Selekleka (; also transliterated as Selekhlekha, Selekhlekha or Selekh Lekha) is a town in North Western Zone,

Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray ...

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 in the Semien Mi'irabawi (North Western) Zone of the

, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2107 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of

Medebay Zana Medebay Zana () is an Ethiopian District or ''woreda'' in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Semien Mi'irabawi Zone, Medebay Zana is bordered on the south by the Tekeze River which separates Tahtai Adyabo from Tselemti, on the southwest ...

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 serves as the primary market center for much of the surrounding area. Sorghum and

finger millet ''Eleusine coracana'', or finger millet, also known as ragi in India, kodo in Nepal, is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating specie ...

are brought from the lowland portions of La'ilay and

Tahtay Adiyabo Tahtay Adiyabo () is a woreda in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Part of the North Western Zone, Tahtay Adiyabo is bordered on the south by Asigede Tsimbela, on the southwest by the Tekezé River on the north by Eritrea, and on the east by La'i ...

for sale.

History

Selekh Lekha is mentioned in the ''Royal Chronicle'' as where ''

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 ...

Mikael Sehul Mikael Sehul (born Blatta Mikael; 1692 – 1784) was a nobleman who ruled Ethiopia for a period of 25 years as regent of a series of weak emperors. He was also a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748–71 and again from 1772 until his death. He was a m ...

and his puppet Emperor

Tekle Haymanot II Tekle Haymanot II ( Ge'ez: ተክለ ሃይማኖት), throne name: Admas Sagad III (Ge'ez: አድማስ ሰገድ; 1754 – 7 September 1777) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 18 October 1769 to 13 April 1777, and a member of the Solomonic dynasty. ...

spent one night in June 1770 during their campaign through Tigray. The chronicler describes the place as "a holy land where there is no breath of scandal." Two British hunters passed through Selekh Lekha and its neighbor Gilgil Beles in January 1923, later describing the settlements in unflattering and dismissive words. In February 1936, during the opening moves of the

Second Italian-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

, the Blackshirt "21st April" Division, with the "Gavininana" and "Gran Sasso" Divisions clashed with the soldiers of

Imru Haile Selassie Leul Ras Imru Haile Selassie, CBE (Amharic: ዕምሩ ኀይለ ሥላሴ; 23 November 1892 – 15 August 1980) was an Ethiopian noble, soldier, and diplomat. He served as acting Prime Minister for three days in 1960 during a coup d'état ...

near Selekh Lekha, as part of the

Second Battle of Tembien The Second Battle of Tembien was a battle fought on the northern front of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. This battle consisted of attacks by Italian forces under Marshal Pietro Badoglio on Ethiopian forces under Ras (title), ''Ras'' Kassa Hail ...

."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 6 December 2007) During the Italian occupation, a

leprosarium A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Afr ...

was built in Selekh Lekha; this was abandoned by its Italian staff on 30 March 1941, and later pillaged and destroyed by the locals. The town was later the center of heavy fighting between the 604th Army Corps of the Derg's Third Revolutionary Army and troops of the

Tigrayan People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilita ...

during the

Battle of Shire The Battle of Shire (Italian: ''Battaglia dello Shirè'') was a battle fought on the northern front of what was known as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. This battle consisted of attacks and counterattacks by Italian forces under Marshal of Ita ...

, which ended on 19 February 1989 with a crushing defeat for the Derg.

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, Selekh Lekha has an estimated total population of 7,391, of whom 3,529 are men and 3,862 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
Table B.4 The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 4252 of whom 1,879 were males and 2,373 were females.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Tigray Region