Afder is one of the

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 ...

s 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 stat ...

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 ...

. Part of the

Afder Zone Afder ( so, Afdheer) is one of the eleven Zones of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Afder is bordered on the southwest by the Ganale Dorya River which separates it from the Liben Zone, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by Nogob Zone, ...

, Afder is bordered on the south by

Dolobay Dolobay ( so, Dolobeey) is one of the woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Afder Zone, Dolobay is bordered on the south by the Provisional Administrative Line with Somalia, on the west by the Ganale Dorya River which separates it fr ...

, on the west by Jerti (woreda)Jarreti, on the north by Elkere, on the west by 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 northea ...

, and on the southeast by Barrey. Towns in Afder include Gud'usbo and Hargele.

History

The population of Afder was around 1,521,100. It was the starting point of the

Bale revolt The Bale revolt or the Bale Peasant Movement was an insurgency that took place during the 1960's in the southeastern Ethiopian province of Bale among the local Oromo and Somali population. The revolt targeted the feudalist system in place d ...

. Gebru Tareke dates its initial act to June 1963, when Kahin Abdi, a bandit known for harboring Somali nationalist sentiments, openly defied the government by "becoming an outlaw of the Robin Hood type." In September, his armed band burned the small salt mine in the district, then two months later besieged Hargele for two days. It was reported in 1994 that

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

extraction would provide a revenue source for Afder; the woreda administration was charging 200 Birr on each truck leaving with salt for

Negele Boran : Negele Borana or Neghelle, is a town and separate woreda in southern Ethiopia. Located in the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region on the road connecting Addis Ababa to Dolo Odo, it is the largest town in the Guji Zone, traditionally inhabited b ...

and

Gode Gode ( so, Godey, am, ጎዴ) is a city in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Located in the Shabelle Zone, the city was the capital of the Somali Region until 1995 when Jijiga became the capital Gode Airport, also known as the Ugas Mirad Air ...

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted 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 grow ...

of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 79,135, of whom 45,227 are men and 33,908 women. While 6,941 or 8.77% are urban inhabitants, a further 56,827 or 71.81% are pastoralists. 99.48% of the population said they were

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. This woreda is inhabited by the Dir clans such as Gaadsan clan, Guure, Guro Dhamoole and

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; so, Ogaadeen, am, ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን) is one of the historical names given to the modern Somali Region, the territory comprising the eastern portion of Ethiopia formerly part of the Harargh ...

clan of the

Daarood The Darod ( so, Daarood, ar, دارود) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan was Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as ''Darood''. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripherie ...

clan in the north, and the Baadicade clan of the

Hawiye The Hawiye ( so, Hawiye, ar, بنو هوية, it, Hauija) is the largest Somali clan family. Members of this clan traditionally inhabit central and southern Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia (Somali, Harar, Oromia and Afar regions) and the Nort ...

in the south. The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 65,609, of whom 38,499 were men and 27,110 were women; 6,527 or 9.95% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Afder was the Somali people (99.89%).''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Vol. 1''
Tables 2.1, 2.12 (accessed 10 January 2009). The results of the 1994 census in the Somali Region were not satisfactory, so the census was repeated in 1997.

Notes

{{Districts of the Somali Region Districts of Somali Region