Mega is a town in southern

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 between

Moyale Moyale is a market town on the border between Ethiopia and Kenya, and is the administrative centre for two Ethiopian woredas, Moyale of Oromia Region and Moyale of Somali Region. Moyale is the main border post on the Nairobi-Addis Ababa road, ...

and

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

, in 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 ...

of 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 ...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1740 meters above sea level. Named for a nearby mountain, this town is the administrative center of Dire

woreda 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 ...

. This town is reported to have

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

service and a post office, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school and financial institutions.

History

Mega came under Ethiopian control in 1897 when

Fitawrari Until the end of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, there were two categories of nobility in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Mesafint ( gez, መሳፍንት , modern , singular መስፍን , modern , "prince"), the hereditary nobility, formed the upper ...

Habte Giyorgis ''Fitawrari'' Habte Giyorgis Dinagde ( am, ሀብተ ጊዮርጊስ ዲነግዴ; ; 1851 – 12 December 1926) also known by his horse name Abba Mechal was an Ethiopian military commander and government official who, among several other pos ...

built a fort was nearby. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was important as the residence for Sir

Arnold Weinholt Hodson Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson (12 February 1881 – 26 May 1944)"Sir Arnold Hodson"
Geni.com. ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Consul for Southern Ethiopia between 1914-1923. The British manned the consulate at least as late as the 1950s."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 27 May 2008) Mega was captured by the Italians on 25 June 1936, then occupied by a South African Brigade in February 1941 after prolonged fighting with the Italian garrison. During the Italian occupation, Mega became an important hub of communications for this part of Ethiopia, but when David Buxton passed through in the later 1940s after the Italians had been defeated, he found that "there is little traffic in these days, and Mega has almost reverted to the sleepy remoteness of pre-Italian times." After a lack of success in

, in 1951 the

Norwegian Lutheran Mission The Norwegian Lutheran Mission (''Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband'' in Norwegian; NLM) is one of several independent Lutheran organisations based in Norway. History The organization was founded in 1891 as Det Norske Lutherske Kinamisjonsforbund ...

moved their station from that town north to Mega, which continued at least as late as the 1970s. Travellers going from Mega to Moyale were ambushed at a place named Karbete Bonaya Wale on 2 February 1999 by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front. Amongst the six killed was a commander Abdulla Mohammed alias Aliyyi Mohammed.

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 growt ...

in 2005, Mega has an estimated total population of 9,370 of whom 4,766 are men and 4,604 women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 5,237 of whom 2,585 were men and 2,652 women.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Oromia Region