Shakiso 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 Gujii Zone of the Oromia Region

Oromia Region

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

, this town has a latitude and longitude of 5°45′N 38°55′E and an elevation of 1758 meters above sea level.

Two of the major mines of Ethiopia are located near Shakiso: the Lega Dembi 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...

 and the Kenticha tantalum

Tantalum

Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, the name comes from Tantalus, a character in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion resistant. It is part of the refractory...

 mines. The Lega Dembi mine was acquired by MIDROC gold, which between 1998 and 2008 extracted 34 metric tons from the mines, earning 466 million dollars. However, MIDROC has announced in 2009 that the deposits at Lega Dembi are almost exhausted. Shakiso is served by an airport (ICAO code HASK, IATA SKR).

History

The Swedish Red Cross report encountering a customs post at Shakiso when moving at the southern front in early 1936. There were two substantial waterholes there, although the water was somewhat salty. The customs staff had four small buildings on the top of a hill near the main road. Their primary task was to collect salt tax from caravans, which amounted to ten or eleven Maria Theresa Thaler

Maria Theresa thaler

The Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...

s per month before the Second Italian-Abyssinian War.

Following the savage suppression of their revolt in 1960, numerous members of the Gedeo people

Gedeo people

The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. The Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is named for this people...

 were forcibly evicted from their homes, and over the following years some migrated to Shakiso to settle. However, the unrest of the early years of the Ethiopian Revolution forced many of these migrants to leave Shakiso for their homeland.

Tahir Shah

Tahir Shah

Tahir Shah , né Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi is an Anglo-Afghan Indian author, journalist and documentary maker. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco.-Family origins and life:...

 describes Shakiso in his 2002 book, In Search of King Solomon's Mines, as "a frontier town" which isn't mentioned in travel books "nor was it on my map." The main street featured shops "selling Western contraband -- Walkmans and televisions, Swiss Army knives, Russian vodka, lacy underwear, Marlboro cigarettes and CDs." These goods were offered to miners with ample disposable income from working both the official gold mine at Lega Dembi, as well as countless illegal gold mines in the Adola greenstone belt.

Land clashes in June 2006 between the rival Guji

Guji Oromo

The Guji Oromo are an ethnic Oromo group living in southern Ethiopia. They are part nomadic and part agrarian. According to a population projection from 2007, the total population of the Guji Oromo is above 5 million....

 and Borena Oromo clans left about 100 people dead in and around the towns of Shakiso, Arero

Arero

Arero 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...

 and Yabelo

Yabelo

Yabelo is a town in southern Ethiopia. An alternative name for this town is Obda, which is also the name of a nearby mountain. Located northwest of Moyale in the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region , this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1857 meters above sea level...

. According to Oxfam

Oxfam

Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

, more than 20,000 people had fled from the environs of Shakiso.

By March, 2009, drinkable 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...

 projects with a budget of 38 million Birr

Ethiopian birr

The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....

 were underway at Shakiso and Adola Wayou, which were expected to benefit 72,000 residents.

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, Shakiso has an estimated total population of 28,260, of whom 15,463 are men and 12,797 are women. It is the larger of the two towns in Odo Shakiso

Odo Shakiso

Odo Shakiso is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Guji Zone, Odo Shakiso is bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from Arero, on the west by Hagere Mariam, on the northeast by Uraga, on the north by Bore, on the northeast by Adolana Wadera, and...

 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...

.

The 1994 census reported Wacca had a total population of 15,757 of whom 8,386 were men and 7,371 were women. The five largest ethnic groups reported for this town 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...

 (43.52%), 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...

 (33.33%), the Soddo

Soddo language

Soddo is a Gurage language spoken by about 300,000 people in southeastern Ethiopia...

 Gurage

Gurage

Gurage is an ethnic group in Ethiopia. According to the 2007 national census, its population is 1,867,377 people , of whom 792,659 are urban dwellers. This is 2.53% of the total population of Ethiopia, or 7.52% of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region...

 (4.12%), the Gedeo

Gedeo people

The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. The Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region is named for this people...

 (3.95%), and the Welayta

Welayta people

Wolayta is the name of an ethnic group and its former kingdom, located in southern Ethiopia. According to the most recent census , they number 1.7 million people or 2.31 percent of the country's population, of whom 289,707 are urban inhabitants...

 (3.62%); all other ethnic groups made up 11.46% of the population. 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...

 is spoken as a first language by 63.61%, 25.72% 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...

, and 2.86% spoke Gedeo

Gedeo language

Gedeo is the name of a Highland East Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family spoken in south central Ethiopia. Alternate names for the language include Derasa, Deresa, Darassa, Geddeo, Derasanya, Darasa. It is spoken by the Gedeo people, who live in the highland area, southwest of Dila and...

; the remaining 7.81% spoke all other primary languages reported.