Oromia | |
|---|---|
 Flag  Seal | |
 Map ofEthiopia showing Oromia | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Official language | Oromo |
| Capital | Addis Ababa |
| Government | |
| • Chief Administrator | Shimelis Abdisa (Prosperity Party) |
| Area | |
• Total | 353,690 km2 (136,560 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 1st |
| Population (2017) | |
• Total | 35,467,000[1] |
| • Rank | 1st |
| • Density | 100.267/km2 (259.69/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Oromo or Oromian |
| Time zone | EAT |
| ISO 3166 code | ET-OR |
| HDI (2021) | 0.482[2] low ·8th of 11 |
Oromia (Oromo:Oromiyaa,Amharic:ኦሮሚያ) is aregional state inEthiopia and the homeland of theOromo people.[3] Under Article 49 ofEthiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia isAddis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The provision of the article maintains special interest of Oromia by utilizing social services and natural resources of Addis Ababa.[4]
It is bordered by theSomali Region to the east; theAmhara Region, theAfar Region and theBenishangul-Gumuz Region to the north;Dire Dawa to the northeast; theSouth Sudanese state ofUpper Nile,Gambela Region,South West Ethiopia Region,Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region andSidama Region to the west; theEastern Province ofKenya to the south; as well as Addis Ababa as anenclave surrounded by aSpecial Zone in its centre and theHarari Region as an enclave surrounded byEast Hararghe in its east.
In August 2013, the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency projected the 2017 population of Oromia as 35,467,001;[1] making it the largest regional state by population. It is also the largest regional state covering 353,690 square kilometres (136,560 sq mi)[5]
The Oromo people are one of the oldestCushitic peoples inhabiting theHorn of Africa. There is still no reliable estimate of the history of their settlement in the region, however, many indications suggest that they have been living in the north ofKenya and south-east Ethiopia for more than 7,000 years, until thegreat expansion in 1520 when they expanded to the south-west and some areas in the north.[citation needed]
The Oromo remained independent until the last quarter of the 19th century,[6] when they lost their sovereignty. From 1881 to 1886,EmperorMenelik II conducted several unsuccessful invasion campaigns against their territory. The Arsi Oromo demonstrated fierce resistance against thisAbyssinian conquest,[7] putting up stiff opposition against an enemy equipped with modern European firearms. They were ultimately defeated in 1886.[7]
In the 1940s some Arsi Oromo together with people fromBale province joined theHarari Kulub movement, an affiliate of theSomali Youth League that opposed Amhara Christian domination ofHararghe. The Ethiopian government violently suppressed these ethno-religious movements.[8][9][10] During the 1970s the Arsi formed alliances withSomalia.[11]
In 1967, theimperial regime ofHaile Selassie I outlawed theMecha and Tulama Self-Help Association (MTSHA), an Oromo social movement, and conducted mass arrests and executions of its members. The group's leader, Colonel GeneralTadesse Birru, who was a prominent military officer, was among those arrested.[12] The actions by the regime sparked outrage among the Oromo community, ultimately leading to the formation of theOromo Liberation Front in 1973.[13] The Oromos perceived the rule of EmperorHaile Selassie as oppressive, as theOromo language was banned from education and use in administration,[14][15][16] and speakers were privately and publicly mocked.[17][18] The Amhara culture dominated throughout the eras of military and monarchic rule.
Both the imperial and theDerg government relocated numerousAmharas into southern Ethiopia, including the present day Oromia region, in order to alleviate drought in the north of the country.[19] They also served in government administration, courts, church and even in school, whereOromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic.[20] Further disruption under the Derg regime came through the forced concentration and resettlement of peasant communities in fewer villages.[21] The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity and languages as opposing the expansion of an Ethiopian national identity.[22]
In the early 1990s, theEthiopian Democratic People's Republic began tolose its control over Ethiopia. The OLF failed to maintain strong alliances with the other two rebel groups at the time: theEritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and theTigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).[23] In 1990, the TPLF created an umbrella organization for several rebel groups in Ethiopia, theEthiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The EPRDF's Oromo subordinate, theOromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) was seen as an attempted replacement for the OLF.[citation needed]
On 28 May 1991, the EPRDF seized power and established atransitional government. The EPRDF and the OLF pledged to work together in the new government; however, they were largely unable to cooperate, as the OLF saw the OPDO as an EPRDF ploy to limit their influence.[23][24] In 1992, the OLF announced that it was withdrawing from the transitional government because of "harassment and [the]assassinations of its members". In response, the EPRDF sent soldiers to destroy OLA camps.[citation needed] Despite initial victories against the EPRDF, the OLF were eventually overwhelmed by the EPRDF's superior numbers and weaponry, forcing OLA soldiers to useguerrilla warfare instead of traditional tactics.[25] In the late 1990s, most of the OLF's leaders had escaped Ethiopia, and the land originally administered by the OLF had been seized by the Ethiopian government, now led by the EPRDF.[26]
