Administrative Zone 1 (Afar)

Last updated
Afar Zone 1
Awsi Rasu
Zone
Ethiopia Afar Zone1.PNG
Zone 1 location in Ethiopia
Country Ethiopia
Region Afar Region
Capital Asayita
Area [1]
  Total 30,242.10 km2 (11,676.54 sq mi)
Population (2012)
  Total 498,873
  Density 16/km2 (43/sq mi)

Administrative Zone 1 (since May 2006 known as Awsi Rasu) is one of five Zones of the Afar Region of Ethiopia. This zone is bordered on the south by Administrative Zone 3, on the southwest by Administrative Zone 5, on the west by the Amhara Region, on the northwest by Administrative Zone 4, on the north by Administrative Zone 2, on the northeast by Eritrea, and on the east by Djibouti.

Afar Region Regional State in Ethiopia

The Afar Regional State is one of the nine regional states (kililoch) of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people. Formerly known as Region 2, its new capital as of 2007 is the recently constructed city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash–Assab highway.

Ethiopia country in East Africa

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country in the northeastern part of Africa, popularly known as the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With over 102 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent that covers a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi). Its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa, which lies a few miles west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate.

Administrative Zone 3 (Afar) Zone in Afar Region, Ethiopia

Administrative Zone 3 is one of five Zones of the Afar Region of Ethiopia. This zone is bordered on the south by the Oromia Region, on the southwest by the Amhara Region, on the west by the Administrative Zone 5, on the north by Administrative Zone 1, and on the east by the Somali Region.

Contents

The largest town in Zone 1 is Asayita. Rivers in this Zone include the Awash and its tributaries the Mille and Logiya Rivers. There are a chain of six interconnected lakes in this Zone, fed by the Awash: from north to south they are Gargori, Laitali, Gummare, Bario and Lake Abbe (or Abhe Bad).

Awash River river in Ethiopia

The Awash is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia and empties into a chain of interconnected lakes that begin with Lake Gargori and end with Lake Abbe on the border with Djibouti, some 100 kilometres from the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin covering parts of the Amhara, Oromia and Somali Regions, as well as the southern half of the Afar Region. According to Huntingford, in the 16th century the Awash river was called the great Dir river and lay in the country of the Muslims.

Mille River river in Ethiopia

The Mille River is a river of Ethiopia and a tributary of the Awash. It drains parts of the Semien (North) Wollo and Debub (South) Wollo Zones of the Amhara Region, as well as Administrative Zone 4 of the Afar Region. The explorer L.M. Nesbitt, who travelled through the area in 1928, was impressed by its size, and described the Mille as "probably the only real river which joins the Awash". The Ala River (A'ura) and Golima River (Golina) are small tributaries of the Mille.

The Logiya is a river of east-central Ethiopia. Having its source in the Ethiopian highlands, this stream flows eastwards to become a tributary of the Awash River near Dubti11°44′N41°0′E.

History

Following a split in the ranks of the Djiboutian political party Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy in 1994, 18,000 Djiboutians fled to this Zone. Most of these refugees are scattered along the main road from Ayasita to Bure, either integrated into local settlements, or - in the case of nomads - allowed to graze their animals in the areas of their host clans. [2]

Djibouti country in Africa

Djibouti is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti occupies a total area of 23,200 km2 (8,958 sq mi).

Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy political party

The Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy is a political party in Djibouti. It is aligned with the interests of the Afar people who live in that country, although it has supporters residing outside of Djibouti.

Bure (disputed zone) Place in Afar, Ethiopia

Bure is a small area about 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Asseb, on the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and claimed by both countries. Bure lies across the important Awash-Asseb highway, which in the past has been an important trucking route.

In August 1999, a planned release of waters from the Koka Reservoir resulted in flooding by the Awash—although an investigation afterwards showed the flooding was caused by dike failures and silting of the Awash. Approximately 4,000 hectares of cropland in the Zone and 3 rural kebeles in Asayita, 5 in Afambo and 8 in Dubti woredas were affected. [3]

The Koka Reservoir is a reservoir in south-central Ethiopia. It was created by the construction of the Koka Dam across the Awash River. The reservoir has an area of 180 square kilometers.

A kebele is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia, similar to a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. It is part of a woreda (district), itself usually part of a Zone, which in turn are grouped into one of the Regions based on ethno-linguistic communities that comprise the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Each kebele consists of at least five hundred families, or the equivalent of 3,500 to 4,000 persons. There is at least one in every town with more than 2,000 population. A keftanya, or representative, had jurisdiction over six to twelve kebeles.

