Ethiopian PM expresses sorrow over deaths in clash between Ethiopian Somalis and Oromos

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn expressed sorrow to families of victims who died due to recent conflicts between the Somali and Oromo ethnic groups along the boundary of the Oromia and Somali regional states.

Speaking at a nationally televised speech on Sunday evening, the PM said a task force has been established to investigate recently deadly unrest.

Tit-for-tat attacks between ethnic Oromo and Somali communities on the weekend left at least 61 dead, according to a statement from Oromia regional state spokesman Addisu Arega on Sunday.

The cause of the latest violence wasn't immediately known but it followed a clash between ethnic Oromo protesters and soldiers on December 11 in Chelenko area near the Oromia-Somali regional states boundary that left 16 civilians dead. The deaths caused widespread anger in Ethiopia's Oromia regional state.

The ethnic Oromo protesters were denouncing a deadly raid allegedly by police from the neighboring Somali regional state.

Oromia and Somali regional states have been locked in a dispute over the delineation of their common boundary for almost two decades.

A referendum in October 2004 was supposed to demarcate the boundary between the two regional states, but its implementation has been stalled ever since with both sides accusing each other of non-compliance with the referendum results.

Heavy clashes along the Oromia-Somali boundary since September has spilled into ethnic violence leaving scores of people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The deadly unrest is fueling fears about security in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation. Enditem