Guduru (woreda)

Guduru (also transliterated Gudru) is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named after one of the sections of the Macha Oromo, also known as the Torban Guduru ("the seven houses of Guduru"), which coalesced into a kingdom around 1855 under Gama Moras, which lay between the Abay River and the Gibe region. [Mohammed Hassen, "The Oromo of Ethiopia: A history 1570-1860" (Trenton: Red Sea Press, 1994), pp. 94-96.] It was also the location of the Battle of Embabo, fought 6 June 1882; the Shewan forces of Menelik defeated the Gojjame army, capturing Negus Tekle Haymanot and establishing a Shewan hegemony over the territories south of the Abay. [See, for example, Alessandro Triulzi, "Nekemte and Addis Abeba: dilemmas of provincial rule", in "The Southern marches of Ethiopia", Donald L. Donham and Wendy James, editors (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), pp. 49ff]

Part of the Misraq Welega Zone, Guduru is bordered on the south by Jimma Rare, on the southwest by Jimma Horo, on the west by Lake Finicha'a, on the northwest by Abay Chomen, on the north by the Abay River which separates it from the Amhara Region, and on the east by the Guder River which separates it from the Mirab Shewa Zone. The administrative center is Guduru; other towns in Guduru include Dedu.

The highest point in this woreda is Mount Habib (2430 meters). Rivers within the woreda include the Abune, Boye, Asendabo, Gebete, Korke, Kersa, Embabo and Dede Wata Rivers. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 53.8% is arable or cultivable, 15.3% pasture, 14.3% forest, and the remaining 26.6% is considered marshy, mountainous or otherwise unusable. Cash crops include niger seed and rape seed. [ [http://oromiagov.org/Socio%20Economic%20Profile/East%20Wellega/East%20Wellega.pdf "Socio-economic profile of the East Wellega Zone"] Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 1 August 2006).] .

Industry in the woreda includes 27 grain mills and 3 edible oil mills; there is evidence that construction materials like gravel are also extracted in this woreda. There were 36 Farmers Associations with 14,036 members and 15 Service Cooperatives with 12,898 members. Guduru has 30 kilometers of dry weather road and 30 kilometers of all-weather, for an average of road density of 25.03 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 12.6% of the total population has access to drinking water. [Government of Oromia Region, "Socio-economic profile."]

Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 151,638, of whom 76,905 were males and 74,733 were females; 7,249 or 4.78% of its population are urban dwellers, which is less than the Zone average of 13.9%. With an estimated area of 2,397.50 square kilometers, Guduru has an estimated population density of 63.2 people per square kilometer, which is less than the Zone average of 81.4. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Tables B.3 and B.4]

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