Samara ( aa, Samara; amh, ሰመራ) is the capital of Afar Region, Ethiopia. It is a town on the Awash–

Assab Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches an ...

highway in north-east Ethiopia, having been planned and built to replace Asaita. Located in Administrative Zone 1, Semara has a latitude and longitude of . One of the completed buildings i
Semera University
which began holding classes in 2007. The 2006 Lonely Planet guide to Ethiopia had this description of Samara: : With its quirky mix of barracks, modern apartment blocks, and soulless administrative buildings, it looks like a microscopic version of Brasilia emerging incongruously in the middle of the desert – except that it's a completely botched attempt at creating a new town. The 2009 Lonely Planet guide omitted the final phrase following the dash. The 2002 edition of ''Ethiopia: the Bradt travel guide'' described Semara as consisting of "one active filling station (complete with fridge) and a cluster of modern offices and tall apartment blocks in various states of construction – all in mad isolation from any existing settlement!" The area is served by Samara Airport, which has scheduled service to Addis Ababa.

History

Radio Ethiopia reported that the inaugural meeting of the Afar Regional Council was held in Semara on 20 July 1995. Six days later, the Council decided to make Semara its capital city and

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 ...

its temporary working language. The three top officials would be President

Alimirah Hanfare ''Bitwoded'' Sultan Alimirah Hanfare ( aa, Amyota Qali Mirac Canfaxe; 1919 - 25 April 2011) was Sultan of Aussa from 1944 until his death in 2011. He ascended to the throne after his predecessor and uncle, Mohammad Yayyo. Loyal to his suzerai ...

, Vice-president

Osman Ainet Osman is the Persian transliteration and derived from the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, , link=no ''‘uthmān'') or an English surname. It may refer to: People * Osman (name), people with the name * Osman I (1258–132 ...

and Secretary Mohammed Seid; the Regional president at the time,

Habib Alimirah Habib ( ar, حبيب, ''ḥabīb''; ), sometimes written as Habeeb, is an Arabic masculine given name, occasional surname, and honorific, with the meaning "beloved" or "my love", or "darling". It also forms the famous Arabic word ‘''Habibi’'' ...

, was not present. The Eighth meeting of the Afar Regional Council was held in Semara 4–5 March 2009, and items scheduled to be discussed included a bill to eliminate

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

in the Region.

Demographics

The town had a population of 2,625 in 2007.Statistical Tables for the 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia
. It is one of five towns in Dubti woreda.

Climate

Semera has a hot desert climate in Köppen-Geiger system.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Afar Region Cities and towns in Ethiopia