Violence in southern Ethiopia forces more than 800,000 people to flee

NAIROBI. – Violence in southern Ethiopia since June has forced more than 800,000 people to flee their homes and they need food and other aid, according to a UN and government report on Wednesday . Inter-ethnic violence erupted in April around 400 km south of the capital and in all more than 1.2 million people were forced to flee, said the report which gave no details of the victims

. The areas of Gedeo and West Guji since the beginning of June have displaced more than 642,152 internally displaced persons in the Gedeo area and 176,098 displaced people in the West Guji area of ​​the region. Oromia

. The return of people to their homes after the first fighting in April, but many still fled in June, says the report.

"The security situation has been difficult despite the deployment of Ethiopian defense forces in the region, with reports of continued destruction of homes, other goods and service infrastructure," reads on

Ethiopia is an ethnically diverse country of 100 million people and ethnic discontent helped fuel the protests it resigned from Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in February

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took April and promised political and economic reforms to address the complaints of marginalization by a number of ethnic groups, including his own group, Oromos, and diplomats told Reuters that more than 200 people were killed in last month, but the figure was an estimate, because a lack of security made confirmation impossible.

Last year, dozens of people died in violence between the Somali and Oromo ethnic groups. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and are yet to return.

The Ethiopian ruling coalition took power in 1991 and created regional states based on ethnicity in a federal republic. – Reuters