Asosa

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Capital of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia

title: "Asosa" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-the-benishangul-gumuz-region", "cities-and-towns-in-ethiopia"] description: "Capital of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asosa" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Capital of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_nameAsosa
native_nameAsoosaa(Afaan Oromoo)
nicknameአሶሳ
settlement_typeCapital city
image_skyline{{multiple image
borderinfobox
total_width270
image_styleborder:1;
perrow1/2
image1Asosa, Ethiopia - panoramio.jpg
image2Asosa, Ethiopia - panoramio (2).jpg
image3Asosa, Ethiopia - panoramio (3).jpg
image4Asosa HIDASE Airport.JPG
image_captionFrom top left: Scene of Asosa's arid regions with the latter being Asosa Airport
imagesize300px
dot_x
pushpin_mapEthiopia#Horn of Africa#Africa
pushpin_label_positionright
pushpin_map_captionLocation within Ethiopia##Location within the Horn of Africa##Location within Africa
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameEthiopia
subdivision_type1Region
subdivision_name1Benishangul-GumuzBenishangul-Gumuz
subdivision_type2Zone
subdivision_name2Asosa
leader_title1
established_title2
established_title3
unit_pref
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
population_as_of2005
population_total20,226
timezoneEAT
utc_offset+3
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m1570
postal_code_type
::

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Asosa or Assosa is the capital of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia. Located in the Asosa Zone, this town has a latitude and longitude of , with an elevation of 1,570 meters.

History

According to the Dutch explorer Juan Maria Schuver, who visited the town in 1881, Asosa was "a prosperous village as several slave-merchants live here" who travelled to Leqa Naqamte and to the Kwama people to purchase slaves. He also mentions that "fine views are obtained at Inzing [the earlier name for Asosa] into the forestclad ravines that plunge down into the White Nile basin."

A Belgian force from the Congo captured Asosa on 11 March 1941, destroying the Italian 10th Brigade and capturing 1,500 men.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) captured Asosa from the Derg in early January 1990, and held the city for a brief time. During the occupation, the government airforce subjected Asosa to aerial attacks several times that month, killing 19 people and wounding 20. Before the Derg withdrew from Asosa, it destroyed the town's only electricity generator, stole 1.8 million Birr from the bank, most of which were deposits from the local farmer cooperatives, and took any valuable items its troops could carry.

During the 1990s, Asosa was characterised by entire government office complexes of partially completed buildings, which John Young notes was "testimony to corrupt relations between politicians and contractors." Young continues, "Indicative of the scale of the problem, during a peace and development conference held in Asosa in June 1996, the then deputy prime minister, Tamrat Layne, dismissed the entire regional government and had many of its members imprisoned for corruption."

The governor of the town of Asosa, Ahmed Khalifa, on 7 July 2007 fled to Ad-Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile State, in Sudan. Khalifa was accused by the Ethiopian authorities of offering concessions to Sudan on border issues. Sudan turned down a request to return Khalifa to Ethiopia, resulting in increased tensions between the two countries.

Demographics

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Asosa_market_women.jpg" caption="Market women in Asosa"] ::

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2015, Asosa has an estimated total population of 20,226, of whom 10,929 are men and 9,297 are women.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for Asosa of 11,749 in 2,825 households, of whom 6,324 were men and 5,425 women. The six largest ethnic groups reported in this town were the Oromo (41.19%), the Amhara (29.93%), the Berta (17.39%), the Tigrayan (5.43%), the Sebat Bet Gurage (1.35%), and the Silt'e (1.29%); all other ethnic groups made up 3.42% of the population. Oromiffa was spoken as a first language by 44.42%, 31.53% spoke Amharic, 15.98% Berta, and 4.43% Tigrinya; the remaining 3.64% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the inhabitants professed Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 54.92% of the population having reported they practised that belief, while 29.75% of the population said they were Muslim, and 14.89% were Protestant. It is the largest settlement in Asosa woreda.

