Chiro (town)

---

title: "Chiro (town)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-the-oromia", "cities-and-towns-in-ethiopia"] description: "Capital of West Hararghe in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiro_(town)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Capital of West Hararghe in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ::

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

Field	Value
official_name	Chiro
other_name	Asebe Teferi
native_name	om
native_name_lang	om
settlement_type	Town
map_caption1	https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chiro/@9.0774123,40.8687683,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x16342462be122dbd:0xe8027e3189c6d4b?force=pwa&source=mlpwa
dot_x
pushpin_map	Ethiopia#Africa
pushpin_label_position	right
pushpin_map_caption	Location within Ethiopia
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Ethiopia
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	Oromia
subdivision_type2	Zone
subdivision_name2	West Hararghe
established_date	1924
established_title2
established_title3
unit_pref
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
population_as_of	2014
population_total	56900
timezone	EAT
utc_offset	+3
coordinates
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m	1826
postal_code_type
blank_name	Climate
blank_info	Aw
::

|official_name = Chiro |other_name = Asebe Teferi | native_name = om | native_name_lang = om |nickname = |settlement_type = Town |motto = |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |city_logo = |citylogo_size = |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chiro/@9.0774123,40.8687683,13z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x16342462be122dbd:0xe8027e3189c6d4b?force=pwa&source=mlpwa |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |pushpin_map = Ethiopia#Africa |pushpin_label_position = right |pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia |pushpin_mapsize = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Ethiopia | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = Oromia | subdivision_type2 = Zone |subdivision_name2 = West Hararghe |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = |subdivision_type4 = |subdivision_name4 = |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 = |leader_name1 = |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |leader_title3 = |leader_name3 = |leader_title4 = |leader_name4 = |established_title = |established_date =1924 |established_title2 =
|established_date2 = |established_title3 =
|established_date3 = |area_magnitude = |unit_pref = |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_urban_sq_mi = |area_metro_km2 = |area_metro_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 2014 |population_footnotes = |population_note = |population_total = 56900 |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_density_metro_sq_mi = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = |population_density_urban _sq_mi = |population_blank1_title = |population_blank1 = |population_density_blank1_km2 = |population_density_blank1_sq_mi = |timezone = EAT |utc_offset = +3 |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = |elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 1826 |elevation_ft = |postal_code_type =
|postal_code = |area_code = |blank_name = Climate |blank_info = Aw |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |website = |footnotes = Chiro (also called Asebe Teferi or Asba Littoria; Afaan Oromo: Ciroo) is a town and Aanaa in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the West Hararghe Zone in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia Ahmar Mountains, it has a latitude and longitude of and an altitude of 1826 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of the West Hararghe Zone in Oromia Regional State.

Nega Mezlekia described the town when he came to live there in 1977 as "a melancholic small town whose drab conditions are accentuated by the black roads, laid with crushed basaltic rocks" which "snakes along the edge of the main highway that links the city of Harar with the capital city". He describes the buildings in the town as unkept and rundown: "Generations of neglect were written into the faces of these derelict buildings. The walls had shed their meagre mud linings, and a few of the buildings tilted to one side or another, making it as dangerous a proposition to stand in their scant shade as to live in them." His opinion of the inhabitants is equally unkind, detailing how at night the marketplace was transformed into a stage where drunken peasants perpetuated blood feuds generations old. "Peasants didn't go to police or courts for justice. Blood called for blood."

History

Chiro was founded around 1924 by Fitawrari Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam in a picturesque woody depression at the upper part of the Chiro valley. It was the capital of the former "model" province of Chercher, created as part of Emperor Haile Selassie's campaign of modernization in the 1930s. The receveur of the post office was Dejene Habte Wolde around 1931.

During the 1950s, the coffee plantations around the town were small yet yielded a relatively high production. In 1958, Chiro was one of 27 places in Ethiopia officially ranked as First Class Township. The Ethiopian News Agency reported in mid-July 1976 that negotiations held at Chiro by representatives of hostile groups of the Afars and Issas had led to a peace agreement.

When Nega Mezlekia visited the town in 1977, he learned that the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and Oromo Liberation Front were more active around Chiro than in the rest of the province. "There was a strong peasant base around the town that provided a great deal of support for the party. The forest cover in the areas nearby furnished hideout." However, when he returned the next year, he found the town far more peaceful. "It seemed that most of the threatening political opponents of the regime were dead, in exile or rotting in prison, and the going was good for those in power."

Demographics

The Oromo make up the largest ethnic group in the town. The Ittuu subclan of the Oromo make up a significant portion of the town and region's inhabitants. The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 18,678 of whom 9,218 were males and 9,460 were females.

References

References

2. Nega Mezlekia, ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly: An Ethiopian poorChildhood'' (New York: Picador, 2000), pp. 271f. {{ISBN. 0-312-28914-6
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 30 May 2008))
4. David Buxton, ''Travels in Ethiopia'', second edition (London: Benn, 1957), p. 136
5. ''Notes from the Hyena's Belly'', pp. 280, 316

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