Prior to the establishment of present-day Addis Ababa the location was called Finfinne inOromo, a name which refers to the presence of hot springs. The area was previously inhabited by various Oromo clans.[27]
In 2000, Oromia's capital was moved from Addis Ababa to Adama.[28] Because this move sparked considerable controversy and protests among Oromo students, theOromo Peoples' Democratic Organization (OPDO), part of the rulingEPRDF coalition, on 10 June 2005, officially announced plans to move the regional capital back to Addis Ababa.[29]
Further protests sparked on 25 April 2014, against theAddis Ababa Master Plan,[30] then resumed on 12 September 2015 and continued into 2016, when renewedprotests broke out across Ethiopia, centering around the Oromia region. Dozens of protesters were killed in the first days of the protests and internet service was cut in many parts of the region.[31] In 2019, theIrreecha festival was celebrated in Addis Ababa after 150 years of being banned.[32][33]
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Oromia includes the formerArsi Province along with portions of the formerBale,Illubabor,Kaffa,Shewa andSidamo provinces.[citation needed] Oromia shares a boundary with almost every region of Ethiopia except for theTigray Region. These boundaries have been disputed in a number of cases, most notably between Oromia and theSomali Region. One attempt to resolve the dispute between the two regions was the October 2004 referendum held in about 420kebeles in 12districts across five zones of the Somali Region. According to the official results of the referendum, about 80% of the disputed areas have fallen under Oromia administration, though there were allegations ofvoting irregularities in many of them.[34] The results led over the following weeks to minorities in these kebeles being pressured to leave. In Oromiya, estimates based on figures given by local district and kebele authorities suggest that 21,520 people have becomeinternally displaced persons (IDPs) in border districts, namelyMieso,Doba, andErer in theWest Hararghe Zone andEast Hararghe Zones. Federal authorities believe that this number may be overstated by as much as 11,000. In Doba, theMinistry of Federal Affairs put the number of IDPs at 6,000. There are also more than 2,500 displaced persons in Mieso.[35] In addition, there were reports of people being displaced in the border area of Moyale and Borena zones due to this conflict.[36]
Towns in the region includeAdama,Ambo,Asella,Badessa,Bale Robe,Bedele,Bishoftu,Begi,Bule Hora,Burayu,Chiro,Dembidolo,Fiche,Gimbi,Goba,Haramaya,Holeta,Jimma,Koye Feche,Metu,Negele Arsi,Nekemte,Sebeta,Shashamane andWaliso, among many others.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 18,732,525 | — |
| 2007 | 26,993,933 | +44.1% |
| 2015 | 33,692,000 | +24.8% |
| source:[37] | ||
At the time of the 2007 census conducted by theCentral Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Oromia region had a total population of 26,993,933, consisting of 13,595,006 men and 13,398,927 women;[38] urban inhabitants numbered 3,317,460 or 11.3% of the population. With an estimated area of 353,006.81 square kilometres (136,296.69 sq mi), the region had an estimated population density of 76.93 inhabitants per square kilometre (199.2/sq mi). For the entire region 5,590,530 households were counted, which resulted in an average for the region of 4.8 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 3.8 and rural households 5.0 people. The projected population for 2017 was 35,467,001.[1]
In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 17,088,136; urban inhabitants number 621,210 or 14% of the population.[citation needed]
According to the CSA, as of 2004[update], 32% of the population had access tosafe drinking water, of whom 23.7% were rural inhabitants and 91.03% were urban.[39] Values for other reported common indicators of thestandard of living for Oromia as of 2005[update] include the following: 19.9% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 61.5% and for women 29.5%; and the regionalinfant mortality rate is 76 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is about the same as the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants' first month of life.[40]
| Ethnic group | 1994 Census[41] | 2007 Census[42] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oromo | 15,709,474 | 85% | 23,708,767 | 88% |
| Amhara | 1,684,128 | 9% | 1,943,578 | 7% |
| Other ethnic groups | 1,080,218 | 6% | 1,341,588 | 5% |
| Total population | 18,473,820 | 26,993,933 | ||
| Religion (entire region) | 1994 Census[43] | 2007 Census[44] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muslim | 8,178,058 | 44% | 12,835,410 | 48% |
| Orthodox Christians | 7,621,727 | 41% | 8,204,908 | 30% |
| Protestant Christians | 1,588,310 | 9% | 4,780,917 | 18% |
| Waaqeffanna | 778,359 | 4% | 887,773 | 3% |
| other religious groups | 307,366 | 2% | 284,925 | 1% |
| Total population | 18,473,820 | 26,993,933 | ||
| Religion (urban areas) | 1994 Census[43] | 2007 Census[44] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orthodox Christians | 1,330,301 | 68% | 1,697,495 | 51% |
| Muslim | 471,462 | 24% | 990,109 | 30% |
| Protestant Christians | 137070 | 7% | 580,562 | 18% |
| other religious groups | 23,971 | 1% | 49,294 | 1% |
| Total population | 1,962,804 | 3,317,460 | ||
Oromo is written with Latin characters known asQubee, only formally adopted in 1991[45] after various other Latin-based orthographies had been used previously.
