Mega is a town 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 ...
. Located between
Moyale and
Yabelo on the paved highway south to
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
, in the
Borena Zone of the
Oromia
Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...
, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1740 meters above sea level. Named for a nearby mountain, this town is the administrative center of
Dire 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 ...
.
This town is reported to have
telephone
A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
service and a post office, as well as at least one primary and one secondary school and financial institutions.
History
The
katama of Mega was established in 1899 after the occupation of Borena by
Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis. This was followed by the coming of many settlers from
Shewa,
Amhara and even
Tigray
The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...
. In the early part of the twentieth century, it was important as the residence for Sir
Arnold Weinholt Hodson,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
Consul for Southern Ethiopia between 1914-1923. The British manned the consulate at least as late as the 1950s.
["Local History in Ethiopia"]
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 27 May 2008)
Mega was captured by the Italians on 25 June 1936, then occupied by a South African Brigade in February 1941 after prolonged fighting with the Italian garrison.
[ During the Italian occupation, Mega became an important hub of communications for this part of Ethiopia, but when David Buxton passed through in the later 1940s after the Italians had been defeated, he found that "there is little traffic in these days, and Mega has almost reverted to the sleepy remoteness of pre-Italian times."
After a lack of success in Moyale, in 1951 the Norwegian Lutheran Mission moved their station from that town north to Mega, which continued at least as late as the 1970s. Travellers going from Mega to Moyale were ambushed at a place named Karbete Bonaya Wale on 2 February 1999 by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front. Amongst the six killed was a commander Abdulla Mohammed alias Aliyyi Mohammed.][
]
Demographics
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Mega has an estimated total population of 9,370 of whom 4,766 are men and 4,604 women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 5,237 of whom 2,585 were men and 2,652 women.
Notes
{{reflist
Populated places in the Oromia