Gelana Abaya
Encyclopedia
Gelana Abaya is one of the 180 woreda
s in the Oromia Region
of Ethiopia
. Part of the Borena Zone
, Gelana Abaya is bordered on the south by Hagere Mariam
, and on the west, north and east by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Lake Abaya
, on the western border, is divided between this woreda and the SNNPR. However, the Guji Oromo
who live in Nechisar National Park
are claimed to be administratively part of this woreda, in a kebele called "Irgansaa". According to the map of the Oromia Region published by the Disaster Prevention and Disaster Agency, this woreda is divided into two smaller ones: Gelana and Abaya. Information is lacking on the towns of this woreda.
, and the remaining 9% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. The four major crops grown in this woreda are maize
, wheat, barley and haricot beans in that order, with some long cycle sorghum and teff
as well; in some parts ensete
or the false banana is also grown, which offers a degree of security during famines. Coffee
is an important cash crop; over 5,000 hectares are planted with it.
Industry in the woreda includes 2 coffee pulpers, and a number of traders; deposits of ignimbrite
and basalt
are known but have not been commercially developed. There were 32 Farmers Associations with 5,643 members and 4 Farmers Service Cooperatives. Gelana Abaya has 67 kilometers of dry-weather and 19 all-weather road, for an average road density of 36.4 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 21.6% of the total population has access to drinking water
.
, and the American Arthur Donaldson Smith
.
In the last years of the military regime some parts of the Sidamo Province
inhabited by the Guji Oromo were included in the Gedeo sub-province, while the larger portion of the Guji territories remained in Borana sub-province. This restructuring was preserved during the Transitional Government
, making this woreda a part of the Gedeo Zone
of the SNNPR. The local Guji Oromo, who felt dominated by the Gedeo people
, were dissatisfied with this arrangement, and who appealed to the office of the then Prime Minister but in vain, until the adoption of the new constitution
, when a plebiscite was arranged to reallocate the woredas. Although Gelana Abaya became a part of the Oromia Zone, it was only after violent clashes broke out in the Hagere Mariam
woreda between the Guji and Gedeo in April-May 1995. The federal army attempted to intervene between the two to stop the fighting, but only succeeded in becoming the target of Guji militants.
Gelana Abaya was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
in 2004 as an area for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas. That year this woreda became the home for a total of 9145 heads of households and
45,725 total family members.
In early 2005, around 6,000 people were displaced by heavy flooding in Gelana; Hagere Mariam was also affected by the flooding to a lesser degree.
in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 152,161, of whom 75,042 are men and 77,119 are women. With an estimated area of 2,365.16 square kilometers, Gelana Abaya has an estimated population density of 64.3 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 21.1.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 110,762, of whom 56,489 were men and 54,273 women; the census reported no urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Gelana Abaya were the Oromo
(74.49%), the Gedeo
(23.47%), and the Amhara
(1.18%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.86% of the population. Oromiffa
was spoken as a first language by 75.86%, 22.64% spoke Gedeo
and 1.18% spoke Amharic
; the remaining 0.32% spoke all other primary languages reported. The plurality of the inhabitants practiced traditional beliefs, with 44.38% of the population giving answers that were recorded under that label, while 34.19% of the population said they were Protestant
, 11.55% professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 2.24% were Catholic
.
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...
s in the Oromia Region
Oromia Region
Oromia is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia...
of 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...
. Part 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...
, Gelana Abaya is bordered on the south by Hagere Mariam
Hagere Mariam (woreda)
Hagere Mariam is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after its largest town, Hagere Mariam. Part of the Borena Zone, Hagere Mariam is bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from Arero, on the southwest by Yabelo, on the west by the Southern Nations,...
, and on the west, north and east by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Lake Abaya
Lake Abaya
Lake Abaya is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. It was named Lake Margherita by the Italian explorer Vittorio Bottego, the first European commonly thought to visit the lake, to honor the wife of king Umberto I of Italy, Queen Margherita...
, on the western border, is divided between this woreda and the SNNPR. However, the Guji Oromo
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....
who live in Nechisar National Park
Nechisar National Park
Nechisar National Park is one of the National Parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region immediately to the east of Arba Minch, its 514 square kilometers of territory include the "Bridge of God" , and the Nechisar plains east of the lakes...
are claimed to be administratively part of this woreda, in a kebele called "Irgansaa". According to the map of the Oromia Region published by the Disaster Prevention and Disaster Agency, this woreda is divided into two smaller ones: Gelana and Abaya. Information is lacking on the towns of this woreda.
Overview
The altitude of this woreda ranges from 800 to 2300 meters above sea level. Perennial rivers include the Gelana and Gildabo. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 41% is arable (28.7% was under annual crops), 35% pasture, 15% forestForestry in Ethiopia
In the late nineteenth century, about 30% of Ethiopia was covered with forest. The clearing of land for agricultural use and the cutting of trees for fuel gradually changed the scene, and today forest areas have dwindled to less than 4% of Ethiopia's total land. The northern parts of the highlands...
