The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office issued a new advisory on Friday urging British nationals to limit travel to Moyale Town and within five kilometres of the Kenya‑Ethiopia border to essential purposes only.

The advisory follows a surge in violence that began on 18 October in Ethiopia’s Moyale after a dispute over a Somali regional administration office and the raising of a contested flag, igniting clashes between Somali regional security forces and ethnic Oromo groups.

Escalation continued on 22 October with armed confrontations involving Somali regional police, Oromia regional police and Oromo militias, spreading to nearby locations such as Malab, Chamuk, Bole and Waqo Dogo, and later to Arero and Wachile districts.

Media reports indicated at least nine fatalities in the initial fighting and roughly 30 injured people were treated at a hospital in Ethiopian Moyale over several days.

The conflict has forced more than 50,000 Ethiopians, many of them women and children, to cross into Kenya, a rise from an earlier count of 36,000, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

Humanitarian agencies are concentrating on delivering food, clean water, shelter and medical aid to the displaced, while some families host relatives in private homes.

Incidents have also crossed into Kenyan territory, with stray ammunition killing two women—one Kenyan and one Ethiopian—and injuring several others, prompting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to deploy additional security personnel to Moyale to protect residents.