Mizan Tefere 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...

. The largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji Zone

Bench Maji is one of the 13 Zones of the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region . Bench Maji is bordered on the south by the Ilemi Triangle, on the west by Sudan, on the northwest by the Gambela Region, on the north by Keficho Shekicho and on the east by Debub Omo...

 of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR), and located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma

Jimma

Jimma, also Jima, is the largest city in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of . The town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a...

, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of 7°0′N 35°35′E and an elevation of 1451 meters.

Overview

Mizan Tefere is served by an airport

Mizan Teferi Airport

Mizan Terefi Airport is an airport in Mizan Teferi, Ethiopia . Located at an elevation of 2530 meters above sea level, this airport has one unpaved runway 1500 meters long.- External links :*...

 (ICAO code HAMT, IATA MTF) with an unpaved runway. Until 1966, the town was connected by only a dry weather road to Gore

Gore, Ethiopia

Gore is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located south of Metu in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2085 meters....

; that year the roads to Bonga

Bonga

Bonga is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located southwest of Jimma in the Keficho Shekicho Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level...

 and Tepi were improved by the Highway Authority. Further proposed improvements were promised on 13 December 2006, when the Ethiopian government announced that it had secured a loan of US$ 98 million from the African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

 to pave the 227 kilometers of highway between Jimma and Mizan Teferi

Mizan Teferi

Mizan Tefere is a town in southern Ethiopia. The largest town, and the administrative center, of the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , and located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of...

 to the southwest. The loan would cover 64% of the 1270.97 million Birr

Ethiopian birr

The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....

 budgeted for this project.

By 1996 there was 24 hour electricity, and access to potable water.

According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Mizan Teferi's amenities also include digital telephone access, postal service, and a bank and a hospital. Near the town is the Bebeka coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 plantation. It is also the location of two institutions of higher education, Aman Health Science College and Mizan - Tepi University

Mizan - Tepi University

Mizan - Tepi University is one of the new public universities in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia , which has more than 5,000 students and more than 200 lecturers....

.

Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of the primary and secondary school in 1968, and a 70-bed hospital built in 1989. During the existence of the Bench Zone (created in the mid-1990s) Mizan Teferi was its administrative center.

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 19,296 of whom 10,136 were males and were 9,160 females. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 10,652 of whom 5,612 were males and 5,040 were females. It is one of two towns in Bench

Bench (woreda)

Bench is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the Bench people, whose homeland lies in the northern part of the woreda. Part of the Bench Maji Zone, Bench is bordered on the south and east by Meinit, on the west by Sheko, and...

 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...

.