Talk:Somali Region/Archive 1

"Somalis" and "Somalians"
The Demographics section lists "Somalis" and "Somalians." I presume that "Somalians" refers to Somali nationals who have become refugees in the region, but it is not clear. Could the person who posted this information make it clear. D.E. Cottrell 04:36, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 October 2021
The Somali Region (Dawlad Deegaanka Soomaalida, ሱማሌ ክልል, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (Somali West) is a regional state in eastern Ethiopia. Its territory is the largest after Oromia Region. The regional state borders the Ethiopian states of Afar and Oromia and the chartered city Dire Dawa (Dire Dhawa) to the west, as well as Djibouti and Somaliland to the north, Somalia to the east and south; and Kenya to the southwest.

Jijiga is the capital of the Somali Region. The capital was formerly Gode, until Jijiga became the capital in 1995 on account of political considerations.

The Somali regional government is composed of the executive branch, led by the President; the legislative branch, which comprises the State Council; and the judicial branch, which is led by the State Supreme Court.

Overview
The Somali Region formed a large part of the pre-1995 province of Hararghe. The population is predominantly Somali, and there have been attempts to incorporate the area into a Greater Somalia. In the 1970s, Somalia, supported by the United States, invaded Ethiopia, igniting the Ogaden War, which Somalia lost due to timely military intervention from the Soviet Union and its ally Cuba. Despite this defeat, local groups still tried either to become part of Somalia or independent.

The 2007 Abole oil field raid, in which 72 Chinese and Ethiopian oilfield workers were killed, has led to a series of military reprisals against the rebel group ONLF Ogaden National Liberation Front.

Until its first-ever district elections in February 2004, Zonal and woreda administrators and village chairmen were appointed by the Regional government. Senior politicians at the Regional level nominated their clients to the local government positions. In the 2004 local elections, each woreda elected a council including a spokesman, vice-spokesman, administrator, and vice-administrator. These councils have the responsibility of managing budgets and development activities within their respective districts.

Demographics
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), the Somali Region has a total population of 7,445,219, consisting of 3,472,490 men and 3,972,729 women; urban inhabitants number 1,489,044 or 20% of the population, a further 5,956,175 or 80% were pastoralists and farmers. With an estimated area of 327,068 square kilometers, this region has an estimated density of 20.9 people per square kilometer. For the entire region 1, 685,986 households were counted, which results in an average for the Region of 6.8 persons to a household, with urban households having on average 6 and rural households 6.5 people. Ethnic groups include Somalis (99.2%), Amhara (0.06%), Oromo (0.46%), foreign-born Somalis (0.20%) and Gurages (0.08%). The population was projected to be 11,748,998 in 2017.

There are 8 refugee camps and 1 transit center, housing 212,967 refugees from Somalia, located in Somali Region.

In the previous census, conducted in 1994, the region's population was reported to be 5,439,860, of which 2,875,996 were males and 2,563,864 were females. The urban residents of the Somali Region numbered 492,710 households, with an average of 6.6 persons per household; a high sex ratio of 120 males to 100 females was reported. The ethnic groups included Somalis (96.23%), Oromo (2.25%), Amhara (0.69%), and Gurages (0.14%). Somali was the working language and is predominantly spoken within the Region, spoken by 95.9% of the inhabitants. Other major languages included Oromo (2.24%), Amharic (0.92%), and Gurage (0.033%). 98.7% of the population were Muslim, 0.9% Orthodox Christian, and 0.3% are followers of other religions.

According to the CSA,, 38.98% of the total population had access to safe drinking water, of whom 21.32% were rural inhabitants and 77.21% were urban. Values for other reported common indicators of the standard of living for Somali include the following: 71.8% of the inhabitants fall into the lowest wealth quintile; adult literacy for men is 22% and for women 9.8%; and the Regional infant mortality rate is 57 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, which is less than the nationwide average of 77; at least half of these deaths occurred in the infants’ first month of life.

Languages
Somali was spoken by 99.92% of the inhabitants. Other minority languages included Oromo (0.7%), and Amharic (0.1%).

Religion
Sunni Islam accounts for 99.4% of the population, 0.50% Orthodox Christian, and 0.10% are followers of all other religions.

