Fiq is one of the nine Zones 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...

 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...

. This zone is named after its largest city, Fiq

Fiq, Ethiopia

Fiq is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Fiq Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1229 meters above sea level.- History :...

. Fiq Zone is bordered on the south by Gode

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...

, on the west and north by the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...

, and on the east by Degehabur

Degehabur Zone

Degehabur Zone is one of the nine Zones in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. This zone is named after its largest city, Degehabur. Degehabur Zone is bordered on the south by Korahe, on the west by Fiq, on the northwest by the Oromia Region, on the north by Jijiga and Somalia, and on the east by...

. The western border is defined by the course of the Erer River

Erer River

The Erer is a perennial river of eastern Ethiopia. It rises near the city of Harar, and flows in a primarily southern direction to its confluence with the Shabelle at .- See also :* Rivers of Ethiopia...

.

The Swiss section of Médecins Sans Frontières

Médecins Sans Frontières

' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...

 (MSF) opened a clinic in the Zone in December 2007 to provide medical services to local civilians affected by the local conflict

2007–2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden

The 2007–2008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden was a campaign involving the Ethiopian Army on the offensive against the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front...

 between local insurgents and the Ethiopian government. However, constant administrative hurdles and intimidation towards MSF staff prevented the organization from providing an effective level of medical care, and MSF decided to withdraw from the Zone in July of the next year. "Over the six months of our intervention, our medical teams could only work for ten weeks in Fiiq town and five in the periphery of the town where the most important needs are," said Hugues Robert, head of the MSF Ethiopia program.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central 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...

 (CSA) in 2005, Fiq has an estimated total population of 290,694, of whom 159,815 were males and 130,879 were females; 33,740 or 11.6% of its population are urban dwellers. Information is not available for the area of Fiq, so its population density cannot be calculated.

The 1997 national census reported a total population for this Zone of 233,431 in 31,050 households, of whom 130,455 were men and 102,976 were women; 22,607 or 9.68% of its population were urban dwellers. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of 36 rural kebele

Kebele

A kebele is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia similar to ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people...

s, which were not counted; they were estimated to have 14,460 inhabitants, of whom 7,955 were men and 6,505 women.) The largest ethnic group reported in Fiq 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...

 (99.89%); a similar proportion spoke Somali

Somali language

The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

 (99.98%). Only 2,912 or 1.33% were literate.

According to a May 24, 2004 World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 memorandum, none of the inhabitants of Fiq have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 0.0 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers, the average rural household has 1.5 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and an average of 2.25 for pastoral Regions) and the equivalent of 1.2 heads of livestock. 28.2% of the population is in non-farm related jobs, compared to the national average of 25% and an average of 28% for pastoral Regions. 18% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and none in secondary schools. 83% of the zone is exposed to malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

, and 83% to Tsetse fly

Tsetse fly

Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...

. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 588.

Agriculture

On 5-23 November 2003, the CSA conducted the first ever national agricultural census, of which the livestock census was an important component. For the Somali Region, the CSA generated estimated figures for the livestock population (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and equids) and their distribution by commissioning an aerial survey. For the Fiq Zone, their results included:

Animal	Estimated total	number per sqk.
cattle	17,072	1.0
sheep	57,561	12.2 (including goats)
goats	141,475	12.2 (including sheep)
camels	25,605	1.6
asses	3,033	0.2 (all equids)
mules	26	0.2 (all equids)
horses	13	0.2 (all equids)