Kombolcha

Infobox Settlement
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pushpin_label_position =bottom
pushpin_mapsize = 300
pushpin_map_caption =Location in Ethiopia
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name =‎ Ethiopia
subdivision_name1 = Amhara Region
subdivision_type2 = Zone
subdivision_name2 = Debub Wollo Zone
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population_as_of= 2005
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population_total = 68,766 (est)
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timezone = EAT
utc_offset = +3
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latd=11|latm=4|lats=|latNS=N
longd=39|longm=44|longs=|longEW=E
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elevation_m = 1842
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Kombolcha is a city and woreda in north-central Ethiopia. Located in the Debub Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, it has a latitude and longitude of coord|11|4|N|39|44|E with an elevation between 1842 and 1915 meters above sea level. Some guide books describe Kombolcha as the twin city of Dessie to the southeast.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Kombolcha has an estimated total population of 68,766 of whom 36,102 were males and 32,664 were females. The woreda has an estimated area of 8.66 square kilometers, which gives Kombolcha a density of 7,940.60 people per square kilometer. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Table B.4] The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 39,466 of whom 18,995 were males and 20,471 were females.

This city shares Combolcha Airport (ICAO code HADC, IATA DSE) with neighbouring Dessie. It is also home to Kombolcha Steel products, a metalworking factory that is part of MIDROC, a conglomerate owned by billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi. [ [http://www.addistribune.com/Archives/2000/02/11-02-00/Komb.htm "Kombolcha Steel Industry Goes into Production"] ("Addis Tribune", last accessed 26 October 2007)]

History

Tadesse Tamrat records that archeologists discovered "some remains of Christian settlements", dated to the late first millennium of the current era. [Taddesse Tamrat, "Church and State in Ethiopia" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 37 n. 4]

Kombolcha was described during the Italian occupation as having postal and telephone service, a clinic, a "spaccio" ("tobacco shop"), barrack village of the A.A.S.S. as well as other improvements intended for Italians. [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/k/ORTKOM.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 23 February 2008)]

Kombolcha was used as a base by the United Nations relief organization and other humanitarian groups during the 1984 famine. On 19 November 1989 the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed to have captured Kombolcha. However, the highway from Kombolcha to Assab was not fully brought under TPLF control until the Derg was expelled from Tigray later that year.

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