Samara (; ) is the capital of

Afar Region The Afar Region (; ; ), formerly known as Region 2, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northeastern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Afar people. Its capital is the planned city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash, Ethiopia, Awash� ...

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 a town on the Awash– Assab highway in north-east Ethiopia, having been planned and built to replace Asaita. Located in Administrative Zone 1, Samara has a latitude and longitude of . One of the completed buildings is Samara University, which began holding classes in 2007. The 2006

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

guide to Ethiopia had this description of Samara: : With its quirky mix of barracks, modern apartment blocks, and soulless administrative buildings, it looks like a microscopic version of

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

emerging incongruously in the middle of the desert – except that it's a completely botched attempt at creating a new town. The 2009 Lonely Planet guide omitted the final phrase following the dash. The 2002 edition of ''Ethiopia: the Bradt travel guide'' described Semera as consisting of "one active filling station (complete with fridge) and a cluster of modern offices and tall apartment blocks in various states of construction – all in mad isolation from any existing settlement!" The area is served by Semera Airport, which has scheduled service to

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

History

Radio Ethiopia reported that the inaugural meeting of the Afar Regional Council was held in Semera on 20 July 1995. Six days later, the Council decided to make Semera its capital city and

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

its temporary working language. The three top officials would be President Alimirah Hanfare, Vice-president Osman Ainet and Secretary Mohammed Seid; the Regional president at the time, Habib Alimirah, was not present. The Eighth meeting of the Afar Regional Council was held in Semera 4–5 March 2009, and items scheduled to be discussed included a bill to eliminate

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

in the Region.

Demographics

The town had a population of 2,625 in 2007.Statistical Tables for the 2007 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia
. It is one of five towns in Dubti

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 ...

Climate

Semera has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(''BWh'') in the Köppen-Geiger system.

References

{{reflist Populated places in the Afar Region Cities and towns in Ethiopia