Negele Borana is a town in southern 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 in the Guji Zone

Guji Zone

Guji is one of the 17 zones of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Guji is named after a tribe of the Oromo people. Guji is bordered on the south by Borena, on the west by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, on the north by the Ganale Dorya River which separates it from Bale and on...

of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

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

 on the road connecting Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

 to 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...

, it has a latitude and longitude of 5°20′N 39°35′E with an altitude of about 1,475 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Liben

Liben, 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...

 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...

. Negele Borana's principal importance is that a barrack revolt in this town is considered the first incident of the Ethiopian Revolution.

Overview

The town is reported to have telephone service, a post office and electricity, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school, but no financial institutions. The electrical power was introduced by a branch of the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority (EELPA), and in January 1961 a diesel-driven 120 kW electric power plant for the town was completed. A 2004 report states that Negele Borana is supplied with electricity by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (the successor utility to the EELPA) from the national grid. There is also an airport (ICAO code HANG IATA EGL). Negele Military Base, an important installation of the Ethiopian Army, is located to the northeast.

Philip Briggs describes Negele Borana as "something of a frontier town, a cultural boiling pot that is predominantly 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...

 but also has strong 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...

, Borena, and Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 influences. ... Negele's distinctive character and cultural blend are personified in one of the most lively and absorbing markets in East Africa -- especially on Sundays when the camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

 market is held."

History

The town of Negele was founded in the early 20th century; the Swedish doctor F. Hylander described it in 1934 as an "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...

 new settlement and fortress with palisades", which was "the farthest outpost towards Jubaland

Jubaland

Jubaland , also known as Azania or the Juba Valley and formerly as Trans-Juba , is an autonomous region in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies 40–60 km east of the Jubba River, stretching from Gedo to the Indian Ocean, while its western side flanks the North Eastern Province in...

".

At the beginning of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War from 4 October 1935, Negele served as the headquarters of Ras Desta Damtew

Desta Damtew

Ras Desta Damtew was an Ethiopian noble, an army commander, and a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie I.-Biography:...

 The Italians subjected the town to frequent bombing raids. The Italians under 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:...

 captured the town shortly after their victory at the Battle of Ganale Dorya, which further weakened the southern Ethiopian defenses.

The town was occupied by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Gold Coast Brigade

Royal West African Frontier Force

The West African Frontier Force was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. The decision to raise this force was taken in 1897 because of concern at French colonial...

 on 27 March 1941, who had pushed north from Dolo

Dolo, Ethiopia

Dolo is a town in southeastern Ethiopia, within 30 kilometers of the Ethiopia-Somalia border. Located in the Liben Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of...

. The British colonial unit found that the Italians had abandoned the settlement 10 days before they arrived, and in the time between the buildings had been looted and destroyed by the neighboring Borena Oromo. By the time David Buxton visited Negele Borana in 1943, he found that a battalion of the Ethiopian Army had garrisoned this "half-built Italian settlement".

The Norwegian Lutheran Mission

Norwegian Lutheran Mission

The Norwegian Lutheran Mission is one of several independent Lutheran organisations in Norway. They are often considered one of the most conservative Christian Evangelical organisations in Norway. They consider themselves committed to the inerrancy of the Bible as the Word of God...

 operated a station in Negele from 1949. Their most important activity was to start a hospital for the town in one of the abandoned Italian buildings, which they operated until 1956 when the Ministry of Public Health took it over. In 1958, Negele was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township.

On 12 January 1974, enlisted men and non-commissioned officers of the Fourth Brigade stationed at the Military Base protested over their substandard living conditions. "There was nothing new about discontent among soldiers serving in the desolate conditions in these far-flung garrisons," note Marina and David Ottaway. "The heat was unbearable, the food barely edible, and the water was bad or in short supply". The last straw was when the officers refused to let the soldiers use their well after their own water pump broke down. The soldiers arrested their superior officers and petitioned Emperor Haile Sellasie

Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia

Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974...

 for redress of their grievances. The Emperor sent Lieutenant-General Deresse Dubale to investigate the matter; the mutineers took him prisoner, forced him to eat and drink as they did, then tied him up and put him under a tree for eight hours while they negotiated with the defense ministry. Furious, the Emperor sent two bombers to overfly the garrison and intimidate them to release Deresse, but did not punish the soldiers. The whole incident was hushed up for a while.

During the Ogaden War

Ogaden War

The Ogaden War was a conventional conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977 and 1978 over the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. In a notable illustration of the nature of Cold War alliances, the Soviet Union switched from supplying aid to Somalia to supporting Ethiopia, which had previously been...

, the Somali Army attempted to capture Negele Borana throughout August 1977, but the local garrison was able to successfully beat back the attacks.

Rights activists in southern Oromia reported to Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

 that students, farmers, and business people had been detained in Negele Borana. As of 25 January 2010 several hundred people, mostly affiliated with the Oromo People's Congress

Oromo People's Congress

The Oromo People's Congress is one of the major opposition political parties in Ethiopia. It was founded in April 1996 under the name of Oromo National Congress by Dr. Merera Gudina, who is currently its chairman...

, were said to be still incarcerated in Negele Borana jail. These arrests reportedly were in response to protests about the activities of mining companies in the region, which the authorities attributed to the opposition.

Climate

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...

in 2005, Negele Borana has an estimated total population of 42,958 of whom 22,193 are men and 20,765 are women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 23,997 of whom 12,036 were men and 11,961 women.