Agriculture
The CSA of Ethiopia estimated in 2005 that farmers in the Somali Region had a total of 1, 459,720 cattle (representing 10.19%% of Ethiopia's total cattle), 1,463,000 sheep (20.66%), 1,650,970 goats (50.02%), 1,291,550 donkey (30.66%), 5,3165,260 camels (96.2%), 154,670 poultry of all species (0.5%), and 5,330 beehives (0.12%). For nomadic inhabitants, the CSA provided two sets of estimates, one based on aerial surveys and the other on more conventional methodology:

Ground travel
West from Addis Ababa, Awash 572 km via Harar and Jijiga to Degehabur

Air travel
Somali Regional State has 3 international airport and 2 commercial airports. The international airports are Jijiga Airport, Gode Airport, and Kabri Dar Airport, The 2 commercial airports are Dolo Airport, and Shilavo Airport.

Executive branch
The executive branch is headed by the President of Somali Regional State. The current President is Mustafa Muhummed Omer (Cagjar), elected on 22 August 2018. A Vice President of Somali Region succeeds the president in the event of any removal from office, and performs any duties assigned by the president. The current vice president is Adam Farah Ibrahim. The other offices in the executive branch cabinet are the Regional Health Bureau, Educational Bureau, and 18 other officials.

Judicial branch
There are three levels of the Somali region judiciary. The lowest level is the court of common pleas: each woreda maintains its own constitutionally mandated court of common pleas, which maintain jurisdiction over all justiciable matters. The intermediate-level court system is the district court system. Four courts of appeals exist, each retaining jurisdiction over appeals from common pleas, municipal, and county courts in an administrative zone. A case heard in this system is decided by a three-judge panel, and each judge is elected.

The highest-ranking court, the Somali Supreme Court, is Somali's "court of last resort". A Seven-justice panel composes the court, which, by its own discretion, hears appeals from the courts of appeals, and retains original jurisdiction over limited matters. The chief judge is called the Chief of Soamli Supreme Court Abdullahi Saed Omar.

Legislative branch
The State Council, which is the highest administrative body of the state, is made up of 269 members.

National politics
Somali is represented by
 * 6 representatives in The House of Federation (upper chamber) and
 * 24 representatives in The House of Peoples' Representatives (lower chamber)

Administrative zones


Like other Regions in Ethiopia, Somali Region is subdivided into eleven administrative zones and Six Special administrative zones:


 * Afder Zone
 * Dollo Zone (formerly Warder)
 * Erer Zone
 * Fafan Zone (formerly Jigjiga)
 * Jarar Zone (formerly Degehabur)
 * Korahe Zone
 * Liben Zone
 * Nogob Zone (formerly Fiq)
 * Shabelle Zone (formerly Godey)
 * Sitti Zone (formerly Shinile)
 * Degehabur Special Zone (special zone)
 * Gode Special Zone (special zone)
 * Harawo Special Zone (special zone)
 * Kebri Beyah Special Zone (special zone)
 * Tog Wajale Special Zone (special zone)

The zones are themselves subdivided into districts.

Borders
On the Ethiopia map are the boundaries between Gambela Peoples state and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples state in the south east accurate? They differ from ESRI's 10.1 admin maps and GADM ETH_adm1 Ethiopia map. The boundary in the north portion between Somolia state and Oromia state also seem slightly different but it may be projection related. Crossposting to country level. Thadk (talk) 14:39, 8 November 2012 (UTC)


 * These maps were updated this spring according to maps from http://ochaonline.un.org/ethiopia/MapCentre/Archive/tabid/3907/language/en-US/Default.aspx There have been quite a lot of changes during last 10-15 years. You can see changes of border between Benishangul Gumuz and Oromia also. And actually there have been some changes of borders between most of regions during last 15 years. I'm currently updating the information about regions, zones and woredas of Ethiopia according to the census of 2007. The older information and borders of the regions and subdivisions was mostly according to census of 1997. Of course there have been many changes during last 5 years but it's almost impossible to find a up to date information about most of regions of Ethiopia. Maps of OPCHA are best and most recent what I have seen so far Vatse (talk) 19:10, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

New flag
The region has adopted a new flag and name, see this article: https://menafn.com/1097426703/Ethiopia-Somali-State-adopts-flag-combining-Somalia-Somaliland-colors --IDavied (talk) 07:36, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Afar Region which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:46, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Awbarre Demographics
No source is provided for Habar Awal "making up a significant portion" of the Awbarre district. In fact all sources indicate that the district is exclusively Gadabuursi. Please remove unsourced. Wadamarow (talk) 20:31, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

seal
This seal is not the Seal of Somali Regional state. Ahmed Nour Ak (talk) 16:06, 12 July 2021 (UTC)