Ethiopia Travel & Tour Information
Jijiga
Jijiga
(Somali: Jigjiga) is a city in eastern Ethiopia and the capital of
the Somali Region (or kilil) of that country. Located in theJijiga
Zone approximately 80 km (50 mi) east of Harar and 60 km (37 mi)
west of the border with Somalia, this city has a latitude and
longitude of 9°21′N 42°48′E with an elevation
of 1609 meters above sea level.
The
city is located on the main road between Harar and the Somali city
of Hargeisa, and is known for incense production. It has enjoyed
postal service since 1923, and had telephone service by 1956.[1]
An asphalt and concrete road 170 kilometers in length connecting
Jijiga with Degehabur was completed 14 November 2008 at a cost of
over 230 million Birr.[2] Jijiga is served by Jijiga Airport
(IATA: JIJ, ICAO: HAJJ).
History
Jijiga
was a city of Hararghe province, but with the adoption of the 1995
Ethiopian constitution, it became the capital of the Somali
Region. Jigjiga is the birth place of Garaad Wiil Waal of the
Bartire sub-clan of the Jidwaq clan, who along with Weyteen
(younger brother), Yabare-Jidwaaq, Geri, are the main residents.
Plus Gaboye{[somali clan{[ Hawle, Muse Deri}]
A
British hunter Colonel Swayne, passed through Jijiga in February
1893, which he described as a stockaded fort with a garrison of 25
men next to a group of wells.[3] According to I. M. Lewis, Jijiga
was attacked by the followers of SayyidMohammed Abdullah Hassan in
March 1900. Although the attackers suffered heavy losses which
allowed the Ethiopian government to declare a victory, Siyyid
Mohammed's men recovered livestock the Ethiopians had taken from
the Somalis and proved that Siyyid Mohammed was a force to be
reckoned with.[4] However,Richard Pankhurst states that Jijiga was
founded in 1916 by Fitawrari Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam, who had
the town methodically organized in a square grid of streets.[5]
During
the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Jijiga served for some time as
DejazmachNasibu Emmanual's headquarters and a supply center for
the Ethiopian army. An Italian force under Colonel Navarra
occupied the city on the evening of 5 May 1936.[1] Two days later,
while inspecting a ruined Ethiopian Orthodox church in the city,
MarshalRodolfo Graziani fell into a concealed hole, which he was
afterwards convinced was a mantrap; Anthony Mockler suggests this
mishap contributed to his murderously paranoid mindset which led
to the atrocities that followed the attempt on Graziani's life 19
February 1937.[6]
On
17 March 1941, during the East African Campaign of World war II,
Jijiga was occupied by the 23rd Nigerian Brigade of the British
1st African Division. This was after the Italian garrison had
already abandoned the city.[7]
Once
they had possession of Jijiga, however, the British were slow in
returning the city to the Ethiopians. At first, it was included as
part of The Reserved Area, as defined in the Anglo-Ethiopian
Agreement of 31 January 1942, which also included much of the
Haud. Only after patient pressure from Emperor Haile Selassie, in
1948 the two countries began to discuss an agreement for the
evacuation of the British from this territory. Although Ethiopian
officers began to take over the administration from British
officers in May-July, the protocol agreeing to the transfer was
not signed until 24 July of that year. A brief demonstration of
overt Somali nationalism occurred in Jijiga when the Somali Youth
League (SYL) raised their flag before their headquarters in
defiance of the law and the new Ethiopian administrators. Major
Demeka, the governor-designate of the Ogaden Province, requested
the British military administration, which was still in charge, to
remove the flag. When the leaders refused to pull down their flag,
the police brought it down with a machine gun mounted on an
armored car. In the disturbances that followed, one policeman was
killed and another wounded while the police opened fire on the
crowd and killed 25 of them. The SYL was proscribed shortly
afterwards in Ethiopia.[1]
Germame
Neway, one of the leaders of the unsuccessful 1960 coup, served as
governor over Jijiga in 1959. He had been transferred there for
his civic responsibility and concern for the underprivileged while
administering a district in Sidamo Province. The obstruction he
encountered, not only in Sidamo but in Jijiga, convinced him of
the need for radical measures.[8] In the early stage of the
Ethiopian Revolution individual units from the Third Division put
the local governor under house arrest around 13 April 1974.[1]
During the Ogaden War, Jijiga was occupied by the Western Somali
Liberation Front's Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi division led by Col.
Yusuf Dheere, later with the Somali National Army, from September
1977 to February 1978.
The
Regional government held a conference in this city to promote
peace and development between 10 - 13 March 1996, which was
attended by 535 from the local woredas, as well as the Deputy
Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Ethiopia, Tamirat Layne,
the Foreign Minister, Seyoum Mesfin, the presidents of the Tigray
and Harari Regional states and representatives from Amhara and the
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Regions.[9] On 28
May 2007, during the celebration of Ginbot 20 (celebrating the
downfall of the Derg), Jijiga and Degehabur were the scenes of
attacks on civilians and government officials. At least 16 people
were killed and 67 injured, including Abdulahi Hassan Mohammed,
president of the Somali Region, who was speaking at the ceremony.
The Ethiopian government blamed the attack on the Ogaden National
Liberation Front.[10]
On
29 May 2008, following a heavy downpour the Jijiga River broke its
banks and flooded several kebeles in the town and the vicinity.
The flooding killed 29 people and displaced 350 households.[11] On
27 September of that year, a bomb exploded outside a hotel in
Jijiga killing four and wounding 20. Local police apprehended a
suspect whom they claimed was a member of Al-Itihaad
al-Islamiya.[12] {UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, field trip
report: Jijiga 22-29 April 1994
[edit]Demographics
Based
on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Jijiga has
an estimated total population of 98,076 of whom 50,355 are men and
47,721 are women.[13] The 1997 census reported this town had a
total population of 65,795 of whom 33,266 were men and 32,529
women. The four largest ethnic groups reported in this town were
the Somali (61.58%), the Amhara(23.25%), the Oromo (7.32%), and
the Gurage (4.37%); all other ethnic groups made up 3.48% of the
population.[14] This city is the largest settlement in Jijiga
woreda.Gaboye {Hawle and Muse Deri} somali are among those mainly
inhabite.
[edit]Ecology
Although
there is sparse vegetation in the vicinity, there is some history
of animal life in the past. For example, the area was earlier a
habitat for the African Wild Dog, Lycaon pictus,[15]although this
canid is likely extirpated at present in the local area, due to an
expanding human population.
In
his memoirs of his homeland, Nega Mezlekia describes Jijiga as
sitting "on a vast, unmitigated plain, with no greenery in
sight except for the occasional cactus bush used as shelter by the
wandering hyena, and the inevitable sacred tree in every compound.
The city is surrounded by rocky mountains on all sides save the
north, which is open as far as the eye can see.
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Rena,
Oded, Uri & Ariella from Israel
I
will never forget Lalibela and the people we met there ...the sweet
children that adopted us and followed us all around.
We arrived in Lalibela on a Saturday and saw the long March to the
Market and it was so beautiful and also sad because we understood
how far the people had to work and carry. learn
more |