Oromo is one of the official working languages of Ethiopia[46] and is also the working language of several of the states within the Ethiopian federal system including Oromia,[47]Harari andDire Dawa regional states and of theOromia Zone in theAmhara Region. It is a language of primary education in Oromia, Harari and of theOromia Zone in theAmhara Region. It is used as an internet language for federal websites along withTigrinya.[48]
There are more than 33.8% Oromo speakers in Ethiopia and it is considered the most widely spoken language in Ethiopia.[47] It is also the most widely spokenCushitic language and the fourth-most widely spokenlanguage of Africa, after Arabic,Hausa andSwahili languages.[49] Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 35 million Oromo people in Ethiopia and by an additional half-million in parts of northern and eastern Kenya.[50] It is also spoken by smaller numbers of emigrants in other African countries such as South Africa, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.Besides first language speakers, a number of members of other ethnicities who are in contact with the Oromo speak it as a second language. See, for example,Harari,Omotic-speakingBambassi and theNilo-Saharan-speakingKwama in northwestern, eastern and south Oromia.[51]
Oromia is a major contributor to Ethiopia's main exports - gold, coffee, khat and cattle.Lega Dembi inGuji Zone, owned byMIDROC has exported more than 5000 kilograms of gold,[52] followed by Tulu Kapi gold deposit inWest Welega Zone.[53] Awoday inEast Hararghe Zone is the biggest market ofkhat exporting toDjibouti andSomalia.[54] Oromia also has more abundant livestock than any other region of Ethiopia, including camels. It is also the largest producer of cereals and coffee.
The CSA reported that, from 2004 to 2005, 115,083 tons of coffee were produced in Oromia, based on inspection records from the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority. This represents 50.7% of the total production in Ethiopia. Farmers in the Region had an estimated total of 17,214,540 cattle (representing 44.4% of Ethiopia's total cattle), 6,905,370 sheep (39.6), 4,849,060 goats (37.4%), 959,710 horses (63.25%), 63,460 mules (43.1%), 278,440 asses (11.1%), 139,830 camels (30.6%), 11,637,070 poultry of all species (37.7%), and 2,513,790beehives (57.73%).[55]
According to a March 2003World Bank publication, the average rural household has 1.14 hectares of land compared to the national average of 1.01 hectares. 24% of the population work in non-farm related jobs compared to the national average of 25%.[56]
| Tenure | Portrait | Incumbent | Affiliation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992–1995 | Hassen Ali | OPDO | ||
| 1995 – 24 July 2001 | Kuma Demeksa | OPDO | ||
| July 2001 – October 2001 | Position vacant | |||
| 28 October 2001 – 6 October 2005 | Junedin Sado | OPDO | ||
| 6 October 2005 – September 2010 | Abadula Gemeda | OPDO | ||
| September 2010 – 17 February 2014 | Alemayehu Atomsa | OPDO | ||
| 27 March 2014 – 23 October 2016 | Muktar Kedir | OPDO | ||
| 23 October 2016 – 18 April 2019 | _191203-Z-DZ751-005_(49195021722)_(cropped).jpg) | Lemma Megersa | OPDO/ODP | |
| 18 April 2019 – present |  | Shimelis Abdisa | ODP/PP |
Oromia is subdivided into 21 administrativezones,[61][62] in turn divided intodistricts (weredas).
| Number | Zone | Area in km2 | Population estimate 2022[63] | Administrative capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsi Zone | 19,825.22 | 3,894,248 | Asela |
| 2 | Bale Zone | 43,690.56 | 2,073,381 | Bale Robe |
| 3 | Borena Zone | 45,434.97 | 1,402,530 | Yabelo |
| 4 | Buno Bedele Zone | Bedele | ||
| 5 | East Hararghe Zone | 17,935.40 | 3,954,416 | Harar |
| 6 | East Shewa Zone | 8,370.90 | 2,126,152 | Adama |
| 7 | East Welega Zone | 12,579.77 | 1,806,001 | Nekemte |
| 8 | Guji Zone | 18,577.05 | 2,030,667 | Negele Borana |
| 9 | Horo Guduru Welega Zone | 8,097.27 | 840,709 | Shambu |
| 10 | Illu Aba Bora Zone | 15,135.33 | 1,861,919 | Metu |
| 11 | Jimma Zone | 15,568.58 | 3,568,782 | Jimma |
| 12 | Kelam Welega Zone | 9,851.17 | 1,166,694 | Dembidolo |
| 13 | North Shewa Zone | 10,332,48 | 2,100,331 | Fiche |
| 14 | Southwest Shewa Zone | 6,508.29 | 1,640,751 | Waliso |
| 15 | West Arsi Zone | 11,776.72 | 2,929,894 | Shashamane |
| 16 | West Guji Zone[64] | Bule Hora | ||
| 17 | West Hararghe Zone | 15,065.86 | 2,725,156 | Chiro |
| 18 | West Shewa Zone | 14,788.78 | 3,042,005 | Ambo |
| 19 | West Welega Zone | 10,833.19 | 1,987,182 | Gimbi |
| 20 | Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne | Finfinne |
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7°59′21″N39°22′52″E / 7.9890616°N 39.3811798°E /7.9890616; 39.3811798
