Moyale is one of the 47 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...

s in 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...

. Located at the extreme southwest corner of the Liben Zone

Liben Zone

Liben is one of the nine Zones of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Liben is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the northeast by Afder, and on the southeast by Somalia. Towns in Liben include Softu and Dolo....

, Moyale is bounded on the south by Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , 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 the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

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

, and on the north and east by the Dawa

Dawa River

The 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 Moyale from Liben

Liben, Somali (woreda)

Liben is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia...

 and Dolo Odo

Dolo Odo

Dolo Odo is one of the 47 woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Liben Zone, Dolo Odo is located in the angle formed by the confluence of the Ganale Dorya with the Dawa River, and bordered to the west by Moyale, to the northwest by Liben, on the north and east by Afder Zone, and on...

. The southernmost point of this woreda is the southernmost point of Ethiopia

Extreme points of Ethiopia

The extreme points of Ethiopia include the coordinates that are further north, south, east or west than any other location in Ethiopia; and the highest and the lowest elevations in the country...

. Towns in this woreda include Chelago.

The elevations of this woreda range from about 500 meters along the Dawa to 1500 meters above sea level. According to the woreda administrator in 1994, Ibrahim Abdi, the ecological classification of the woreda is 10% mid-highland and 90% lowland. The total farming area in Moyale is 6,649 hectares, and the average land holding capacity is 2 hectares. The major crops planted are maize

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...

, 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....

 and haricot beans. The farm lands are suitable for 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...

, but it had not been planted as of the end of 1993.

Moyale is located at the frontier between the traditional territories of 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...

 and Oromo people

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...

s 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. During the mid-1990s there were a number of neutral missions launched by the central government to mediate this conflict. 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 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...

 in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 275,620, of whom 127,867 are men and 147,753 are women. Information is not available for the area of Moyale, so its population density cannot be calculated. The majority of the inhabitants of this woreda belong to 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...

, although a sizable minority belong to the Gabbra, a small nomadic group with cultural similarities to the Borena Oromo.

The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 226,004, of whom 123,641 were men and 102,363 were women; none of its inhabitants were urban inhabitants. The largest ethnic group reported in Moyale 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...

225,946 (99.9%).

Agriculture

A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 8,567 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 0.89 hectares of land. Of the 7,618 hectares of private land surveyed, 11.85% was under cultivation, 39.52% was pasture, 46.65% fallow, and 1.96% was devoted to other uses; the area in woodland is missing. For the land surveyed in this woreda, 7.72% is planted in cereals like maize, and 4.06% in pulses; no area was reported to be planted in root crops or vegetables. Permanent crops included 2.89 hectares planted in fruit trees. 39.73% of the farmers both raise crops and livestock, while 6.05% only grow crops and 54.22% only raise livestock. Land tenure in this woreda was distributed amongst 83.55% owning their land, 0.75 renting, and the remaining 15.7% holding their land under other forms of tenure.