El Wak, Somalia Explained

Official Name:El Wak
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Somalia
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Somalia
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Somalia
Subdivision Type1:Regional State
Subdivision Type2:Region
Subdivision Name2:Gedo
Unit Pref:Metric
Timezone:EAT
Utc Offset:+3
Coordinates:2.7931°N 41.0117°W
Native Name:Ceelwaaq
Population Total:55,439
Subdivision Type3:District
Subdivision Name3:El Wak

El Wak is a town located in the southwestern Gedo region of Jubaland.[1] Situated by the Somalia-Kenya border, it is 9 km away from El Wak, Kenya and just 4 km away from the international border.[2] [3]

Etymology

The place name "Ceelwaaq" translates as the “Well of God" in the Somali language, the word Ceel means "well" and the word Waaq comes from an archaic Somali term for God.[4] [5]

Location

El Wak is situated in the El Wak District. It is bordered by the Bardera and Garbaharey districts on the east, and the Somali-inhabited North Eastern Province to the west.[6] [7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ceel Waaq . Ceel Waaq . en.
  2. Web site: 2006-06-29 . Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia: "God's Wells" - where rain hasn't washed the crisis away - Kenya ReliefWeb . reliefweb.int . en.
  3. Web site: OpenStreetMap . Ceelwaaq . en.
  4. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, Culture and Customs of Somalia, (Greenwood Publishing Group: 2001), p.65.
  5. Web site: paukwastories . 2023-03-28 . 5 Iconic North-Eastern Towns and their Profound Names . Paukwa . en-GB.
  6. Web site: Conflict Dynamics International/CEWERU . September 2013 . "From the Bottom Up: Southern Regions: Perspectives through Conflict Analysis and Key Political Actors' Mapping" . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20190714114721/http://www.cdint.org/documents/Bottom_Up_Southern_Regions-Conflict-Assesement_CEWERU.pdf . 2019-07-14 . 2020-03-31 . 22.
  7. Web site: 2024-02-29 . How Peace Was Won in El Wak : Strengthening community resilience through peacebuilding initiatives · DAI Publications . dai-global-developments.com . en-us.