, and the remaining 9% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. The four major crops grown in this woreda are maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, wheat, barley and haricot beans in that order, with some long cycle sorghum 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....
as well; in some parts ensete
Ensete
Ensete, or Enset, is a genus of plants, native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae.- Domesticated enset in Ethiopia :...
or the false banana is also grown, which offers a degree of security during famines. Coffee
Coffee production in Ethiopia
The coffee production in Ethiopia is critical to the Ethiopian economy with about 25% of the population depending directly or indirectly on coffee for its livelihood...
is an important cash crop; over 5,000 hectares are planted with it.
Industry in the woreda includes 2 coffee pulpers, and a number of traders; deposits of ignimbrite
Ignimbrite
An ignimbrite is the deposit of a pyroclastic density current, or pyroclastic flow, a hot suspension of particles and gases that flows rapidly from a volcano, driven by a greater density than the surrounding atmosphere....
and basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
are known but have not been commercially developed. There were 32 Farmers Associations with 5,643 members and 4 Farmers Service Cooperatives. Gelana Abaya has 67 kilometers of dry-weather and 19 all-weather road, for an average road density of 36.4 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 21.6% of the total population has access to drinking 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...
.
History
Early western explorers who travelled through what currently is the territory of this woreda include the Italians Eugene Ruspoli (died 1891) and Vittorio BottegoVittorio Bottego
Vittorio Bottego was an Italian army officer and one of the first Western explorers of Jubaland in the Horn of Africa , where he led two expeditions. Bottego was born in Parma....
, and the American Arthur Donaldson Smith
Arthur Donaldson Smith
Dr. Arthur Donaldson Smith was an American explorer of Africa. In the 1890s he made a geological expedition to Lake Rudolph , passing through what was then Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Kenya.-External links:*...
.
In the last years of the military regime some parts of the Sidamo Province
Sidamo Province
Sidamo was a province in the southern part of Ethiopia, with its capital city at Irgalem, and after 1978 at Awasa. It was named after an ethnic group native to Ethiopia, called the Sidamo, or more particularly, Sidama, who are located in the south-central part of that country...
inhabited by the Guji Oromo were included in the Gedeo sub-province, while the larger portion of the Guji territories remained in Borana sub-province. This restructuring was preserved during the Transitional Government
Transitional Government of Ethiopia
The Transitional government of Ethiopia was established immediately after the fall of the Dergue regime. It was led by Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia. Zenawi remains the prime minister of Ethiopia to this day....
, making this woreda a part of the Gedeo Zone
Gedeo Zone
Gedeo is a Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. This Zone is named for the Gedeo people, whose homelands lie in this zone...
of the SNNPR. The local Guji Oromo, who felt dominated by 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 dissatisfied with this arrangement, and who appealed to the office of the then Prime Minister but in vain, until the adoption of the new constitution
1995 Constitution of Ethiopia
The current Constitution of Ethiopia, which is the supreme law of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, was adopted by the Transitional Government of Ethiopia in December 1994 and came into force in August 1995. The constitution was drawn up by the Constituent Assembly elected in June of that year.The...
, when a plebiscite was arranged to reallocate the woredas. Although Gelana Abaya became a part of the Oromia Zone, it was only after violent clashes broke out in the Hagere Mariam
Hagere Mariam (woreda)
Hagere Mariam is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, named after its largest town, Hagere Mariam. Part of the Borena Zone, Hagere Mariam is bordered on the south by the Dawa River which separates it from Arero, on the southwest by Yabelo, on the west by the Southern Nations,...
woreda between the Guji and Gedeo in April-May 1995. The federal army attempted to intervene between the two to stop the fighting, but only succeeded in becoming the target of Guji militants.
Gelana Abaya was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ethiopia)
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the Ethiopian government ministry which oversees the agricultural and rural development policies of Ethiopia on a Federal level...
in 2004 as an area for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas. That year this woreda became the home for a total of 9145 heads of households and
45,725 total family members.
In early 2005, around 6,000 people were displaced by heavy flooding in Gelana; Hagere Mariam was also affected by the flooding to a lesser degree.
Demographics
Based on figures published by the Central Statistical AgencyCentral 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 woreda has an estimated total population of 152,161, of whom 75,042 are men and 77,119 are women. With an estimated area of 2,365.16 square kilometers, Gelana Abaya has an estimated population density of 64.3 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 21.1.
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 110,762, of whom 56,489 were men and 54,273 women; the census reported no urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Gelana Abaya 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...
(74.49%), 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...
(23.47%), and 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...
(1.18%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.86% of the population. 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...
was spoken as a first language by 75.86%, 22.64% 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...
and 1.18% spoke 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...
; the remaining 0.32% spoke all other primary languages reported. The plurality of the inhabitants practiced traditional beliefs, with 44.38% of the population giving answers that were recorded under that label, while 34.19% of the population said they were Protestant
P'ent'ay
P'ent'ay or Pentay is a slang term widely used in modern Ethiopia, and among Ethiopians living abroad, to describe Ethiopian Christians who are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Orthodox Tehadeso, Roman Catholic or Ethiopian Catholic churches...
, 11.55% professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 2.24% were Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia
The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.The Ethiopian Catholic Church, the primary organization of Catholicism in the country, is especially close to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, whose doctrine and...
.