Danan, Ethiopia
Encyclopedia
Danan is a town in the eastern part of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
known as the Ogaden
Ogaden
Ogaden is the name of a territory comprising the southeastern portion of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia. The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The title "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by Somali irredentists.The region, which is...
. Located in the Gode Zone
Gode Zone
Gode is one of nine Zones of the Somali Region, Ogaden, of Ethiopia. This zone is named for its largest city, Gode. Gode is bordered on the south by Afder, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by Fiq and Degehabur, on the northeast by Korahe and Werder, and on the east by the Provisional...
of the Somali Region
Somali Region
Somali Region ; is the eastern-most of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia. It is often called Somalia, though it is not to be confused with the independent country of the same name. The capital of Somali State is Jijiga...
(or kilil), and it is located the main road between Gode
Gode
Gode is a city in the Ethiopian part of the Ogaden. Located in the Gode Zone of the Somali Region, the city has a latitude and longitude of...
and Kebri Dahar
Kebri Dahar
Kebri Dahar is a town in the eastern part of Ethiopia known as the Ogaden. Located in the Korahe Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 493 meters above sea level...
(Qabridahare) the nearest towns with electricity. This town has a latitude and longitude of 6°30′N 43°30′E.
Danan has a camp for refugees and internally displaced persons. The Ogaden region is populated mostly by ethnic Somalis and has been devastated by drought, famine and an armed separatist movement. Temperatures in Danan soar daily to well over 110 degrees creating some of the most unbearable living conditions in all of Africa. The Danan Project, the only humanitarian organization in the town, was founded to provide qualified medical care to the people of Danan. Its hospital is the only free acute medical care in the Ogaden region which is populated by 5 million people.
The Ethiopian Roads Authority announced in November 2007 a construction project to connect Danan with Kebri Dahar
Kebri Dahar
Kebri Dahar is a town in the eastern part of Ethiopia known as the Ogaden. Located in the Korahe Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 493 meters above sea level...
with 95 kilometers of paved road and construction of six large and medium bridges.
History
Danan fell to the ItaliansItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in January, 1936 as part of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
. As part of the reprisals
Yekatit 12
Yekatit 12 is a date in the Ethiopian calendar, equivalent to 19 February in the Gregorian calendar, which is commonly used to refer to the indiscriminate massacre and imprisonment of Ethiopians by elements of the Italian occupation forces following an attempted assassination of Viceroy Rodolfo...
for the attempted assassination of General Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli , was an officer in the Italian Regio Esercito who led military expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.-Rise to prominence:...
(19 February 1937), it was used as a prison camp for hundreds of people arrested as part of the reprisals. While Ethiopian sources state of 6500 internees held there 3175 died, contemporary Italian reports claim that much fewer were ill and only a handful died. Alberto Sbacchi concludes from these conflicting reports that while "the occurrence of illness and death is difficult to determine, but we can assume that many suffered and died. Graziani's order to supply them with only enough food to live strongly suggests it, as do the conditions under which the Ethiopians were confined. Poor facilities, including latrines, the humid climate, malaria, stomach infections, and venereal disease took many lives, especially among those compelled to work on the irrigation canal or on the banana and sugar-cane plantation."
In January 2009, the foreign relations chief of the Ogaden National Liberation Front
Ogaden National Liberation Front
The Ogaden National Liberation Front , is a separatist rebel group fighting to make the region of Ogaden in eastern Ethiopia an independent state...
, Mohammed Sirad, was killed by the Ethiopian Army at Danan where he was meeting with other ONLF members.
Demographics
Based on figures from the Central Statistical AgencyCentral Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)
The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...
in 2005, Danan has an estimated total population of 10,494, of whom 5,918 are men and 4,576 are women. The 1997 census reported this town had a total population of 7,030 of whom 3,910 were men and 3,120 women. The largest ethnic group reported in this town was the Somali
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
(99.96%). It is the largest settlement in Danan
Danan (woreda)
Danan is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, named after its major town, Danan. Part of the Gode Zone, Danan is bordered on the south by the Shebelle River which separates it from the Afder Zone, on the west by Gode, on the north by the Degehabur Zone, on the east by the Korahe...
woreda
Woreda
Woreda is an administrative division of Ethiopia , equivalent to a district . Woredas are composed of a number of Kebele, or neighborhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia...
.