Aleta Wendo (also known as Wendo) is a town in southern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. Located in a fertile and forested area near Lake Abaya in the upper

Gidabo River The Gidabo River is a medium-sized perennial river of south-central Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley. The Gidabo River catchment area is one of the leading coffee production areas in Ethiopia. Course It is one of three medium-sized rivers ...

basin, not far from the sources of the Ganale Dorya and

Dawa River The Dawa River ( so, Webiga Daawa) is found in East Africa, covering an area of, 58,961 km2. It flows through three major countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, with 81% falling into Ethiopian territory. It is known for its complex geologic ...

s in the Aleta Wendo Zone of the Sidama Regional State, this town has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 2037 meters above sea level. It is administrative center of Aleta Wendo

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...

. This town has both telephone and postal service, and is supplied with electricity by the

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation Ethiopian Electric Power () is an Ethiopian electrical power industry and state-owned electric producer. It is engaged in development, investment, construction, operation, and management of power plants, power generation and power transmission. Th ...

from the national grid.

History

Dejazmach Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, formed the upper ...

Balcha Safo ''Dejazmach'' Balcha Safo (; 1863 – 6 November 1936), popularly referred to by his horse-name Abba Nefso, was an Ethiopian military commander and lord protector of the crown, who served in both the First and Second Italo-Ethiopian Wars.Paul ...

, Governor of Sidamo, originally constructed his ''ketema'' or fortified camp in Wendo, but he later moved it to Hagere Selam."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 28 November 2007) While passing through the area February 1909, Dr. Drake Brockman notes that the governor of Western Sidamo, Dejazmach

Tessema Nadew '' Ras Bitwoded'' Tessema Nadew (died 10 April 1911) horse name Abba Qamaw was an Ethiopian military commander and a government official who on 28 October 1909 was proclaimed as Ethiopia's future ''Balemulu Enderase'' (Regent Plenipotentiary)''B ...

made this town (which he calls "Alata") his headquarters. American naturalists arrived at the Wendo village 29 December 1926, and camping outside the village for a while. Grazmach Kebede Dihala Mikael, the village potentate, implored them to camp near his house, explaining that there were plenty of ''

shifta Shifta is a term used in East Africa meaning ''rebel'', ''outlaw'', or ''bandit''. The Swahili word was loaned from the Somali shufta during the Shifta War, which is in turn derived from Amharic ሽፍታ (šəfta). Historically, the shifta served ...

s'' or outlaws in the area. Wendo was occupied by the Italian Laghi Division on 30 November 1936. It was retaken by the 1st Gold Coast Regiment on 22 May 1941, without a single shot fired. The Allied forces accepted the surrender of a Brigadier General and some 3,000 prisoners. By 1958 Wendo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. Telephone service reached the town within the next 10 years.

Demographics

Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...

in 2005, Aleta Wendo has an estimated total population of 20,513, of whom 10,006 were males and 10,507 were females.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 According to the 1994 national census, the town had a population of 11,300.

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in Ethiopia Sidama Region Cities and towns in Ethiopia Ethiopia