Ejersa Goro ( om, Ejersa Gooroo) is a town in eastern

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 outside the city of

Harar Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saint ...

in the

East Hararghe Zone East Hararghe ( om, Harargee Bahaa) is a zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. East Hararghe Zone is bordered on the southwest by Bale, on the west by West Hararghe Zone, on the north by Dire Dawa and on the north and east by the Somali Region. ...

of the

Oromia Region 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 ...

, it has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2780 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Jarso

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 ...

Overview

According to the Oromia Regional government website, this town has access to telephone and postal service, but lacks electricity. Ejersa Goro is best known as the birthplace of Emperor

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...

, the tenth child of

Ras Makonnen Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio statio ...

, then governor of Harar, and Woizero

Yeshimebet Ali ''Woizero'' Yeshimebet Ali was the wife of Ras Makonnen and mother of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. She was the daughter of Dejazmatch Ali Gonshur, who was an Oromo from Jimma and a former trader from Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder ...

, on July 23, 1892. The Emperor later erected a church, Kidane Mihret ("Our Lady Covenant of Mercy"), in the town to commemorate the event; when John Graham visited the town in 2001, although Ras Makonnen's house had been reduced to a "circle of rocks", Kidane Mihret was still standing and in use, although in worse repair than the mosque across town. Early in the

Ogaden War The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali War (, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orineti), was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the Ethiopi ...

, Ejersa Goro was captured by Somali units; it was recaptured between 5 and 9 February 1978 by Ethiopian units advancing from

Kombolcha Kombolcha () is a town and district in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 1842 and 1915 meters above sea level. Some guide books describe Ko ...

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 growth ...

in 2005, Ejersa Goro has an estimated total population of 3,104 of whom 1,529 are men and 1,575 are women. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this town of 1,736 of whom 829 were men and 907 were women. These numbers for Ejersa Goro are an estimate, because the town was not counted. This also means that breakdown by ethnic groups, language speakers, religion, et cetera, are not available.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1, part 6
, Table 2.3 (accessed 21 April 2009)

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in the Oromia Region