Hartisheik

9.15 43.35Coordinates: 9 ° 9 ' N , 43 ° 21' E

Hartisheik

Hartisheik (also Hart Sheik , Hartishek ) is a village in the woreda Kebri Beyah in the Jijiga zone of the Somali region of Ethiopia . It is located east of Jijiga in a semi-arid area near the border with Somalia .

According to the Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia for 2005, Hartisheik had 22,186 inhabitants. According to the 1997 census, of 14,885 inhabitants, 93.36% Somali , 2.57% Amharen and 2.49% Oromo , Gurage , Tigray and members of other ethnic groups also lived in the city.

Refugee camp

There was a refugee camp near Hartisheik. This was set up in 1988 for Somali refugees who fled the fighting between the Somali government under Siad Barre and the SNM rebels in northern Somalia. With around 250,000 refugees - mainly from the regions of Hargeysa and Gabiley - it temporarily became the largest refugee camp in the world.

The camp was officially closed in July 2004, as peace has now reigned in northern Somalia - or since 1991 the de facto independent Somaliland - and most Somalis have returned there since 1997. However, up to 6,000 Ethiopian internally displaced persons remained in Hartisheik. In 2005 UNICEF and other organizations reported high malnutrition rates among these displaced persons.