Jijiga
Coordinates: 9 ° 21 ' N , 42 ° 48' E
Jijiga (German also Dschidschiga ; Amharic ጅጅጋ, Somali Jigjiga ) is the capital of Woreda Jijiga , the Jijiga Zone and the entire Somali region in eastern Ethiopia . It is located about 80 kilometers east of Harar on the main route to Hargeysa , 60 kilometers from the border with Northern Somalia and Somaliland .
According to the 2005 census, Jijiga had 98,076 residents. In 1997, of 65,795 inhabitants, 61.58% were Somali , 23.25% Amharen , 7.32% Oromo and 4.37% Gurage .
history
Until the 19th century, a trade route led from the Islamic city-state of Harar across the wide plain of Jijiga to the port city of Zeila on the Gulf of Aden . Coffee, hides, skins and salt from Harar were carried over this. The importance of both cities waned with the construction of the French railway line , which was completed in 1902 from Djibouti to Dire Dawa and did not cross the Harar mountains. A few years later, foreign trade was carried out almost exclusively via Djibouti.
In 1887 , two years before he was crowned emperor , Menelik von Schewa conquered Harar and a little later all of Ogaden and incorporated them as the province of Hararghe into the Ethiopian Empire. His cousin (and father of the future emperor Haile Selassie ) Ras Makonnen (1852-1906) became the first governor of the province and made Jijiga the starting point for expeditions to subjugate the Somali. This created a front against the colonial powers Great Britain and Italy, which at the end of the 19th century divided the Somali-inhabited Horn of Africa among themselves.
On the part of the Somali came the fierce resistance to the colonial occupation of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856–1920), a religious and soon also a political leader from the Darod clan. After a provocation by the British, the easily excitable Hassan fighter began to gather around himself, but initially attacked the Ethiopian garrison in Jijiga in 1900. It was retaliation for the theft of a Somali herd of camels by an Ethiopian expeditionary force. There were great losses on both sides, with the Ethiopians claiming the victory and Hassan the liberation of the camels. In 1916, the city began to be laid out according to plan in a grid.
In 1936 it was occupied by Italians who invaded British Somaliland from here during the Second World War in 1940 . In the spring of 1941, an offensive led by British troops drove the Italian soldiers away. Great Britain administered Jijiga as part of the Reserved Areas until 1948 . When it was returned to Ethiopia, there were violent demonstrations by Somali, as well as in 1954 when the Haud was returned . Jijiga was divided into two parts, one for the Somali with mosques and Muslim graves of saints and one for the Ethiopian army with barracks, bars, their own churches and schools.
Since the early 1970s, the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) carried out regular attacks on government posts in the region. The aim was to integrate into a Greater Somalia , which should include all areas inhabited by Somali. The Ogaden War (1977–1978) began with the invasion of the Somali National Army (SNA) in the Ogaden in support of the WSLF, whereby they were initially able to exploit a weakness of the Ethiopian Derg regime during their advance . After fierce fighting, the WSLF was able to take Jijiga in mid-September 1977 and celebrate this as their greatest individual victory, but had to withdraw in November 1977 before taking Harar. The Ethiopian counterattack to recapture Jijiga succeeded in February 1978.
In 1987 Jijiga became part of the Dire Dawa Autonomous Region. With the introduction of the new administrative structure of Ethiopia , it became the capital of the newly formed Somali region in the early 1990s .
Political situation
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), founded in 1984, is regarded as the successor organization of the WSLF. It occasionally attacks government targets and is held responsible for bomb attacks. The ONLF also sees attacks on oil drilling companies as part of its fight for secession in the Somali region. In April 2007, 200 attackers killed 74 employees at the Abole oil field near Degehabur , 120 kilometers south of Jijiga. Somali clan chiefs in Jijiga who are in opposition to the clans that support the ONLF also accuse the ONLF of carrying out grenade attacks on civilians and of mining streets.
Due to the strong presence of the Ethiopian army in the region, human rights violations against the civilian population occur again and again, according to those affected and independent observers, and humanitarian aid is hindered.
Social
The majority of the population are Somali , traditionally pastoral nomads and structured in clans . The Isaaq Clan operates seasonal agriculture around Jijiga, mainly grain cultivation. A large majority of Somali profess Islam. Only a few Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have moved from the highlands ; these have a church building.
A special feature of this city are numerous pigs on the outskirts that are neither eaten by Muslims nor by Orthodox. Their presence can be associated with an American evangelical missionary work. Since 2006 there have been reports of religiously motivated violence, there have been stones thrown by young Muslims and bomb attacks on Christian homes and businesses.
The main language is Somali ; Oromiya , Guragigna and Amharic are also spoken.
Cityscape
Jijiga is located on a flat dry plateau and after crossing the pass, which is only around 100 meters higher, over the Karamara Mountains, it is already recognizable from afar through its trees as a green patch. To the north of the main street is a spacious residential area between green trees, to the south is the large daily market. On the southern outskirts of the city, beehive-shaped huts of Somali nomads and refugees stretch out into the open field.
For several years now, the Ethiopian government has been intensifying its efforts to promote the economic development of the city, which was previously only considered a modest (and dusty) outpost of civilization in this region. In 2005, construction began on the new airport , 12 kilometers outside the city, for an estimated $ 7 million. In July 2007 the new, 3000 meter long, asphalt runway was inaugurated. At the end of 2007, the first students moved to the campus of the newly built university.
economy
The former watering place for nomads has now become the largest cattle market in the region. Sheep, camels and donkeys are for sale. As in colonial times, many animals are still shipped via the port of Berbera today . The city has always been an important trading center: the drug Kath is brought north from the Harerge region , and textiles, satellite dishes and televisions are smuggled in from northern Somalia / Somaliland . The place is also the seat of the corporate empire of Suhura Ismail Khan , who is considered to be the world leader in international khat trade.
The increased interest in the Somali region is related to oil test wells being carried out by a Chinese company in various locations south of Jijiga. The numerous aid organizations active in the region, many of which have their headquarters in Jijiga, the Ethiopian army that is present in the cityscape and the administration are also an important economic factor.
Web links
- Road from Harar to Jijiga, by John Graham ( March 23, 2006 memento in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Central Statistical Agency : 2005 National Statistics, Section – B Population ( Memento of the original dated February 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Table B.4 (PDF; 1.8 MB)
- ↑ The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Volume I: Part I. ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Statistical Report on Population Size and Characteristics, 1998, p. 73 (PDF; 51.8 MB)
- ^ Willi Loepfe: Alfred Ilg and the Ethiopian Railway , Zurich 1974
- ↑ a b c d Alain Gascon: Ǧiǧiga , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 2, 2005, ISBN 978-3-447-05238-2
- ↑ Scores used in Ethiopia oil attack. BBC News, April 24, 2007; On the general situation around Jijiga also: In the shadow of Ethiopia's rebels. BBC News, Aug. 14, 2007
- ↑ Ethiopia's was dirty. ( Memento from September 20, 2008 on the Internet Archive ) Newsweek, January 23, 2008 (on the Internet Archive)
- ↑ Ethiopia deadline for Red Cross. BBC News, July 24, 2007
- ^ First Landing at Jijiga's New Airport. Balalaale News, July 3, 2007
