Beshasha (meaning 'open handed/kind' in

Afaan Oromoo Oromo, historically also called Galla, is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Oromo people, native to the Ethiopian state of Oromia; and northern Kenya. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and n ...

) is a town in central

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. It is located in the Gomma

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''. These districts are f ...

near Agaro, which is a part of the

Jimma Zone Jimma is a Zones of Ethiopia, zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Jimma is named after former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa Province, Ethiopia, Kaffa in 1932. Jimma is bordered on the south by the Southern ...

in the

Oromia Region Oromia (, ) is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. Under Article 49 of 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Constitution, the capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa, also called Finfinne. The ...

. The town is well known for being the birthplace of Ethiopian

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and

2019 Nobel Peace Prize The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the prime minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed (born 1976) "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with n ...

winner

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...

. Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, Beshasha has an estimated total population of 2,624 of whom 1,320 were males and 1,304 were females. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 1,467 of whom 716 were males and 751 were females. It is one of six towns in Gomma

. Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of a primary school constructed with Swedish funds at Beshasha in 1965. On 14 October 2006, three hundred

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, armed with guns and knives, reportedly attacked a group of unarmed

Ethiopian Christians Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

. Reports claim that six people (two priests, two elderly women and two men) were killed and 15 others wounded. The Christians were holding a midnight worship service in a local church. In February of the following year, the Jimma Federal High Court sentenced six men to death and 100 other defendants to prison for their participation in this attack."Ethiopia: International Religious Freedom Report 2007"
United States State Department website (accessed 22 May 2008)

Notes

Populated places in the Oromia {{Oromia-geo-stub