Mustahīl (, ) is a town in eastern

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 ...

, close to the border with

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. Located in the

Gode Zone Shabelle is one of nine Zones of the Somali Region of Ethiopia. It was previously known as Gode (, ), so named after its largest city, Gode. Shabelle is bordered on the west by Afder, on the north by Fiq, on the northeast by Korahe. On the s ...

in the

Somali Region The Somali Region (, , ), also known as Soomaali Galbeed () and officially the Somali Regional State, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in eastern Ethiopia. It is the largest region of Ethiopia. The state borders the Ethiopian regions ...

and straddling the

Shabelle River The Shebelle River ( Oromo: Laga Shabeellee, , , ) also known historically as the Nile of Mogadishu, begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where i ...

, it has a latitude and longitude of with an altitude of 193 meters above sea level. It is the main town of the Mustahīl

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 district belongs to Jidle tribe

History

In the early 1930s the

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

with their ''banda'' troops encroached some distance inside Ethiopian territory into the

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; , ) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia ...

. Colonel Rettli had his headquarters at Mustahil, where he made contact with Sultan Olol Diinle and convinced him to support the Italian cause."Local History in Ethiopia"
The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 28 July 2009) Mustahil has been subjected to a number of floods of the Shabelle. In October 1961, the river rose three meters. The Ethiopian Red Cross was among organizations providing aid in that crisis. Seven years later Mustahil suffered serious flooding again (May 1968). A third occasion was in April–May 2003, when the Shabelle once again burst its banks, forcing some 96,000 people to flee their homes.

Kelafo Kelafo (; , ) is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Gode Zone of the Somali Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 233 meters above sea level. The regional successor to the Muslim states of Ifat and A ...

and Mustahil were amongst the hardest hit. A

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

representative said that the situation was "worse than any year before." The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

reported 9 March 2009 that the

Ogaden National Liberation Front The Ogaden National Liberation Front, abbreviated ONLF, (, JWXO; ) is a Somali nationalist armed and political organization seeking self-determination for the Somali-inhabited Ogaden (Somali region) of eastern Ethiopia. Founded in 1984 by forme ...

(ONLF) claimed it had captured Mustahil, having killed 80 Ethiopian soldiers, and was also fighting for control of Werder and

. The Ethiopian government denied this, claiming that the ONLF was on the run. On 12 May of that year, a clash was reported between ONLF fighters and the Ethiopian army at a checkpoint outside Mustahil. Two nomadic people at the scene were said to have been killed, while the ONLF claimed they killed 20 Ethiopian soldiers and destroyed two military vehicles.

Demographics

Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, Mustahil has an estimated total population of 7,774, of whom 4,347 are men and 3,427 are women. The 1997 census reported this town had a total population of 5,207 of whom 1,597 were men and 1,359 women. The largest ethnic group in Mustahil was the

Somali people The Somali people (, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Som ...

(99.5%). sources state this town is owned by the jidle, and sub-clan of the gugundhabe

Somalis The Somali people (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic languages, East ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustahil (town) Populated places in the Somali Region