Mizan Teferi Explained

Official Name:Mizan-Aman
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Ethiopia
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Ethiopia
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Ethiopia
Subdivision Type1:Region
Subdivision Name1:South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region
Subdivision Type2:Zone
Subdivision Name2:Bench Sheko
Population As Of:2022
Population Footnotes:[1]
Population Total:91437
Timezone:EAT
Utc Offset:+3
Coordinates:7°N 70°W
Area Code:47
Blank Name:Climate
Blank Info:Aw

Mizan Tefere (also called Mizan-Aman or simply Mizan) is the largest town in South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region and one of four Capital cities of the region.[2] Mizan is also the administrative centre, of the Bench Sheko Zone in the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Located about 160 kilometers southwest of Jimma, Mizan Tefere has a latitude and longitude of and an elevation of 1451 meters. Mizan Teferi, together with the neighbouring town of Aman, forms a separate woreda called Mizan Aman. This is surrounded by Debub Bench woreda.

Overview

Mizan Tefere is served by an airport (ICAO code HAMT, IATA MTF) with an unpaved runway. Until 1966, the town was connected by only a dry weather road to Gore; that year the roads to Bonga and Tepi were improved by the Highway Authority.[3] Further proposed improvements were promised on 13 December 2006, when the Ethiopian government announced that it had secured a loan of US$98 million from the African Development Bank to pave the 227 kilometers of highway between Jimma and Mizan Teferi to the southwest. The loan would cover 64% of the 1270.97 million Birr budgeted for this project.[4]

By 1996 there was 24-hour electricity, and access to potable water.[3]

According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Mizan Teferi's amenities also include digital telephone access, postal service, and a bank and a hospital.[5] Near the town is the Bebeka coffee plantation. It is also the location of two institutions of higher education, Aman Health Science College and Mizan - Tepi University.

Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of the primary and secondary school in 1968, and a 70-bed hospital built in 1989.[3] During the existence of the Bench Zone (created in the mid-1990s) Mizan Teferi was its administrative center.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, woreda of Mizan Aman has a total population of 34,080, of whom 18,138 are men and 15,942 women. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 45.97% of the population reporting that belief, 33.8% were Protestants, 17.71% were Muslim, and 1.05% practiced traditional beliefs.[6]

The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 10,652 of whom 5,612 were males and 5,040 were females.

Notes

https://www.press.et/?p=78500

Notes and References

  1. http://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Population-Size-by-Sex-Zone-and-Wereda-July-2022.pdf
  2. Web site: ክልሉ አራት ዋና ከተሞች እንደሚኖሩት ተገለጸ – የኢትዮጵያ ፕሬስ ድርጅት .
  3. http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/m/ORTMI.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"
  4. http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/Archive/Newsletter%20Archive/Nov%20&%20Dec%202006/NovDec06P2.htm "Ethiopian Embassy Newsletter", Nov/Dec 2006, p.2
  5. http://www.snnprbofed.gov.et/Reports/Hotel%20and%20Tourism.xls "Detailed statistics on hotels and tourism"
  6. http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=273&format=raw&Itemid=521 Census 2007 Tables: Southern Peoples, Nations and Nationalities Region