The Mezhenger Zone or Majang Zone is a zone in

Gambela Region The Gambela Region (also spelled Gambella; am, ጋምቤላ), officially the Gambela Peoples' Region, is a regional state in western Ethiopia, bordering South Sudan. Previously known as Region 12, its capital is Gambela. The Region is situated ...

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 named for one of the three largest indigenous groups in Gambela, the

Majangir The Majang people, or ''Majangir'', live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed ...

. This zone is bordered on the south and east by the

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern E ...

(SNNPR), on the west by the Anuak Zone, and on the north by 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 ...

. Towns in this Zone include Meti.

Overview

The area of the Mezhenger Zone lies to the east of the escarpment which borders the edge of the lowlands which define the majority of the area of the Gambela Region. The terrain is predominantly hilly, and elevations range 550–1260 meters above sea level. According to the ''Atlas of the Ethiopian Rural Economy'' 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 ...

(CSA), over 40% of the Zone is forest. This Zone covers the extent of the original special woreda of Godere, which was made part of the Administrative Zone 2 between 1994 and 2001. Subsequently, but before 2007, a number of

kebele A ward ( am, ቀበሌ; om, Araddaa; ) is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia: a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. It is part of a district, itself usually part of a zone, which in turn are grouped into ...

s were split off to create Mengesh and both woredas became the Mezhenger Zone.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of 59,248, of whom 30,567 are men and 28,681 women; with an area of 2,254.65 square kilometers, Mezhenger Zone has a population density of 26.28. Reportedly 7,140 or 12.05% are urban inhabitants. A total of 15,661 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 3.8 persons to a household, and 15,242 housing units. The main ethnicities of this Zone are the Amhara (26.96%), Kafficho (25.17%), Majangir (16.86%), Shakacho (11.67%), Oromo (8.84%), and all other ethnic groups 10.5%. Languages spoken in this Zone include

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 ...

(37.08%), Kafa (22.89%), Sheko (12.78%), and

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 ...

9.91%; only a negligible number of inhabitants speak

Majang The Majang people, or ''Majangir'', live in southwestern Ethiopia and speak a Nilo-Saharan language of the Surmic cluster. The 1998 census gave the total of the Majangir population as 15,341, but since they live scattered in the hills in dispersed ...

. The religion with the largest number of believers is

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

with 46.5% of the population, while other groups with sizable followings are

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 ...

, 36.4%, and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

15.42%.Census 2007 Tables: Gambela Region
, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godere Special Woreda Zones of Ethiopia Gambela Region