Moyale, Oromia (woreda)
Encyclopedia
- Moyale is one of the 180 woredaWoredaWoreda 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...
s in the Oromia RegionOromia RegionOromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
of EthiopiaEthiopiaEthiopia , 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...
. It is named after the administrative center of the woreda, MoyaleMoyaleMoyale is a market town on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya, which is split between the two countries: the larger portion is in Ethiopia , and the smaller is in Kenya . There are four disputed locations within the Moyale district between the Somali and Oromo regions...
. Located in the southeast corner of the Borena ZoneBorena ZoneBorena is one of the 17 zones of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Borena is named after a tribe of the Oromo people. Borena is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, on the north by Guji and on the east by the Somali Region. The...
, Moyale is bordered on the south by KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, on the west by DireDire (woreda)Dire is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the southern part of the Borena Zone, Dire is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by Teltele, on the north by Yabelo, on the northeast by Arero, and on the east by Moyale...
, on the northwest by AreroAreroArero is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Borena Zone, Arero is bordered on the southwest by Dire, on the west by Yabelo, on the north by Hagere Mariam, on the northeast by the Guji Zone, on the east by the Somali Region, and on the south by Moyale; the Dawa...
, on the north by the Dawa RiverDawa RiverThe Dawa River is a perennial river in southeastern Ethiopia. Rising in the mountains east of Aleta Wendo, the Dawa flows south and east to join with the Ganale Dorya at the border with Somalia to become the Jubba. The river forms part of the Ethiopia–Kenya border and part of the Ethiopia–Somalia...
which separates it from LibenLiben, Oromia (woreda)Liben is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Guji Zone, Liben is bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from the Borena Zone, on the west by Odo Shakiso, on the northwest by Adolana Wadera, on the north by the Ganale Dorya River which separates...
, and on the east by the Somali RegionSomali RegionSomali 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...
.
Overview
The altitude of this woreda ranges from 1150 to 1350 meters above sea level; Mount Juldessa is the highest point. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 9% is arable, 60% pasture, 21% forestForestry in Ethiopia
In the late nineteenth century, about 30% of Ethiopia was covered with forest. The clearing of land for agricultural use and the cutting of trees for fuel gradually changed the scene, and today forest areas have dwindled to less than 4% of Ethiopia's total land. The northern parts of the highlands...
, and the remaining 10% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. Cereals cultivated include corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, teff
Teff
Eragrostis tef, known as teff, taf , or khak shir , is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of Northeast Africa....
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
; sugar cane, banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
and papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
are other important crops.
Industry in the woreda includes 8 grain mills, some metal workshops, 4 wood working shops, 2 brick and tube factories. Deposits of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
, graphite
Graphite
The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...
and muscovite
Muscovite
Muscovite is a phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl22, or 236. It has a highly-perfect basal cleavage yielding remarkably-thin laminæ which are often highly elastic...
are known in the woreda but have not been commercially developed. There were 15 Farmers Associations and one Farmers Service Cooperative. Moyale has 34 kilometers of dry-weather and 55 all-weather road, for an average road density of 5.71 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 3.8% of the rural and 39.7% of the urban population has access to drinking water
Water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia
Access to water supply and sanitation in Ethiopia is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire world. While access has increased substantially with funding from external aid, much still remains to be done to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of people...
.
Moyale is located at the frontier between the traditional territories of the Somali and Oromo peoples living in the southwestern part of Ethiopia. Accordingly, local groups of both Somali and Oromo nationalities have a vested interest in the control of the relatively rich pastoral resources in the district and therefore have been in conflict over its control. One attempt to resolve the dispute between the two Regions was the October, 2004 referendum held in about 420 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 in 12 woredas across five zones of the Somali Region. According to the official results of the referendum, about 80% of the disputed areas have fallen under Oromia administration, though there were numerous allegations of voting irregularities in many of them.
Demographics
Based on figures published by 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, this woreda has an estimated total population of 128,016, of whom 60,529 were males and 67,487 were females; 25,038 or 19.56% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 11.6%. With an estimated area of 15,575.47 square kilometers, Moyale has an estimated population density of 8.2 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 21.1. The majority of the inhabitants belong to the Borena Oromo, although there is an organized community of the Garre
Garre
The Garre are a Somali pastoralist clan who live in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. They are sub-clan of the Digil clan. Almost all speak the Garre language, though it may be secondary to the Maay speaking sub-clan of Darrawe who speak Maay as their first language. Their urban centers include...
clan of the Somali people
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...
around the town of Moyale.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 66,495, of whom 35,048 were men and 31,411 women; 13,962 or 21% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of several 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, and parts of the town of Moyale, which were not counted. These portions of the woreda were estimated to have 22,443 inhabitants, of whom 11,751 were men and 10,692 women, and 3,419 were urban dwellers of both sexes.) The four largest ethnic groups reported in Moyale were the Oromo
Oromo people
The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...
(52.88%), 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...
(37.32%), the Burji (2.81%), and the Amhara
Amhara people
Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...
(2.79%); all other ethnic groups made up 4.2% of the population. Oromiffa
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
was spoken as a first language by 53.74%, 38.38% 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....
, 3.54% spoke Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
, and 1.61% spoke Burji
Burji language
Burji language is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by the Burji people who reside in Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo. There are over 46,000 speakers in Ethiopia, and a further 10,400 speakers in Kenya...
; the remaining 2.73% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim
Islam in Ethiopia
According to the latest 2007 national census, Islam is the second most widely practised religion in Ethiopia after Christianity, with over 25 million of Ethiopians adhering to Islam according to the 2007 national census, having arrived in Ethiopia in 615...
, with 74.65% of the population having reported they practiced that belief, while 8.81% of the population said they practiced traditional beliefs, 7.34% professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 1.57% were Protestant
P'ent'ay
P'ent'ay or Pentay is a slang term widely used in modern Ethiopia, and among Ethiopians living abroad, to describe Ethiopian Christians who are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso, Roman Catholic or Ethiopian Catholic churches...
.