Sodo or Wolaita Sodo is a town in south-central 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...

. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, Sodo has a latitude and longitude of 6°54′N 37°45′E with an elevation between 1600 and 2100 meters above sea level. It is also the administrative center of Sodo Zuria

Sodo Zuria

Sodo Zuria is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Wolayita Zone, Sodo Zuria is bordered on the southwest by Offa, on the west by Kindo Koysha, on the north by Boloso Sore, on the northeast by Damot Gale, and on the east by Damot...

 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...

.

Sodo is served by an airport (ICAO code HASD, IATA SXU). A 166 kilometers long road connecting Sodo with Chida, whose construction had started in 1994, was completed by early 1999. Featuring an 80 meter Bailey bridge

Bailey bridge

The Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed by the British during World War II for military use and saw extensive use by both British and the American military engineering units....

 across the Omo river

Omo River

The Omo River is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya...

 and five other bridges, this road cost cost 255 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....

, and reduced the distance between the Regional capital at Awassa and Mizan Teferi

Mizan Teferi

Mizan Tefere is a town in southern Ethiopia. The largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of...

 to 400 kilometers. According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Sodo's amenities include digital and mobile telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, two banks, and a hospital. Sodo is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate

Apostolic vicariate

An apostolic vicariate is a form of territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church established in missionary regions and countries that do not have a diocese. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more...

 of Sodo-Hosaena.

History

In the early 1930s, Sodo was described as the only locality in Wolaita district deserving to be called a town. It had a Saturday market, a telephone line to the capital and a weekly mail courier. Italian ground troops captured Sodo on 27 January 1937; it was there that two Italian generals with their divisions – Liberati with his 25th Division, and Bacarri with his 101st Division – surrendered on 22 May 1941, after a minimum of resistance. The British also captured the remnants of the 21st Division, who had escaped around the north end of Lake Abijatta

Lake Abijatta

Lake Abijata lies in Ethiopia south of Addis Ababa, in the Abijatta-Shalla National Park. According to the Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68, the lake is 17 kilometers long and 15 km wide, with a surface area of 205 square kilometers...

. The loot included more than 4,000 officers and men, 6 medium tanks, 4 light tanks, 100 machine guns, ammunition and supplies.

By 1958 Sodo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. A branch of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the largest commercial bank in Ethiopia and had about Birr 73.7 billion , in assets at the end of June 2010. At the time, the bank held approximately 63.5% of deposits and about 38% of all bank loans in the country...

 was established between 1965-68. The administrator of Sodo Zuria woreda and one-time student activist, Melaku Gebre Egziahber, was arrested in 1975 for encouraging peasants and the urban poor to rise up against "exploiters" in the town. In 1984, a refugee camp was established in the town for the victims of that year's famine.

On 6 November 1999, police

Law enforcement in Ethiopia

Law enforcement in Ethiopia has been since a reorganization in October 2000, the responsibility of the national police which is overseen by the Federal Police Commission. This commission reports to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, which in turn is responsible to the parliament; however, this...

 arrested two teachers in Sodo for objecting to the use of a new language in school textbooks. Student demonstrations against the arrests led to widespread week-long protests and riots. Special police units were brought in to suppress the demonstrations, and killed as many as 10 people, injured hundreds and arrested up to 1,000 others. A former Young Men's Christian Association camp outside Sodo was used as a temporary detention facility for hundreds of demonstrators.

Prior to the Ethiopian 2005 General Elections

Ethiopian general elections, 2005

Ethiopia held general elections on May 15, 2005, for seats in both its national and in four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic...

, Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 reports that some members of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces

United Ethiopian Democratic Forces

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces is a coalition of several existing political parties of Ethiopia which combined to compete for seats in the Ethiopian General Elections held on May 15, 2005....

 political party were amongst 200 people reportedly detained under vagrancy laws

Vagrancy (people)

A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...

 in Sodo on 22 February 2005. Amnesty International included this incident as one of a series of government intimidation of opposition party activists.

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, this town has an estimated total population of 65,737 of whom 34,069 are men and 31,668 are women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 36,287 of whom 18,863 were men and 17,424 were women.