Yabelo 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...

. An alternative name for this town is Obda, which is also the name of a nearby mountain. Located northwest of Moyale

Moyale

Moyale 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...

 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...

 (or kilil), this town has a latitude and longitude of 4°53′N 38°5′E and an elevation of 1857 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of the Borena Zone

Borena Zone

Borena 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...

 since its division from 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...

 in September 2002, as well as Yabelo

Yabelo (woreda)

Yabelo is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after its administrative center, Yabelo. Part of the Borena Zone, Yabelo is bordered on the south by Dire, on the west by Teltele, on the north by Hagere Mariam, and on the east by Arero....

 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...

.

This town is reported to have two gas stations, telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 service, a post office and a commercial bank

Commercial bank

After the implementation of the Glass–Steagall Act, the U.S. Congress required that banks engage only in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. As the two no longer have to be under separate ownership under U.S...

, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school. The water supply for the town comes from a borehole constructed in 1986, a few miles out of the town. This borehole was designed to accommodate the population of the time, which was reported to be 15,000; however, by 1996 the population had grown much larger and was estimated at 35,000. In addition, it was reported that of the two boreholes only one was functional, and the town had 7 water points at different locations. To alleviate the problem of perennial shortages and improve the provision of water, it was proposed to construct additional boreholes the following year. Yabelo is also near the Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary

Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary

Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area and wildlife sanctuary in southern Ethiopia. It is located in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region west of the town of Yabelo, having an area of 2,500 square kilometers and elevations ranging from 1430 to 2000 meters above sea level with a latitude and...

, known as a habitat of rare bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s, including the endemic Stresemann's Bush Crow

Stresemann's Bush Crow

The Stresemann's Bushcrow , also known as Abyssinian Pie, Bush Crow, Ethiopian Bushcrow, or by its generic name Zavattariornis, is a rather starling-like bird, which is currently thought to be member of the crow family, Corvidae, though this is uncertain...

 and White-tailed Swallow

White-tailed Swallow

The White-tailed Swallow is a species of bird in the Hirundinidae family.It is endemic to Ethiopia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland.It is threatened by habitat loss....

, as well as Swayne's Hartebeest

Swayne's Hartebeest

Swayne's Hartebeest is an endangered antelope native to Ethiopia. It has been extirpated from Somalia....

.

History

Yabelo was entered by the Italian Laghi Division on 11 July 1936, but more formally occupied on 6 August 1936 by troops under the command of Giorgio Pollera. 15 tanks from the Yabelo garrison attempted to break through the Allied defenses around Mega

Mega, Ethiopia

Mega is a town in southern Ethiopia. Located between Moyale and Yabelo on the paved highway south to Kenya, in the Borena Zone of the Oromia Region , this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1740 meters above sea level...

, but failed; Yabelo was occupied by the Allies two days after the armored assault on 22 February 1941. The hangar the Italians had built at Yabelo was dismantled in 1952, and transported to Debre Zeyit

Debre Zeyit

Debre Zeyit is a town of Ethiopia, lying south east of Addis Ababa. Since the late 1990s it has been officially known by the Oromo name, Bishoftu, which was its name until 1955...

 by air, where it was re-erected to house the newly-acquired Fairey Firefly airplanes from Canada.

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...

 started a missionary station at Yabelo in 1950, although the staff was reported to have made little headway in converting the locals, similar to the other Christian missionaries. In 1992, Yabelo was the site of a feeding station to combat a local famine. Conditions had grown so severe that the local Borena Oromo decided to eliminate competition from their neighbors the Gabbra. The Gabbra were killed, their livestock was stolen, and the survivors were moved from the area by CARE. In June 2004, a Rally of Pastoral Clans was held under the Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

 trees of the SARDU compound in Yabelo, which included representatives from the Borena, 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....

, Gabbra, Arsi

Arsi Oromo

Arsi Oromo is one of the branches of the Oromo people inhabiting the Oromia Region, mainly in the Arsi and Bale Zones, and partly in the Misraq Shewa Zone. They claim to have descended from a single individual called Arse...

 and Marian clans in Dire

Dire (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...

, 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...

 and Moyale

Moyale, Oromia (woreda)

- 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% forest, and the remaining 10% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable...

 woredas; other attendees included government officials such as Obbo Kibre Jimmera, deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Pastoralist Affairs Standing Committee. Economic and social issues were discussed, with an emphasis of finding areas of agreement rather than discussing specific disputes.

Land clashes in June 2006 between the rival Guji and Borena Oromo clans left about 100 people dead in and around the towns of Yabelo, 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 Shakiso

Shakiso

Shakiso is a town in southern Ethiopia. Located in the Gujii Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1758 meters above sea level....

. According an aid worker in the area, between 37,000 and 39,000 people had fled from the environs of Yabelo.

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 businesspeople had been detained in Yabello. As of January 25 2010 over 150 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 Yabello 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.

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, Yabelo has an estimated total population of 18,478 of whom 9,551 are men and 8,927 are women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 10,322 of whom 5,180 were men and 5,142 were women.