Addis Ababa
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Addis Ababa (Amharic አዲስ አበባ, "new flower") is the capital city of Ethiopia. As a chartered city (astedader akabibi), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state. The city has as many as 80 nationalities speaking 80 languages, and Christian and Muslim communities. Addis Ababa is located about 2,500m above sea level at 9.03° N 38.74° E). [1][2] As of 2005, the estimated population is 2,757,729 [3], making it by far the nation's largest city.
The site was chosen by Empress Taytu Betul and the city was founded in 1886 by her husband, Emperor Menelik II, and now has a population of around four million, and an eight per cent annual growth rate.
The city lies at the foot of Mount Entoto, and is home to Addis Ababa University. Addis Ababa University was formerly known as Haile Selassie I University, after the former Emperor of Ethiopia, who donated his Guenete Leul Palace to be the University main campus in 1961.
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History
Addis Ababa was founded by the Ethiopian emperor Menelik II. Menelik, as King of Shewa, had found Mount Entoto a useful base for military operations in the south of his realm, and in 1879 visited the reputed ruins of a medieval town, and an unfinished rock church that showed proof of an Ethiopian presence there prior to the campaigns of Ahmad Gragn. His interest in the area grew when his wife Taytu began work on a church on Entoto, and Menelik endowed a second church in the area. However the immediate area did not encourage the founding of a town due to the lack of firewood and water, so settlement actually began in the valley south of the mountain in 1886. Initially, Taytu built a house for herself near the "Filwoha" hot mineral springs, known to the local Oromo people as Finfinne, where she and members of the Showan Royal Court liked to take mineral baths. Other nobility and their staffs and households settled the vicinity, and Menelik expanded his wife's house to become the Imperial Palace which remains the seat of government in Addis Ababa today. Addis Ababa became Ethiopia's capital when Menelik II became Emperor of Ethiopia. The town grew by leaps and bounds. One of Emperor Menelik's contributions that is still visible today is the planting of numerous eucalyptus trees along the city streets.
In 1936, Italian troops occupied Addis Ababa during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, making it the capital of Italian East Africa. Addis Ababa was governed by the Italian Governors of Addis Ababa from 1936 to 1939. After the Italian army in Ethiopia was frustrated by Ethiopian patriots, and hugely defeated with British help during the Liberation of Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa on May 5, 1941 -- five years to the very day after he had departed -- and immediately began the work of re-establishing his capital.
Emperor Haile Selassie helped form the Organization of African Unity in 1963, and invited the new organization to maintain its headquarters in the city. The OAU was dissolved in 2002 and replaced by the African Union (AU), also headquartered in Addis Ababa. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa also has its headquarters in Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa was also the site of the Council of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in 1965.
Recent developments
One of the recent changes to the city’s history started with the appointment of Arkebe Oqubay, a top-level member of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), as mayor since early 2003. Though his appointment was initially criticized as being politically motivated, many of those critics and city residents now welcome the changes he has implemented, citing improved services.
While he was not unanimously popular, the mayor has made many changes including reducing the number of civil servants and levels of bureaucracy, which in the past had been a big complaint by residents. Following these changes, Addis Ababa now consists of 10 municipalities, each representing around 400,000 inhabitants; 90 percent of services are provided at the municipality level or lower.
In recent years, the city has also seen the streamlining of its bureaucracy. The waiting time for birth and marriage certificates, for example, has been cut from three weeks to a one-stop service of thirty minutes; tax registration, from six months to one hour; land registration from three years to eight days. Residents of the city have welcomed these changes.
Unemployment is still the biggest economic challenge of the city, with the current rate standing at 42 per cent, and 60 per cent of employment classified "informal." Similar to efforts made at the federal level, tax revenue has risen from $100 million to $200 million, but is still short of the $500 million target. This is widely blamed on corruption and, in part, to the lack of tax collection systems in the city. The city's practice of acquiring properties through condemnation, then paying the owners inadequate compensation while the properties were leased out to developers at very high rates, caused a backlash among voters in the capital against the mayor and the EPRDF. This, coupled with the high unemployment and a desire for change cost the EPRDF a great deal in the elections of May 2005 in Addis Ababa. The city voted out the ruling party, and not a single government party member was voted into the regional government or to represent it in parliament. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) swept all the votes of Addis Ababa.
