Gurgura
Gurgura is one of the four woredas[citation needed] in the chartered city of Dire Dawa in Ethiopia. It is named for an ethnic group which lives in the area, the Gurgura; because there are records of a subgroup of the Nole Oromo with that name, as well as a sub-clan of the Somali Dir clan, it is unclear which one of these groups this woreda is named for.[1] The administrative center of Gurgura is Melka Jebdu.
The woreda of Gurgura was in existence as early as 1964, when its administrative center was at Kersa.[1] Following the end of the Ethiopian Civil War, it was the only woreda without a zone or a kilil because the federal government did not want Dire Dawa to be surrounded by the Somali State and the Somali Gurguras did not want to be part of Oromia. In the end it became part of Dire Dawa.[citation needed]
Demographics
Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 116,250, of whom 58,004 are men and 58,246 are women; 14,250 or 12.26% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the average for entire chartered city of 74.4. With an estimated area of 1,195.52 square kilometers, Gurgura has an estimated population density of 97.2 people per square kilometer, which is less than the average for the administrative region of 328.[2]
The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 87,013 in 15,827 households, of whom 45,098 were men and 41,915 were women; 8,337 or 9.58% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Gurgura were the Oromo (81.48%), the Somali (16.53%), and the Amhara (1.24%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.75% of the population. Oromiffa is spoken as a first language by 82.29%, 15.77% Somali and 1.39% speak Amharic; the remaining 0.55% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants were Muslim, with 98.34% of the population reporting that as their faith, while 1.48% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. Concerning education, 7.98% of the population were considered literate. Concerning sanitary conditions, 90% of the urban houses and 31% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; 37% of the urban and about 7% of the total had toilet facilities.[3]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Local History in Ethiopia" The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 17 August 2009)
- ↑ CSA 2005 National Statistics, Tables B.3 and B.4
- ↑ 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Dire Dawa Provisional Administration, Vol. 1, Tables 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.13, 2.15, 2.18, 3.7, 6.3, 6.11, 6.13 (accessed 30 December 2008)
