Metu () 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 south-western

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 in the

Illubabor Zone Illubabor () is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Illubabora is named for the former province Illubabor. It is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, on the southwest by the Gambela Region, on the ...

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 ...

along the Sor River, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an altitude of 1605 meters. Metu was the capital of the former

Illubabor Province Illubabor (Amharic: ኢሉባቦር) was a Provinces of Ethiopia, province in the south-western part of Ethiopia, along the border with Sudan. The name Illubabor is said to come from two Oromo language, Oromo words, "" and "". "Illu" is a name o ...

from 1978 until the adoption of the new constitution in 1995. Metu has been an important market of the

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

trade, with several foreigners residing in the town as early as the 1930s to buy the crops from local farmers. At this early date, the town was connected by telephone to

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

and

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 ...

."Local History in Ethiopia"
(pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 27 November 2007) The town's source of electricity is the nearby Sor Hydroelectric Station. The city also has a high school and hospital. Metu is known for its local

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s, the best known being th
Sor Falls
and their surrounding forest with its wildlife.

History

On 9 July 1927, the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

nationals T. Zewos and A. Donalis were awarded a contract to link the town and Gore by road with Gambela, a distance of 180 kilometers. In the 1930s, Metu was the last stop before reaching Gore. At the time it was a center for mule caravans and later also as a terminal for the Ethiopian Transport Motor Company. The private weekly ''Urji'' reported 11 July 1995 that some 400 prisoners reportedly escaped when a grenade was set off at the Bishari prison in Metu. The prison guards were killed immediately as well as at least six other people.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Metu of 28,782, of whom 14,400 were men and 14,382 were women. The majority of the inhabitants practised

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 ...

, with 47.55% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 26% of the population said they were

Ethiopian Orthodox 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 ...

, and 26% were

Protestant 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 ...

.''2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1
, Tables 2.1, 2.5, 3.4 (accessed 13 January 2012)

Climate

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in the Oromia Cities and towns in Ethiopia