Mega 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 between 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...

 and Yabelo

Yabelo

Yabelo is a town in southern Ethiopia. An alternative name for this town is Obda, which is also the name of a nearby mountain. Located northwest of Moyale in the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region , this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1857 meters above sea level...

 on the paved highway south to Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, in 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...

 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°01′N 38°15′E with an elevation of 1740 meters above sea level. Named for a nearby mountain, this town is the administrative center of 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...

 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 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 and a post office, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school, but no financial institutions.

History

Mega came under Ethiopian control in 1897 when Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis

Habte Giyorgis

Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde was the Ethiopian Minister of War during the reigns of Menelik II, Iyasu V, Zauditu and Haile Selassie . He is from the Oromo people of Ethiopia and played a leading role in several battles...

 built a fort was nearby. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was important as the residence for Sir Arnold Weinholt Hodson

Arnold Weinholt Hodson

Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson , KCMG was a British colonial administrator who was Governor in turn of the Falkland Islands, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast.-Background:Hodson was born in Bovey Tracey, Devonshire, in 1881...

, British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Consul for Southern Ethiopia between 1914-1923. The British manned the consulate at least as late as the 1950s.

Mega was captured by the Italians on 25 June 1936, then occupied by a South African Brigade in February 1941 after prolonged fighting with the Italian garrison. During the Italian occupation

Italian East Africa

Italian East Africa was an Italian colonial administrative subdivision established in 1936, resulting from the merger of the Ethiopian Empire with the old colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea. In August 1940, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa...

, Mega became an important hub of communications for this part of Ethiopia, but when David Buxton passed through in the later 1940s after the Italians had been defeated, he found that "there is little traffic in these days, and Mega has almost reverted to the sleepy remoteness of pre-Italian times."

After a lack of success in 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 1951 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...

 moved their station from that town north to Mega, which continued at least as late as the 1970s. Travellers going from Mega to Moyale were ambushed at a place named Karbete Bonaya Wale on 2 February 1999 by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front

Oromo Liberation Front

The Oromo Liberation Front , or OLF, is an organization established in 1973 by Oromo nationalists to promote self-determination for the Oromo people against what they call "Abyssinian colonial rule". It has been outlawed and labeled as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government...

. Amongst the six killed was a commander Abdulla Mohammed alias Aliyyi Mohammed.

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, Mega has an estimated total population of 9,370 of whom 4,766 are men and 4,604 women. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 5,237 of whom 2,585 were men and 2,652 women.