Somali Region

Main street in Jijiga's Laanta Hawada neighborhood

The Somali Region covers much of the traditional territory of Huwan and it formed a large part of the pre-1995 province of Hararghe. The population is predominantly Somali, and there have been attempts to incorporate the area into a Greater Somalia. In the 1970s, Somalia, supported by the United States, invaded Ethiopia, igniting the Ogaden War, which Somalia lost due to timely military intervention from the Soviet Union and its ally Cuba. Despite this defeat, local groups still tried either to become part of Somalia or independent.

The 2007 Abole oil field raid, in which 72 Chinese and Ethiopian oilfield workers were killed, has led to a series of military reprisals against the rebel group ONLF Ogaden National Liberation Front.

Until its first-ever district elections in February 2004, Zonal and woreda administrators, and village chairmen were appointed by the Regional government. Senior politicians at the Regional level nominated their clients to the local government positions. In the 2004 local elections, each woreda elected a council including a spokesman, vice-spokesman, administrator, and vice-administrator. These councils have the responsibility of managing budgets and development activities within their respective districts.[5]

Official zones and woredas

Dr. Mohamed Abdulghani, President of the Somali Region Chamber of Commerce From Ogaden Clan (Bahgari)

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), the Somali Region has a total population of 4,445,219, consisting of 2,472,490 men and 1,972,729 women; urban inhabitants number 623,004 or 14.02% of the population, a further 1,687,858 or 37.97% were pastoralists. With an estimated area of 279,252 square kilometers, this region has an estimated density of 15.9 people per square kilometer. For the entire region 685,986 households were counted, which results in an average for the Region of 6.8 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 6 and rural households 6.5 people. Ethnic groups include Somalis (97.2%), Amhara (0.66%), Oromo (0.46%), foreign-born Somalis (0.20%) and Gurages (0.12%). The population was projected to be 5,748,998 in 2017.[6]

There are 8 refugee camps and 1 transit center, housing 212,967 refugees from Somalia, located in Somali Region.[3]

In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 3,439,860, of which 1,875,996 were males and 1,563,864 were females. The urban residents of the Somali Region numbered 492,710 households, with an average of 6.6 persons per household; a high sex ratio of 120 males to 100 females was reported.[7] The ethnic groups included Somalis (96.23%), Oromo (2.25%), Amhara (0.69%), and Gurages (0.14%). Somali was the working language and is predominantly spoken within the Region, spoken by 95.9% of the inhabitants. Other major languages included Oromifa (2.24%), Amharic (0.92%), and Gurage (0.033%). 98.7% of the population were Muslim, 0.9% Orthodox Christian, and 0.3% are followers of other religions.[8]

According to the CSA, as of 2004, 38.98% of the total population had access to safe drinking water, of whom 21.32% were rural inhabitants and 77.21% were urban.[9] Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Somali as of 2005 include the following: 71.8% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 22% and for women 9.8%; and the Regional infant mortality rate is 57 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is less than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.[10]

Somali was spoken by 99.92% of the inhabitants. Other minority languages included Oromo (0.7%), and Amharic (0.1%).

Sunni Islam accounts for 99.4% of the population, 0.50% Orthodox Christian, and 0.10% are followers of all other religions.[11]

As part of the Camel Milk Value-Chain Development project ceremony, women from Fafan village in the Somali Regional State offer fresh camel milk and other local delicacies in traditional containers.

The CSA of Ethiopia estimated in 2005 that farmers in the Somali Region had a total of 459,720 cattle (representing 1.19%% of Ethiopia's total cattle), 463,000 sheep (2.66%), 650,970 goats (5.02%), 91,550 donkey (3.66%), 165,260 camels (36.2%), 154,670 poultry of all species (0.5%), and 5,330 beehives (0.12%). For nomadic inhabitants, the CSA provided two sets of estimates, one based on aerial surveys and the other on more conventional methodology:[12]

• Ethiopia
• List of airports in Ethiopia
• Somali People's State

• Tobias Hagmann, "Beyond clannishness and colonialism: understanding political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region, 1991- 2004", Journal of Modern African Studies, 43 (2005), 509–536.
• Abdi Ismail Samatar (2004): "Ethiopian Federalism: Autonomy versus Control in the Somali Region". Third World Quarterly, Vol. 25/6
• John Markakis (1996): "The Somali in Ethiopia". Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 23, No. 70, pp. 567–570
• John Markakis (1994): "Briefing: Somalia in the New Political Order of Ethiopia". Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 21, No. 59 pp. 71–79

• Map of Somali Region at UN-OCHA
• Map of Somali Region at DPPA of Ethiopia (PDF file)
• List of Ogaden-Somali Members of Ethiopian Parliament
• Official Website of Ogaden-Somali region of Ethiopia
• "Ethiopia: Rains pound Somali region as death toll rises" - UN IRIN
• "Floods plague Horn of Africa, wash away refugee shelters" - UN News