Metekel Zone is located in Benshangul-Gumuz of Ethiopia. It is bordered on the south and southwest by

Kamashi , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = U ...

, on the west by

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, and on the north and east by the Amhara region. The Abay River defines the Zone's boundaries with Kamashi, while the Dinder River defines part of its boundary with the Amhara region. The administrative center of Metekel Zone is

Gilgil Beles Gilgil, Kenya, is a town in Nakuru County, Kenya. The town is located between Naivasha and Nakuru and along the Nairobi - Nakuru highway. It is to the west of the Gilgil River, which flows south to feed Lake Naivasha. Gilgil has a population ...

; other towns include

Manbuk Manbuk is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Manbuk has a latitude and longitude of . The city is located near the southern foot of Mount Belaya, at an elevation of 1200 meters. It is the adm ...

. The highest point is

Mount Belaya Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

(3,131 meters), which is part of the Dangur range. MIDROC Gold reported in 2009 that it was exploring the Zone for gold deposits.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 276,367, of whom 139,119 are men and 137,248 women. 37,615 or 13.61% of population are urban inhabitants. A total of 58,515 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.72 persons to a household, and 56,734 housing units. The five largest ethnic groups reported in the Metekel Zone were the Gumuz (36.78%), the Shinasha (21.6%), the Amhara (17.39%), the Awi (11.33%), a subgroup of the Agew, and the Oromo (11.09%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.81% of the population. Main languages are Gumuz (36.31%),

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

(34.21%), Oromo(19.89%), Shinasha (12.81%) and Awngi (10.91%).

is spoken as a first language by 24% of the population and as a second language by another 10%. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 54.49% of the population reporting that they held that belief, while 20.31% were

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

, 17.65% observed traditional religions, and 6.36% were Protestant. According to a May 24, 2004 World Bank memorandum, 8% of the inhabitants of Metekel have access to electricity, this zone has a road density of 28.4 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers, the average rural household has 1.4 hectare of land (compared to the national average of 1.01 hectare of land and an average of 2.25 for pastoral regions) and the equivalent of 0.6 heads of livestock. 10% of the population is in non-farm related jobs, compared to the national average of 25% and an average of 28% for pastoral regions. 93% of all eligible children are enrolled in primary school, and 25% in secondary schools. 68% of the zone is exposed to malaria, and 100% to

Tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glo ...

. The memorandum gave this zone a drought risk rating of 433.World Bank, ''Four Ethiopias: A Regional Characterization''
(accessed 23 March 2006). The Metekel conflict began in 2019. A massacre occurred on 23 December 2020.

Notes

{{Districts of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region Benishangul-Gumuz Region Zones of Ethiopia