Alaba Kulito 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 Alaba special woreda of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR), this town sits on the left bank of the Bilate River

Bilate River

The Bilate is a river of south-central Ethiopia. It rises on the southwestern slopes of Mount Gurage near , flowing south along the western side of the Great Rift Valley, to empty into Lake Abaya at...

 and has a latitude and longitude of 7°18′N 38°07′E, with an elevation of 1726 meters above sea level. Alaba Kulito is the administrative center of the Alaba special 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...

.

According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Alaba Kulito's amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, and a bank.

History

Alaba Kulito is believed to have been founded towards the end of the 19th century, around 1895.

Kulito was known as a center of Muslim settlement, with over 1,000 students in Koran schools in 1974. Ethiopian radio reported in 29 October 1996 that the remains of five youths alleged to have been killed between 1978 and 1979 through the direct involvement of senior Derg

Derg

The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...

 officials had been exhumed in the premises of the police station by a team of Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 archaeologists by order of the special prosecutor.

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 27,359 of whom 13,741 were males and 13,618 were females.

The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 15,101 of whom 7,608 were males and 7,493 were females. The five largest ethnic groups reported in Alaba Kulito were 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...

 (18.77%), the Kambaata (18.01%), the Alaba (12.91%), the Silte (11.83%), 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...

 (11.18%); all other ethnic groups made up 22.32% 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 53.39%, 12.91% speak Alaba, 10.85% Kambaata

Kambaata language

Kambaata is a Highland East Cushitic language, part of the larger Afro-Asiatic family and spoken by the Kambaata. Dialects are Donga, Kambaata and Tambaro. It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia. The language has a large number of verbal affixes. When these are affixed to verbal roots,...

, 7.83% Welayta

Welayta language

Wolaytta is an Omotic language spoken in the Wolaita Zone and some parts of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia. The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 2,000,000 ; it is the native language of the Welayta people...

, and 6.62% speak Silte; the remaining 8.4% spoke all other primary languages reported.

Concerning migration patterns, the municipality reported that after the harvest time in December/January, there were influxes of rural people to the town, predominantly men, who come to work trade or build houses. They return to their villages in June at the beginning of the planting season. It was estimated that between five and ten thousand people migrate to the town from the countryside every year.

Health Situation

According to a report by the local health center, Alaba Kulito had a high incidence of water related diseases, usually caused by stagnant water, especially in Summer. The most common disease in the town is malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

.

Economy

Alaba Kulito is an important marketing and communication center, connected by asphalt road to the capital Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Shashamane

Shashamane

Shashamane is a town in central Ethiopia. It is located in the Misraq Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region. The city lies on the Trans-African Highway 4 Cairo-Cape Town, about from the capital of Addis Ababa...

 and Arba Minch

Arba Minch

Arba Minch is a city in southern Ethiopia; less common names for this city include Ganta Garo and Minghi. Located in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region about 500 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, at an elevation of 1285 meters above sea level...

, and by gravel road to Hosaena

Hosaena

Hosaena is a town in southern Ethiopia, and the administrative center of the Hadiya Zone...

. In addition, a new asphalt road through Alaba from Butajira

Butajira

Butajira is a town in south-central Ethiopia. Located at the base of the Zebidar massif in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2131 meters above sea level...

 to Addis Ababa emphasizes the town's economic importance. The civic road network is arranged in four tiers as follows: principal arterials, which are 26-30 meters wide; collector roads, 16-20 meters wide; minor arterials, 20-26 meters wide; and local roads,10-16 meters wide

The weekly market for this town is on Thursdays, and is known as one of the largest open markets in Ethiopia. The area around Alaba Kulito is famous for its production of red pepper (Berbere); hundreds of quintals of this crop are transported every week to Addis Ababa, Dessie

Dessie

Dessie is a city and a woreda in north-central Ethiopia. Located on the Addis Ababa - Asmara highway in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, this city has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 2,470 and 2,550 meters above sea level.Dessie has postal service , and telephone...

, and other urban centers. The other cash crops include maize and teff

Teff

Eragrostis tef, known as teff, taf , or khak shir , is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of Northeast Africa....

, which are also transported to other towns including Awassa, Dilla

Dilla

Dilla is a city located in the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia.-History:Local control of the city is disputed between Awdalland, a proposed autonomous state, and Somaliland, a self-declared independent republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of...

and Shashamane.