Climate

|width = auto |location = Asosa |metric first = y |single line = y |Jan record high C = 37.2 |Feb record high C = 36.6 |Mar record high C = 36.8 |Apr record high C = 38.5 |May record high C = 38.0 |Jun record high C = 32.5 |Jul record high C = 30.5 |Aug record high C = 29.4 |Sep record high C = 29.5 |Oct record high C = 35.5 |Nov record high C = 35.6 |Dec record high C = 33.0 |year record high C = 38.5 |Jan high C = 30.5 |Feb high C = 31.8 |Mar high C = 32.5 |Apr high C = 31.7 |May high C = 28.5 |Jun high C = 25.4 |Jul high C = 24.6 |Aug high C = 24.6 |Sep high C = 25.5 |Oct high C = 26.4 |Nov high C = 28.1 |Dec high C = 29.1 |year high C = |Jan low C = 14.2 |Feb low C = 15.5 |Mar low C = 16.5 |Apr low C = 16.3 |May low C = 15.8 |Jun low C = 15.3 |Jul low C = 14.7 |Aug low C = 14.6 |Sep low C = 14.7 |Oct low C = 14.8 |Nov low C = 14.9 |Dec low C = 14.3 |year low C = |Jan record low C = 8.1 |Feb record low C = 8.2 |Mar record low C = 9.0 |Apr record low C = 5.0 |May record low C = 6.0 |Jun record low C = 10.0 |Jul record low C = 9.0 |Aug record low C = 8.0 |Sep record low C = 7.0 |Oct record low C = 7.5 |Nov record low C = 9.0 |Dec record low C = 6.7 |year record low C = 5.0 |rain colour = green |Jan rain mm = 0 |Feb rain mm = 4 |Mar rain mm = 23 |Apr rain mm = 60 |May rain mm = 134 |Jun rain mm = 195 |Jul rain mm = 234 |Aug rain mm = 237 |Sep rain mm = 194 |Oct rain mm = 132 |Nov rain mm = 21 |Dec rain mm = 2 |year rain mm = |unit rain days = 0.1 mm |Jan rain days = 0 |Feb rain days = 0 |Mar rain days = 2 |Apr rain days = 5 |May rain days = 12 |Jun rain days = 13 |Jul rain days = 20 |Aug rain days = 21 |Sep rain days = 19 |Oct rain days = 15 |Nov rain days = 3 |Dec rain days = 0 |year rain days = |source 1 = National Meteorology Agency | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111023124704/http://www.ethiomet.gov.et/climates/climate_of_city/2388/Asossa | archivedate = 23 October 2011 | url = http://www.ethiomet.gov.et/climates/climate_of_city/2388/Asossa | title = Climate of City: Asossa | publisher = National Meteorology Agency | accessdate = 6 April 2019}} |source 2 = World Meteorological Organisation (rainy days) | url = http://worldweather.wmo.int/060/c01918.htm | title = World Weather Information Service – Asosa | accessdate = 6 April 2019 | publisher = World Meteorological Organisation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131023023516/http://worldweather.wmo.int/060/c01918.htm | archive-date = 23 October 2013 | url-status = live | df = dmy-all}}

Notable people

References

References

  2. [[Wendy James]], Gerd Baumann, and Douglas H. Johnson, ''Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa, 1880-1883'' (London: Hakluyt Society, 1996), pp. 108f {{ISBN. 090418045X
  3. [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/A/ORTARG.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] {{webarchive. link. (2007-09-27 The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 4 September 2007))
  4. Africa Watch Report, [https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/e/ethiopia/ethiopia907.pdf ''Ethiopia: "Mengistu has Decided to Burn Us like Wood": Bombing of Civilians and Civilian Targets by the Air Force''], 24 July 1990
  5. John Young, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/161849 "Along Ethiopia's Western Frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in Transition"], ''[[Journal of Modern African Studies]]'', 37 (1999), p. 327
  6. John Young, "Ethiopia's Western Frontier", p. 336
  7. [http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27778 "Tension grows along Sudan-Ethiopia border"] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-08-04 , ''Sudan Times'' website (accessed 28 December 2009))
  8. [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] {{webarchive. link. (November 23, 2006 , Table B.4)
  9. [http://www.csa.gov.et/surveys/Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%201994/survey0/data/docs/report/Statistical_Report/k06/k06.pdf ''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Vol. 1''] {{webarchive. link. (November 20, 2008 Tables 2.2, 2.3, 2.13, 2.16, 2.20 (accessed 30 December 2008))

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