Asella

Asella አሰላ (Amharic)
Asella Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates:
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Oromia
Zone	Arsi
Elevation	2,430 m (7,970 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	110,088
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Asella (Amharic: አሰላ^?), also Asela is a town and separate woreda in central Ethiopia. Located in the Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region about 175 kilometers from Addis Ababa, this city has a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation of 2,430 meters. Asella hosts an airport (IATA code ALK). Asella was the capital of Arsi Province until that province was demoted to a Zone of Oromia with the adoption of the 1995 Constitution. It retains some administrative functions as the seat of the present Arsi Zone.

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Asella of 67,269, of whom 33,826 were men and 33,443 were women. The majority of the inhabitants said they practised Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 67.43% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 22.65% of the population were Muslim, and 8.75% of the population were Protestant.

The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 47,391 of whom 21,993 were males and 25,398 were females.

History

Asella town got its start before the Second Italian-Abyssinian War. The Italian occupiers wanted to make Asela into a provincial capital, but they were unable to build more than one two-story building and some warehouses of masonry. The 6th brigade and two companies of the 5th brigade of the King's African Rifles captured Asella on 10 April 1941, after pursuing General De Simone south from Dire Dawa and forcing their way past the Awash River and a dug-in Italian position. Brigade headquarters were afterwards set up in the town.

In 1946 a Swedish Mission laid the foundations for a hospital and a school in Asella, which was ordered closed in 1966 when a government hospital was built. The town was subjected to a serious epidemic of dysentery during 1953, and a locust invasion in April 1961. In 1957 Asella was the southern end of the national telephone network, and by 1960 Asella had one of the ten municipal slaughter houses in Ethiopia; further, that year a branch of the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority had begun operation in the town.

Asella has been the home of many Ethiopian track athletes, including Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, and Derartu Tulu. The Arsi University was established in Asella in 2015.

Climate

In the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Asella is categorised as having a subtropical highland climate (Cwb). Monthly temperature variation is low, due to its elevation and closeness to the equator. The seasons are only distinguished by the intensity of rain, which is highest in August and lowest in December.

Climate data for Asella
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	22 (72)	22.6 (72.7)	23.3 (73.9)	23.3 (73.9)	23.1 (73.6)	21.7 (71.1)	19.7 (67.5)	19.6 (67.3)	19.9 (67.8)	21.5 (70.7)	21.2 (70.2)	21.4 (70.5)	21.61 (70.93)
Daily mean °C (°F)	14.2 (57.6)	15 (59)	16.1 (61)	16.6 (61.9)	16.5 (61.7)	15.7 (60.3)	14.7 (58.5)	14.7 (58.5)	14.7 (58.5)	15.1 (59.2)	14.1 (57.4)	13.5 (56.3)	15.08 (59.16)
Average low °C (°F)	6.4 (43.5)	7.5 (45.5)	8.9 (48)	10 (50)	10 (50)	9.7 (49.5)	9.8 (49.6)	9.8 (49.6)	9.5 (49.1)	8.7 (47.7)	7 (45)	5.7 (42.3)	8.58 (47.48)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	27 (1.06)	57 (2.24)	93 (3.66)	105 (4.13)	110 (4.33)	123 (4.84)	195 (7.68)	205 (8.07)	151 (5.94)	54 (2.13)	18 (0.71)	9 (0.35)	1,147 (45.14)
Source: Climate-Data.org, altitude: 2425m