Ejersa Goro () is a town in eastern

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 ...

. Located outside the city of

Harar Harar (; Harari language, Harari: ሀረር / ; ; ; ), known historically by the indigenous as Harar-Gey or simply Gey (Harari: ጌይ, ݘٛىيْ, ''Gēy'', ), is a List of cities with defensive walls, walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is al ...

in the East Hararghe Zone of 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 ...

, it has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 2780 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Jarso Aanaa.

Overview

According to the Oromia Regional government website, this town has access to telephone and postal service, but lacks electricity.

History

Ejersa Goro is best known as the birthplace of Emperor

Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

, the tenth child of Ras Makonnen, then governor of Harar, and Woizero Yeshimebet Ali, on July 23, 1892. The Emperor later erected a church, Kidane Mihret ("Our Lady Covenant of Mercy"), in the town to commemorate the event; when John Graham visited the town in 2001, although Ras Makonnen's house had been reduced to a "circle of rocks", Kidane Mihret was still standing and in use, although in worse repair than the mosque across town. Early in the

Ogaden War The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (, ), was a military conflict between Somali Democratic Republic, Somalia and derg, Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Somalia ...

, Ejersa Goro was captured by Somali units; it was recaptured between 5 and 9 February 1978 by Ethiopian units advancing from Kombolcha.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Ejersa Goro has an estimated total population of 3,104 of whom 1,529 are men and 1,575 are women. The 1994 national census reported a total population for this town of 1,736 of whom 829 were men and 907 were women. These numbers for Ejersa Goro are an estimate, because the town was not counted. This also means that breakdown by ethnic groups, language speakers, religion, et cetera, are not available.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Oromia Region'', Vol. 1, part 6
, Table 2.3 (accessed 21 April 2009)

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in the Oromia