Imi ( so, Iimeey) is a town in the

Somali Region The Somali Region ( so, Deegaanka Soomaalida, am, ሱማሌ ክልል, Sumalē Kilil, ar, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (''Western Somalia'') and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional state ...

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 ...

. It is currently divided to two separate towns. East Imi woreda of the

Gode Zone Shabelle is one of nine Zones of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. It was previously known as Gode ( so, Godey, ar, غودي), so named after its largest city, Gode. Shabelle is bordered on the west by Afder, on the north by Fiq, on the northeast ...

and West Imi woreda of the Afder Zone. The

Shebelle River The Shebelle River ( so, Webi Shabeelle, ar, نهر شبيلي, am, እደላ) begins in the Ethiopian Highlands, highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where ...

runs between these towns. It's located at an elevation of 442 meters above sea level. 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 ...

has not published an estimate for this village's 2005 population. Imi hosts an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

(

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

code HAIM) which consists of an unpaved airstrip about 1050 meters in length, possibly the shortest in an Ethiopian civil airport.

History

Probably the earliest European explorer to visit Imi was

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

, who was working at the time as a commercial agent in

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 ...

for the firm of Mazeran, Vinnay and Barday. In a report of his expeditions into the Somali state, dated 10 December 1883, Rimbaud proposed setting up a trading post at Imi, "a large, permanent village situated on the bank of the river, eight days from Harar by caravan." Near Imi, ''

Ras 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 stati ...

Makonnen Wolde Mikael ''Ras'' Makonnen Wolde Mikael Wolde Melekot (Amharic: ራስ መኮንን ወልደ ሚካኤል ወልደ መለኮት; 8 May 1852 – 21 March 1906), or simply Ras Makonnen, also known as Abba Qagnew (አባ ቃኘው), was a Shewan royal ...

's troops had suffered a grievous defeat by the Ogaden warriors in 1890. A British hunter Colonel Swayne, who visited Imi in February 1893, was shown "the remains of the bivouac of an enormous Abyssinian army which had been defeated some two or three years before."H. G. C. Swayne
"A Trip to Harar and Iméy", ''Geographical Journal''
2 (September 1893), p. 251 Italian explorers who visited Imi early in 1891 found the once prosperous village "squalid" and miserable because of raids from Harar. A local landmark in Imi is the tomb of

Mohammed Abdullah Hassan Sayid Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan ( so, Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan; 1856–1920) was a Somali religious and military leader of the Dervish movement, which led a two-decade long confrontation with various colonial empires including the British, ...

, emir of Diiriye Guure; he died in 1921, but by the 1930s his tomb had become a shapeless heap of rubble."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 10 January 2008) In 1964 the Bale rebels attacked larger settlements, such as El-kare and Imi and, while they failed to capture them, they succeeded in gaining control of the rest of the district as smaller posts were abandoned by government forces. Of these two, Imi was the only one which the rebels at one point captured and held briefly. Twelve years later, 17 policemen were reported killed from an attack on Imi in October 1976. During the Somali Western War, well-armed guerillas besieged both two Imi's cities and other local towns.

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in the Somali Region