El Wak (; var. Ceel Waaq) is a

divided city A divided city is one which, as a consequence of political changes or border shifts, currently constitutes (or once constituted) two separate entities, or an urban area with a border running through it. Listed below are the localities and the stat ...

on the

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

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

border. The Somali portion is located in the southwestern

Gedo Gedo ( so, Gedo, Maay Maay, Maay: ''Gethy'', ar, جيذو, it, Ghedo or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region (''States and regions of Somalia, gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. It was created in ...

region of Jubaland state, where it is the seat of one of the region's seven districts.

Etymology

The place name "CeelWaaq" literally translates as "God's well". In the Afro-Asiatic Somali language, the word ''Ceel'' means "well" and the word ''Waaq'' comes from ''Waaq'', an archaic Somali term for God.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.

Location

El Wak is situated in the

El Wak District El Wak District ( so, Degmada Ceel Waaq) is a Administrative divisions of Somalia, district in the southwestern Gedo region of Somalia. Its capital is El Wak, Somalia, El Wak. The district has suffered from Marehan-Garre tensions over political c ...

. It is bordered by the

Bardera Bardera ( ar, بارديرا, so, Bardhere) is a city in Jubaland State of Somalia. It is the second largest and most populous city in Jubaland with Kismayo being the largest and most densely populated city in the region. Bardera sits on the Jub ...

and

Garbaharey }, Maay: ''Garbiharey'', ) is the capital of Gedo, an administrative region in southern Somalia. It is the third largest and most populous city in Gedo region after Bardera and Luuq. History During the Middle Ages, Garbahare and its surroundin ...

districts on the east, and the Somali-inhabited North Eastern Province to the west.

References

{{Somalia-geo-stub Populated places in Somalia