Ferfer is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

Ethiopian 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 ...

Somali Regional State, on the border with the Somali Hiran region ( Beledweyne District). The town straddles the disputed 1950s-era Provisional Administrative Line (as depicted on virtually all worldwide maps, atlases, and geographic websites) that separates the

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; , ) is one of the historical names used for the modern Somali Region. It is also natively referred to as Soomaali Galbeed (). The region forms the eastern portion of Ethiopia and borders Somalia ...

region of Ethiopia from Somalia, and has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 230 meters above sea level. During the first three months of 1964, heavy fighting took place between Ethiopia and Somalia at several border points in the

, one of which was Ferfer. Ferfer was among the locations within Ethiopia that were still under Somali control after Somalia's defeat 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 ...

of 1977/78. The Ethiopian army maintains an important base in Ferfer. In June 2008, the border town was briefly seized by the Somali al-Shabaab.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Ferfer has an estimated total population of 4,411 of whom 2,418 are men and 1,993 are women. The 1997 census reported this town had a total population of 2,956, 1,597 being men and 1,359 women. All of the inhabitants of this town were

Somalis The Somali people (, Wadaad's writing, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic peoples, Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic languages, East ...

.''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Vol. 1''
Tables 2.4, 2.14 (accessed 10 January 2009). The results of the 1994 census in the Somali Region were not satisfactory, so the census was repeated in 1997. It is the largest settlement in the Ferfer

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 ...

Notes

Populated places in the Somali Region {{Somali-geo-stub