Dire is one of the

Aanaa 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 ...

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 ...

. Miyu was separated from Dire woreda. Located in the southern part of the

Borena Zone Borena ( Oromo: ''Boorana'') is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Borena is named after one of the two major subgroups of the Oromo People. Borena is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peop ...

, Dire is bordered on the south by

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, on the west by Teltele, on the north by

Yabelo Yabelo ( om, Yaabeelloo) is a town in southern Ethiopia. An alternative name for this town is Obda, which is also the name of a nearby mountain.Arero, and on the east by

Moyale Moyale is a market town on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya, and is the administrative centre for two Ethiopian Districts of Ethiopia, woredas, Moyale, Oromia (woreda), Moyale of Oromia, Oromia Region and Moyale, Somali (woreda), Moyale of ...

. Towns in Dire include

Mega Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...

and Dubuluk.

Overview

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 750 to over 2400 meters above sea level;

Mount Gaamud Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

(2486 meters) is the highest point. There are no rivers in this woreda. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 14.3% is arable (7.3% was under cultivation), 47.5% pasture, 17.5% forest, and the remaining 20.7% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. Notable landmarks include the Bowe Soda Salt House, the Gumigayo cultural center and the Boke Dilo well.

Corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

haricot bean The navy bean, haricot, pearl haricot bean, Boston bean, white pea bean, or pea bean is a variety of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris'') native to the Americas, where it was first domesticated. It is a dry white bean that is smaller than m ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

are important crops.''Socio-economic profile of the Borena Zone''
Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 1 August 2006) Industry in the woreda includes 12

grain mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

has been traditionally extracted from sites like the mountain craters, such as Sod or Sogid near Mega, and transported elsewhere in the Borana and south to

Banaadir Banaadir ( so, Banaadir, ar, بنادر, it, Benadir) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in southeastern Somalia. It covers the same area as the city of Mogadishu, which serves as the capital. It is bordered to the northwest by the Shabel ...

. However, other known mineral deposits --

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...

and

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...

—have not been commercially developed. There were 31 Farmers Associations and 8 Farmers Service Cooperatives; about 59% of the farmers were

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...

. Dire has 137 kilometers of dry-weather and 124 all-weather road, for an average road density of 96 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 16.5% of the urban and 33.5% of the total population has access to

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 73,401, of whom 36,977 were men and 36,424 were women; 6,135 or 8.36% of its population were urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants said they practiced traditional beliefs, with 75.6% of the population reporting they observed these beliefs, while 15.24% of the population were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 4.41% 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 ...

, 3.27% practiced

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 ...

and 1.4% were

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. 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 growth ...

in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 122,119, of whom 60,823 are men and 61,296 are women; 15,043 or 12.32% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 11.6%. With an estimated area of 12,721.57 square kilometers, Dire has an estimated population density of 9.6 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 21.1. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 86,341, of whom 43,429 were men and 42,912 women; 8,405 or 9.73% of its population were urban dwellers at the time. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Dire were the Oromo (93.9%), the Burji (2.88%), and the Amhara (1.34%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.88% of the population.''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) The national census missed some finer details; one visitor to the woreda noted that most of the Oromo belong to the Borena clan, and other ethnic groups identified in this woreda include the Konso,

Arbore Arbore is a commune located in Suceava County, Bukovina, northeastern Romania. It is composed of three villages: namely Arbore, Bodnăreni, and Clit. Church of Arbore Arbore is best known for its church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist ...

and

Hamer people Hamar people (also spelled Hamer) are a community inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. They live in Hamer woreda (or district), a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region ...

s. Another observer notes that a group of the Gabbra were "resettled" into the heart of Borana territory after the 1977 war with Somalia.Patrick Webb and Joachim von Braun, ''Famine and Food Security in Ethiopia: Lessons for Africa'' (Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1994), p. 88

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 97.39%, 1.21% 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 ...

and 0.95% spoke Burji; the remaining 0.45% spoke all other primary languages reported. The plurality of the inhabitants practiced traditional beliefs, with 37.45% of the population reporting beliefs recorded in that category, while 11.52% of the population said they were

, 5.34% professed

, and 3.88% were

Notes

{{Districts of the Oromia Region Districts of Oromia Region