kenyan military and police units.
A separate incident in 2005 saw Kenyan troops allegedly cross into Ethiopia, leading to a clash that killed at least one Kenyan soldier.
Ethnic and communal conflict in the region has further heightened the stakes.
In 2012, decades of simmering animosity between the Borana and Garre communities erupted into violence across this border area, displacing tens of thousands. Two years after that, in 2018, an Ethiopian military unit reportedly shot and killed nine civilians near Moyale in a botched operation against suspected OLF fighters, prompting refugees to flee into Kenya. The Ethiopian government later linked this violence to illicit arms movements, saying poorly armed militias and illicit trafficking had destabilized the border.
