Awbere (woreda)

Awbere (Somali: Awbarre), (also known as Teferi Ber),^[1] is one of the woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Jijiga Zone, Awbere is bordered on the southwest by Jijiga, on the west by the Shinile Zone, on the east by Somalia, and on the southeast by Kebri Beyah. Towns in Awbere include Āwuberē, Derwonaji, Lefe Isa, and Sheed Dheer.

High points in this woreda include Sau (1863 meters), near the international border.

History

Due reports of a new wave of Somali refugees reaching Hart Sheik in late 2006, the Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs and the UNHCR together opened a new refugee camp at Awbere 13 July 2007. As of June 2012 13,553 individuals were resident at the camp, with a further 11,639 at the Sheed Dheer camp.^[2]

The Ethiopian De-mining Office reported in November 2008 that it had cleared land mines planted in Awbere as part of the four million square meters of land the office had cleared in the Somali Region.^[3]

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 339,503, of whom 187,090 are men and 152,413 women. While 39,750 or 11.71% are urban inhabitants, a further 26,555 or 7.82% are pastoralists. 99.97% of the population said they were Muslim.^[4] This woreda is primarily inhabited by the Gadabuursi clan of the Somali people.

The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 210,598, of whom 111,864 were men and 98,645 were women; 52,209 or 24.79% of its population were urban dwellers. The largest ethnic group reported in Awbere was the Somali (99.7%).^[5]

Agriculture

A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 21,963 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 0.99 hectares of land. Of the 21.7 square kilometers of private land surveyed, 83.16% was under cultivation, 6.38% pasture, 8.64% fallow, and 1.82% was devoted to other uses; the percentage in woodland is missing. For the land surveyed in this woreda, 75.77% is planted in cereals like teff, sorghum and maize, 1.66% in root crops, and 1.14% in vegetables; the number for pulses is missing. Permanent crops included 908 hectares planted in khat, and 4.08 in fruit trees. 89.2% of the farmers both raise crops and livestock, while 7.44% only grow crops and 3.35% only raise livestock. Land tenure in this woreda is distributed amongst 98.06% own their land, 0.8% rent, and the remaining 1.15% held their land under other forms of tenure.^[6]

Notes

1. Teferi Ber is the name used by the Central Statistical Agency in its Agricultural Sample Enumeration 2001-2002 (1994 E.C.): Report on Area and Production - Somali Region Archived November 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
2. "Refugees in Somali National Regional State of Ethiopia", UNHCR website (accessed 31 October 2012)
3. "Landmines Cleared From 4 Million Square Meters Of Land", Ethiopian News Agency, 20 November 2008 (accessed 17 June 2009)
4. Census 2007 Tables: Somali Region, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 3.1 and 3.4.
5. 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Vol. 1 Tables 2.1, 2.14 (accessed 12 January 2009). The results of the 1994 census in the Somali Region were not satisfactory, so the census was repeated in 1997.
6. "Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia. Agricultural Sample Survey (AgSE2001). Report on Area and Production - Somali Region. Version 1.1 - December 2007" (accessed 26 January 2009)

Coordinates: 9°45′N 43°00′E / 9.750°N 43.000°E