Ali Adde ( so, Cali Cadde, ar, أدى على) is a town in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. It is located some 69 kilometers south of the capital,

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and in many early English texts and on many early maps, Jibuti; so, Magaalada Jabuuti, french: link=no, Ville de Djibouti, ar, مدينة جيبوتي, aa, Gabuutî Magaala) is the eponymous capital of Dji ...

, with an elevation of 530 meters above sea level. It is the site of a

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

base hosting 12,363 refugees camp as of 2015. It sprawls on a wide basin surrounded by granitic mountains on some sides. The center is run by the UNHCR, and its operations are financed by foreign donors.

History

The Ali Adde settlement dates back several centuries, and is one of the oldest towns in Djibouti after

Tadjoura Tadjoura ( aa, Tagórri; ar, تاجوراء ''Tağūrah''; so, Tajuura) is one of the oldest towns in Djibouti and the capital of the Tadjourah Region. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after the ...

and

Obock Obock (also Obok, aa, Hayyú) is a small port town in Djibouti. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura, where it opens out into the Gulf of Aden. The town is home to an airstrip and has ferries to Djibouti City. The French ...

. Its place-name literally means "the white or clear place" in the

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

Somali language Somali (Latin script: ; Wadaad writing, Wadaad: ; Osmanya: 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 ) is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in ...

. According to an old legend, the present-day territory of Ali Adde was covered by

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, with a

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

crossing the area. Originally a small settlement, the town grew under the reign of the

Ifat Sultanate The Sultanate of Ifat, known as Wafāt or Awfāt in Arabic texts, was a medieval Sunni Muslim state in the eastern regions of the Horn of Africa between the late 13th century and early 15th century. It was formed in present-day Ethiopia around ea ...

and

Adal Sultanate The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling ''Adel Sultanate, ''Adal ''Sultanate'') () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din ...

. It later formed a part of the

French Somaliland French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Ter ...

protectorate in the first half of the 20th century. In December 1942, about 1,000 British and French Free troops

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

the town. Ali Adde has an old fort near the Wadi Danan, which was built by the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

in the 19th century.

Overview

The town lies on the National Highway 5. Nearby towns and villages include

Ali Sabieh Ali Sabieh ( so, Cali Sabiix, ar, علي صبيح) is the second largest city in Djibouti. It is situated about Southwest of Djibouti City and north of the border with Ethiopia. It sprawls on a wide basin surrounded by granitic mountains on all ...

Holhol Holhol ( so, Hollholl, ar, حلحول) is a town in the Ali Sabieh Region of Djibouti. It is located south-west of the capital Djibouti City, at an altitude of 450m. Holhol enjoys a semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh). The surrounding district is ...

Dewele Dewele (French ''Douanlé'' or ''Daouenlé'') is a town in Ethiopia, near to the Ethiopia and Djibouti border. Located in the Shinile Zone in the Somali Region the town has a longitude and latitude of with an elevation of 898 meters above sea le ...

Assamo Assamo ( ar, أسامو), also known as Ina ‘Assamo, It is located around south of the capital, Djibouti City. The surrounding district is rich in both livestock and fledgeling agriculture. Its population, with the nomadic and semi-nomadic neig ...

and

Guisti Guisti ( ar, جويستي) is a town located in southeastern of Ali Sabieh Region. It is situated about 32 kilometres (20 miles) Southeast of Ali Sabieh, near the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. Overview The town lies along on a river. Nearby ...

Geography

Ali Adde is located in a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

in the southern section of the country. The city is situated in a mountainous area, in an enclosed valley of the

highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

. It sits at an elevation of 530 meter (1,740 ft) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. One can also take in the local wildlife attracted by the relatively abundant rainfall. Among these are the black-backed jackal,

dorcas gazelle The dorcas gazelle (''Gazella dorcas''), also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about at the shoulder, with a head and body length of and a weight of . The numerous subspecies survive on vegeta ...

, ''

Felis ''Felis'' is a genus of small and medium-sized cat species native to most of Africa and south of 60° latitude in Europe and Asia to Indochina. The genus includes the domestic cat. The smallest ''Felis'' species is the black-footed cat with a h ...

'',

caracal The caracal (''Caracal caracal'') () is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted e ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s and the

hamadryas baboon The hamadryas baboon (''Papio hamadryas'' ) is a species of baboon within the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons, being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula. These re ...

Climate

Ali Adde sits at an altitude of above sea level, in low-shrouded

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

s and hills. Its weather is characterized by sweltering and dry summers and pleasant to very warm winters, when most of the

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is concentrated (

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

and autumn being hot transitional seasons). However, due to the town's altitude and inland location, its climatic features include the very low

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

, and

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s usually falling below at night, which makes summer distinctly less unpleasant compared to coastal cities. Due to its altitude, temperatures are relatively normal for a town located not particularly far from the hottest deserts in the world. The town is known for its normal climate during the summer periods. Between May and early September, the annual high temperature is a high of and a low of . Ali Adde has a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh'') by the Köppen-Geiger system.

Demographics

As of 2018, the population of Ali Adde has been estimated to be 3,400. The town inhabitants belong to various mainly Afro-Asiatic-speaking ethnic groups, with the Issa Somali predominant. Before the

camp was opened, the local town population traditionally consisted of

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

pastoralists, who were mainly

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

and goat herders However, since the 1990s, an influx of refugees has dramatically shifted the demographics of the area.

References

{{reflist
‘Ali‘adde, Djibouti

External links

‘Ali‘adde, Djibouti
Populated places in Djibouti