Dilla () is a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
and separate
woreda
Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''.
These districts are f ...
in southern
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. The administrative center of the
Gedeo Zone in the former
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region
The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; ) was a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five ''kililoch'', called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council ele ...
(SNNPR) now it is
South Ethiopia Regional State
The South Ethiopia Regional State (Amharic: ደቡብ ኢትዮጵያ ክልላዊ መንግስት) is a region in southern Ethiopia. It was formed from the southern part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 19 A ...
(SER), it is located on the main road from
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
to
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
. The town has a longitude and latitude of , with an elevation of 1570 meters above sea level. It was part of
Wenago woreda and is currently surrounded by
Dilla Zuria woreda.
Until the completion in the early 1970s of the tarmac road to the Kenya border, Dilla had been located at the southern end of the all-weather road from
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
and thus became the major transfer and marketing point for coffee grown farther south, particularly of the much-prized
Yirgacheffe varietal (see
coffee varietals). It remains a major center of the coffee trade.
According to the former SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Dilla's amenities include digital telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, numerous banks, and a hospital. Dilla is the site of the
Dilla University, which was founded in 1996 and was part of
Debub University. The college become a full flagged University since 2007 and composed of more than 30 programs to Masters and bachelor's degree. A number of archeologically significant
stela
A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
e fields are in the surrounding area, the most notable groups being those at
Tutu Fella and
Tutiti.
History
Around 1930, groups of
Guji Oromo migrated into the area, and by the time a German ethnological expedition arrived, they had begun the process of becoming settled farmers. Shortly after the capture of
Shashemene in May 1941, a mobile force, consisting of one company of the
Natal Mounted Rifles
NATAL or Natal may refer to:
Places
* Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil
* Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa
** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843)
** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...
and the 6th
KAR, with light tanks and armoured cars, moved forward towards Dilla. Almost to its own surprise, this scouting operation cut off the retreat of the
21st and
24th Italian Divisions, pinning them against the east side of
Lake Abaya
Lake Abaya (Amharic: አባያ ሐይቅ) is a lake in the South Ethiopia Regional State of Ethiopia. It is located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, east of the Guge Mountains.
The town of Arba Minch lies on its southwestern shore, and the souther ...
.
["Local History in Ethiopia"]
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 26 November 2007)
By 1958 Dilla was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. The
Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia carried out surveys for extending the railway with a 310 km line from
Adama
Adama ( Oromo: ', Amharic: አዳማ), formerly Nazreth (), is one of the cities of Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, the city sits between the base of an escarpment to the west, ...
to Dilla between 1960 and 1963. The government formed a Nazareth-Dilla Railway Development Corporation to support this new branch. Although the French government offered a loan to fund this new branch in 1965, and Yugoslav experts had studied and thought the project would be worthwhile, this project was never carried out.
["THE RAILWAY LINE - THE FRANCO ETHIOPIAN RAILWAY FROM 1900 TO 1980."](_blank)
(in French), Jean-Pierre Crozet (accessed 17 July 2017)
Outside Dilla is Michille (ሚችሌ) hill, where a peasant uprising by the
Gedeo people
The Gedeo are an ethnic group in southern Ethiopia. The Gedeo Zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR) is named for this people. They speak the Gedeo language, which is one of the Cushitic languages.
Overview
...
was crushed in 1960. Gedeo elders, invited by ''
Afanegus'' Eshate Gada to meet him and discuss their grievances with the feudal system they lived under, were ambushed and slaughtered by the army.
On 22 July 1998 there were violent clashes near Dila. The press published conflicting statements about who the parties were and how many had been killed. Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse said that about 140 people were killed and large numbers at least temporarily displaced.
[
On October 12, 2008, Bekele Girma, an All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) activist, left AEUP's head office in ]Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...
to open an office in Dila. Despite having a letter from the National Election Board of Ethiopia
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) () is an autonomous federal government agency which supervises the national elections of Ethiopia. The NEBE was established by Proclamation number 64/1992, and answers to the House of Peoples' Re ...
requesting regional government officials to assist him in opening a local office, Dilla police chief Obsa Hundessa detained Bekele and refused to allow him to open an office in that town. Bekele was released in November.
Demographics
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this town had a total population of 59,150, of whom 31,068 were male and 28,082 female. The plurality of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...
, with 41.65% of the population reporting that belief, 39.2% were Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, 15.93% were Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, and 2.68% were Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 33,734 of whom 17,346 were male and 16,388 were female.
Notes
External links
Dilla College of Teachers' Education webpage
World Gazetteer entry on Dila
{{Authority control
Districts in South Ethiopia Regional State
Cities and towns in Ethiopia