Felege Selam (formerly known as Mender 4) is a town in western

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 ...

. One of three located in the

Pawe special woreda Pawe is one of the 20 woredas in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of 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 ...

of the

Benishangul-Gumuz Region Benishangul-Gumuz () is a regional state in northwestern 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 Er ...

, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2054 meters above sea level. The town gives its name to a

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary constituency; the current Member of Parliament for Felege Selam on the

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. ...

is Mulat Tazebew Nigatu, who has held the position since 2005. Felege Selam was founded as one of the resettlement projects under the

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

in the years 1984–1986, when it was known as Mender 4 (or "Left 4", because the settlement was located on the left side of the

Beles River The Beles (''Kusa'' in Gumuz language) is a river of western Ethiopia. The Beles, a tributary of the Abay River (Blue Nile), originates in Dangur woreda and flows southwest to its confluence. Its catchment area amounts to about 14,200 square kilo ...

). The town has been the scene of violent confrontations between the indigenous Gumuz and newcomers brought to the area by the resettlement project: the first such clash occurred 18 December 1991 when a number of the Gumuz attacked the town, killing 58 resettlers from Kambaata and Hadiya, reportedly in retaliation for the accidental death by shooting of a member of the Gumuz. The next clash happened 1 September 1993 when Gumuz men attacked the Felege Selam market, killing 20 people and wounding many more. Later that month (12 September), the townspeople organized themselves and retaliated with an attack on local Gumuz, killing several. At this point the authorities stepped in and enforced a cease-fire between the groups. Despite these conflicts, relations between the newcomers and the Gumuz are smooth in other ways. According to Wolde-Selassie Abbute, both parties interact and exchange goods at the markets in Felege Selam and Ketema, with the Gumuz selling

finger millet Finger millet (''Eleusine coracana'') is an Annual plant, annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and Semi-arid climate, semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and Self-pollination, self-pollinating speci ...

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, pumpkins, peppers and fire wood. Gumuz children attend the local schools together with the children of the newcomers.

Demographics

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, Felege Selam has an estimated total population of 2,907, of whom 1,395 are men and 1,512 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.3 According to the 1994 national census, its total population was 1,689 of whom 807 were men and 882 were women.

Notes

{{reflist Populated places in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region