Asayita is one of the woredas in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Administrative Zone 1, Asayita is bordered on the south by Afambo, on the west by Dubti, then on the north by the Awash River which separates it from Elidar, and on the east by Djibouti. The major town in Asayita is Asayita.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 410,790, [4] of whom 224,656 are men and 186,134 women; with an area of 30,242.10 square kilometers, it has a population density of 13.58. While 82,886 or 20.18% are urban inhabitants, a further 178,557 or 43.47% were pastoralists. A total of 75,735 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 5.4 persons to a household, and 78,104 housing units. Two largest ethnic groups reported in Zone 1 were the Afar (88.52%) and Amhara (9.97%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.51% of the population. Afar is spoken as a first language by 88.43%, and Amharic by 10.4%; the remaining 1.17% spoke all other primary languages reported. 96.55% of the population said they were Muslim, and 3.29% were Orthodox Christians. [5]

Afar people ethnic group

The Afar, also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are an ethnic Cushitic peoples inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although some also inhabit the southern point of Eritrea. Afars speak the Afar language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family.

The Afar language is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken by the Afar people inhabiting Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Islam in Ethiopia

Islam is the second largest religion in Ethiopia with over 33,9% of the population practicing it in 2007. The faith arrived in Ethiopia at an early date, shortly before the hijira. Islam is the religion of the overwhelming majority of the Somali, Afar, Argobba, Harari, Berta, Alaba, and Silt'e and also has many adherents among the Gurage and the Oromo, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, as well as a minority of Amhara, the second largest ethnic group in the country.

The 1996 national census reported a total population for this Zone of 327,901, of whom 186,616 were men and 141,285 women; 42,213 or 12.9% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The major ethnic groupings in 1996 were 88.09% Afar, 9.98% Amhara, 0.75% Tigrean, and 0.71% Oromo. Of the school-age school-age children, 4.86% (5.05% male and 4.60% female) were currently attending school, which is higher than the Regional average; 11.28% of the total population over the age of 10 (12.93% male and 9.14% female) are reported to be literate. [6]

Oromo people An African ethnic group, largest in Ethiopia

The Oromo people are an ethnic group inhabiting Ethiopia. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia and represent 34.5% of Ethiopia's population. Oromos speak the Oromo language as a mother tongue, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. The word Oromo appeared in European literature for the first time in 1893 and then slowly became common in the second half of the 20th century.

Agriculture

Based on a sample enumeration of private land held in this Zone performed by the CSA in 2001, 43.1% is under cultivation, 2.82% pasture, 35.9% is fallow, and the remaining 5.15% is devoted to other uses. For the land under cultivation in this woreda, 53.32% in planted in cereals like maize and sorghum; data is missing for the land planted in pulses and vegetables, but 3.54 hectares was planted in fruit trees, 0.9 hectares in bananas and 0.91 in guavas. 5.53% of the farmers both raise crops and livestock, while 17.35% only grow crops and 77.12% only raise livestock. Land tenure in this Zone is distributed between 76.63% own their land, 7.65% rent, and the remaining 15.72% are held under other forms of tenure. [7]

Notes

  1. Geohive: Ethiopia Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. Situation report on Region 2 (Afar National Regional State) UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia report, dated January 1996 (accessed 13 January 2009)
  3. "Afar Region – Awash River Floods Rapid Assessment Mission: 7 – 10 September, 1999" UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia report, dated June 1996 (accessed 13 January 2009)
  4. In Afar Region eight rural kebeles in Elidar Wereda, bordering Eritrea were not covered by census. To get the total population size of Zone 1, you should add the estimated population size (21,410) of eight rural kebeles of Elidar wereda.
  5. Census 2007 Tables: Afar Region Archived 2012-11-13 at the Wayback Machine ., Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.
  6. The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Affar Region, vol. 2 Archived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ., Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.13, 3.1, 3.6. Although the Afar Region was surveyed in 1994 at the same time as the other Regions of Ethiopia, the results were found to be unsatisfactory and a second census of this region was performed 22 July 1996 and its results replaced the earlier work.
  7. "Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia. Agricultural Sample Survey (AgSE2001). Report on Area and Production - Afar Region. Version 1.1 - December 2007" [ permanent dead link ] (accessed 26 January 2009)

Coordinates: 12°0′N41°10′E / 12.000°N 41.167°E / 12.000; 41.167

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