Bambasi

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Bambasi
other_name = Abba Moti
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pushpin_label_position = right
pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Ethiopia
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name1 = Benishangul-Gumuz
subdivision_type2 = Zone
subdivision_name2 = Asosa
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population_as_of = 2005
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population_total = 7,166
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timezone = EAT
utc_offset = +3
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latd=9 |latm=45 |latNS=N
longd=34 |longm=44 |longEW=E
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elevation_m = 1668
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footnotes = Bambasi (also known as Abba Moti) is a town in western Ethiopia. The town is named after the highest point in the Asosa Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Mount Bambasi. Bambasi has a longitude and latitude of coord|9|45|N|34|44|E with an elevation of 1668 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Bambasi woreda.

Bambasi is located on the Gimbi-Asosa road, making the town one of the few in the Region accessible by motor vehicle with the rest of Ethiopia. [ [http://www.africa.upenn.edu/EUE/eue_ahrens1096.html "Benishangul-Gumuz, Situation Report, 10/96"] (accessed 1 May 2008)]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Bambasi has an estimated total population of 7,166 of whom 3,653 were males and 3,513 were females. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Table B.3] According to the 1994 national census, its total population was 4,164 of whom 2,114 were males and 2,050 were females.

History

In the later 19th century, Bambasi was seat of the Sheikhdom of Bambasi, which had been established following the conquest of Ismail bin Muhammad Ali, son of Wali Muhammad Ali. Although it was a notorious center of the slave trade, by the 1880s the Sheikhdom derived a significant share of its revenue from taxing the salt trade between the rest of Sudan and the nearby Oromos. [Wendy James, et al., "Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa, 1880-1883" (London: Hakluyt Society, 1996), pp. 27ff]

A description of Bambasi in the "Guido" (published in 1938) describes it as consisting of three groups of houses at the base of Mount Bambasi, and supplied with abundant water and a market. The town was captured by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) on 7 January 1990, and six Cuban doctors and nurses were taken hostages after five days of heavy fighting. The following month, the OLF clandestine radio reported that the group had killed 84 government soldiers in a clash between Bambasi and Mendi. [ [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/B/ORTBAL.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 21 December 2007)]

On 2 April 2007, local Muslims in Bambasi raided the house of evangelist Tolosa Megersa, resulting in the death of six of his cattle and sheep. Five days later, the home of another local Christian leader, Lemmu Abdissa, was raided resulting in the destruction of all his property including 8,815 pounds of grain. [ [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90097.htm "Ethiopia: International Religious Freedom Report 2007"] United States State Department website (accessed 22 May 2008)]

Notes