Loyada ( ar, لويعدا , so, Lowyacadde) is a small 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 ...

. Located in the

Arta Region Arta Region ( ar, إقليم عرتا, so, Gobolka Carta) is one of the six regions of Djibouti. It was officially created in 2003 by the regrouping of districts of the regions of Dikhil and Djibouti. It is situated in the south-central of the co ...

, it is the only official border crossing from Djibouti into Somaliland. It is situated on the west coast of Gulf of Aden, from the capital,

Etymology

The name of the town derives from Afar ''Lē-ʿádu'' or ''Lē-ʿadó'', which means "white watering-place" and in Somali became ''Loowyaʿádde'', "with white calves", by

cacography Cacography is bad spelling or bad handwriting. The term in the sense of "poor spelling, accentuation, and punctuation" is a semantic antonym to orthography, and in the sense of "poor handwriting" it is an etymological antonym to the word calligra ...

. The French colonial authorities wrote it "Loyada"; the standard Somali spelling is "Lawya caddo".

History and politics

During antiquity Loyada was part of the city-states that in engaged in a lucrative trade network connecting the merchants with

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

, Ptolemaic Egypt,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, Parthian Persia,

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), ...

, Nabataea, and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. Between

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 ...

and Loyada are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape flanked by vertical slabs. The Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol. During the Middle Ages, the Djibouti area including Loyada was part of the

Adal Adal may refer to: *A short form for Germanic names in ''aþala-'' (Old High German ''adal-''), "nobility, pedigree"; see Othalan **Adál Maldonado (1948-2020), Puerto Rican artist ** Adal Ramones (born 1969), Mexican television show host ** Adal ...

and

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 ...

s. In 1888, the colonial powers drew the border between British Somaliland and French Djibouti from Loyada south to

Jaldessa Jaldessa ("Jal-de-ssa" which in Oromo literally translates to "Monkeys due to the monkeys surrounding the area") is a village in eastern Ethiopia, located in the Shinile Zone of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The Central Statistical Agency has n ...

. On 3 February 1976, insurgents of the Somali-backed FLCS armed with StG-44s and a MG42 hijacked a bus carrying 31 French children in Djibouti City and drove it to Loyada. France sent legionnaires and

gendarme Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

s from the

GIGN The GIGN ( ; ) is the elite police tactical unit of the National Gendarmerie of France. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection ( ...

and the hostages were rescued the following day under covering fire from Somali border troops, but two children were killed and five wounded. In the early 1990s, like much of Djibouti, the area was subject to conflict. Rebels took the town and were driven out by government forces, but on 5 May 1990 the

Somali National Movement The Somali National Movement ( so, Dhaqdhaqaaqa Wadaniga Soomaaliyeed, ar, الحركة الوطنية الصومالية) was one of the first and most important organized guerilla groups opposed to the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 19 ...

(SNM) attacked Loyada and killed a number of

Somali National Army The Somali National Army ( Somali: ''Xooga Dalka Soomaaliyeed,'' lit. ''"Somali Ground Forces"'') is the ground forces component of the Somali Armed Forces, and is the largest out of the three service branches that make up the majority of the A ...

(SNA) people. The event, took place while negotiations between the Djibouti and Somali governments was taking place, and the Somali government protested to the Djibouti Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blaming the Djibouti government for the incident. The town is currently the only official border crossing between Djibouti Somaliland. Beginning late in 1999, Djibouti and Somaliland closed the border crossing several times for political reasons. In 2002, after

Dahir Riyale Kahin Dahir Riyale Kahin ( so, Daahir Riyaale Kaahin, ar, ظاهر ريالي كاهن) (born 12 March 1952) is a Somaliland politician who was President of Somaliland from 2002 to 2010. He previously served as a senior officer in the National Secur ...

became president of Somaliland, they agreed to reopen it. The

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 integrat ...

has established a centre for the assistance of Somali refugees at Loyada.

Climate

The average annual temperature in Loyada is 30 °C. About 163 mm of precipitation falls annually. The warmest month of the year is July with an average temperature of 36 °C. In January, the average temperature is 25.5 °C. It is the lowest average temperature of the whole year. The largest cities most proximate to Loyada are

(25 km),

Zeila Zeila ( so, Saylac, ar, زيلع, Zayla), also known as Zaila or Zayla, is a historical port town in the western Awdal region of Somaliland. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela identified Zeila (or Hawilah) with the Bibl ...

(36 km) and

Berbera Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It ...

(289 km).

Demographics

, the population of Loyada has been estimated to be 1,367. The town's inhabitants belong to various mainly Afro-Asiatic-speaking ethnic groups, with the Issa Somali predominant.

References

External links

Maplandia.com: Satellite map of Loyada
{{coord, 11, 28, N, 43, 15, E, display=title, region:DJ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Arta Region Populated places in Djibouti Djibouti–Somaliland border crossings