Addis Ababa is surrounded by the Oromia Regional State, and served as the regional capital until 2004, when the organs of the Oromia government were moved to Adama, also known as Nazret. Addis Ababa had served as the seat of the Oromia Regional state government, but as the Federal Capital the city is administered as a separate Autonomous Regional State, and was never administered as part of Oromia. These moves have been controversial, as critics claimed that the Ethiopian government wished to deemphasize Addis Ababa's location within Oromia, and to foment trouble between Oromos and the Amhara, Gurage and other ethnicities that dominate Addis Ababa's population.[4],[5]
On June 10, 2005, the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization (OPDO), part of the ruling EPRDF coalition, officially announced plans to move the regional capital back to Addis Ababa.[6],[7],[8]
Image:ClimateAddisAbabaEthiopia.PNG
Other features
Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union.
The fossilized skeleton, and a plaster replica of the early hominid Lucy (known in Ethiopia as Dinkinesh) is preserved at the Ethiopian National Museum in Addis Ababa.
The city is home to the Ethiopian National Library, the Ethiopian Ethnological Museum (and former palace), the Addis Ababa Museum, the Ethiopian Natural History Museum, the Ethiopian Railway Museum and the National Postal Museum.
The city is served by Bole International Airport, where a new terminal opened in 2003. Addis Ababa also has a railway connection with Djibouti City.
Notable buildings include St George's Cathedral (founded in 1896 and also home to a museum), Holy Trinity Cathedral (once the largest Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral and home to Sylvia Pankhurst's tomb) as well as the burial place of Emperor Haile Selassie and the Imperial family, and those who fought the Italians during the war. There is also Menelik's old Imperial palace which remains the official seat of government, and the National Palace formerly known as the Jubilee Palace (built to mark Emperor Haile Selassie's Silver Jubilee in 1955) which is the resident of the President of Ethiopia. Africa Hall is located across Menelik II avenue from this Palace and is where the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is headquartered as well as most UN offices in Ethiopia. It is also the site of the founding of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) which eventually became the African Union. Near Holy Trinity Cathedral is the Parliament building, built during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, with its clock tower. It continues to serve as the seat of Parliament today. Across from the Parliament is the Shengo Hall, built by the Derg regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam as its new parliament hall. The Shengo Hall was the world's largest pre-fabricated building, which was constructed in Finland before being assembled in Addis Ababa. It is used for large meetings and conventions. Near Bole International Airport is the new Medhane Alem (Savior of the World) Cathedral, which is the second largest in Africa. In the Merkato district, which happens to be the largest open market in Africa, is the impressive Anwar Mosque. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family is also in the Merkato district.
Other features of the city include the large Merkato market, the Jan Moda Race Ground racecourse, Bihere Tsige Recreation Centre and a railway line to Djibouti, while the Entoto Mountains start among the northern suburbs. Suburbs of the city include Shiro Meda and Entoto in the north, Urael and Bole (home to Bole International Airport) in the east, Nifas Silk in the south-east, Mekanisa in the south, and Keraniyo and Kolfe in the west.
External links
- Addis Ababa City Administration
- Support for Mayor’s overhaul of Addis Ababa
- Addis Ababa City Council
- Introduction to Addis Ababa
| Subdivisions of Ethiopia | Image:Ethiopia flag large.png | |
|---|---|---|
| Regions | ||
| Afar | Amhara | Benishangul-Gumaz | Gambela | Harari | Oromia | Somali | Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region | Tigray | ||
| Chartered cities | ||
| Addis Ababa | Dire Dawa | ||
| Provinces prior to 1995 | ||
| Arsi | Bale | Gamu-Gofa | Gojjam | Begemder | Hararghe | Illubabor | Kaffa | Shoa | Sidamo | Tigray | Welega | Wollo | ||
