Mendi, Ethiopia

Mendi (also transliterated Mandi) is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the West Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 9°36′N 35°36′E with an elevation of 1821 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Mendi is served by Airport and is 80km east of Asosa Airport.

Mendi
Mendi
Location within Oromia
Coordinates: 9°36′N 35°36′E
CountryEthiopia
RegionOromia
Zone West Welega Zone
Elevation
1,821 m (5,974 ft)
Population
 (2005)
 • Total70,000
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)
This article about the Ethiopian town. For the reggaeton musician, see

In his travel book, In Search of King Solomon's Mines, Tahir Shah described Mendi in the late 20th century as a town with "a muddy main street", lined with "buildings with corrugated iron roofs and cement walls". He stops in a bar where "kerosene and sawdust had been sprinkled on the floor to keep away the flies."[1]

History

Dejazmach constructed a church in Mendi in 1893.[2] However, when the Dejazmach regained his rights to levy taxes over his father's former kingdom in 1907, the central government excepted the "gate" of Mendi, which was retained to the customs office in Nekemte. "This sealed the right of the centre to fiscal control over Nekemte, a right that Addis Abeba was never to abandon in the years to come."[3]

By the 1930s, Mendi had become an important market of coffee. It attracted the attention of a Swedish pastor who established a mission there. The missionaries were accused of wrongdoing by the local Ethiopian priest to the Italians in 1938, who eventually expelled them; the Swedish mission was not revived until 1946. Mendi hosted a conference of Ethiopian Evangelical Churches in January 1954; the mission had to confront Muslim missionaries from Sudan in the next year, who converted 1000 people in a neighboring locale.[2]

John Young believes that "at least a small contingent of the OLF is able to operate in the Mendi area ... on a semi-permanent basis" since the 2005 Ethiopian general election.[4]

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Mendi has an estimated total population of 70,000 of whom 30,000 are men and 40,000 are women.[5] The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 70,000 of whom 30,000 were males and 40,000 were females.

Notes
  1. Tahir Shah, In Search of King Solomon's Mines (New York: Arcade, 2003), p. 195
  2. "Local History in Ethiopia" The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 20 November 2007)
  3. Donald L. Donham and Wendy James (ed.), The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 63
  4. John Young, Armed Groups along Sudan's Eastern Frontier: An overview and analysis (Geneva: Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, 2007), p. 37
  5. CSA 2005 National Statistics Archived 2008-07-31 at the Wayback Machine, Table B.4
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