Naannawa Ambo is one of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

s in the

Oromia Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...

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 ...

. Part of the West Shaggar Zone, it is bordered on the southwest by Gurraacha Enchini, on the west by

Cheliya Cheliya is one of the Aanaas in the Oromia of Ethiopia. Part of the West Shewa Zone, Cheliya is bordered on the south by Nono and Dano, on the southwest by the Gibe River which separates it from the Jimma Zone, on the west by Bako Tibe, on the nor ...

, on the north by Kutaye-Liban, on the northeast by

Jeldu Jeldu is one of the Districts of Ethiopia, districts in the Oromia of Ethiopia. Part of the West Shewa Zone, Jeldu is bordered on the south by Dendi (woreda), Dendi, on the southwest by Ilfeta (woreda), Ilfeta, on the north by Ginde Beret, on the no ...

, on the east by Dendi, and on the southeast by the

Southwest Shewa Zone Southwest Shewa ( Oromo: ''Shawaa Kibba-Dhihaa/Lixaa'') is one of the zones of the Oromia in Ethiopia. This zone takes its name from the kingdom or former province of Shewa. Between 2002 and 2005, a number of districts were separated from West S ...

. The administrative center of this woreda is Ambo; other towns include Gorosile and Meti. Ambo Zuria and

Toke Kutaye Toke Kuatye is one of the Aanaas in the Oromia of Ethiopia. It was part of Naannawa Ambo. Part of the West Shewa Zone, Toke Kutaye is bordered on the east by the Ambo Zuria, on the north by Midakegn, on the west by Cheliya. The largest town is G ...

woredas and Ambo town were part of former Ambo woreda.

Overview

One of the high points in this woreda is Mount Wanchi (3386 meters).

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

is an important cash crop of Ambo; over 50 square kilometers are planted with this crop. This woreda is home to Dr.

Merera Gudina Merera Gudina ( Oromo: Mararaa Guddinaa) (born 5 July 1956) is an Ethiopian professor and politician. He is the leader of the Oromo People's Congress (OPC), a political party representing the Oromo people. The organization is opposed to the previ ...

, the founder and chairman of the

Oromo People's Congress The Oromo People's Congress (OPC) was a federalist and Oromo nationalist opposition political party in Ethiopia. It was founded in April 1996 as the Oromo National Congress by Dr. Merera Gudina, who is its chairman. However, the party licence a ...

(OPC). Although the OPC has a large following in Ambo,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

has received reports of

kebele A ward ( am, ቀበሌ; om, Araddaa; ) is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia: a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. It is part of a district, itself usually part of a zone, which in turn are grouped into ...

officials imprisoning people for campaigning for or providing support to the OPC, or expelling students from school for the same.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 108,406, of whom 54,186 were men and 54,220 were women; 865 or 0.8% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they practised

Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...

, with 51.82% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 32% of the population practiced traditional religions, and 15.9% were

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. Based on figures published by 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, this woreda has an estimated total population of 260,193, of whom 131,922 are men and 128,271 are women; 70,675 or 27.16% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 12.3%. With an estimated area of 1,588.13 square kilometers, Ambo has an estimated population density of 163.8 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 152.8. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 177,465, of whom 87,325 were men and 90,140 women; 39,535 or 22.28% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Ambo were the Oromo (92.58%), and the Amhara (5.76%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.16% of the population.

Oromiffa Oromo ( or ; Oromo: ''Afaan Oromoo''), in the linguistic literature of the early 20th century also called Galla (a name with a pejorative meaning and therefore rejected by the Oromo people), is an Afroasiatic language The Afroasiatic languag ...

was spoken as a first language by 90.92%, and 8.37% spoke

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

; the remaining 0.81% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed

, with 74.16% of the population reporting they practiced that belief, while 18.77% of the population said they held traditional beliefs, and 6.07% were

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1, part 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.20 (accessed 6 April 2009)

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Districts of Oromia Region