Mirab Imi

Mirab Imi ("West Imi") is one of the woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. It is named for the historically significant village, Imi. Part of the Afder Zone, Mirab Imi is bordered on the south by Elekere, on the west by the Oromia Region, on the north by the Fiq Zone, and on the northeast by the Shebelle River which separates it from the Gode Zone. The major town in Mirab Imi is Gudelcha.

The average elevation in this woreda is 459 meters above sea level.^[1] As of 2008, Mirab Imi has no all-weather gravel road nor any community roads; about 14.2% of the total population has access to drinking water.^[2]

The Shebelle River burst its banks in November 2008, and affected 17 kebeles in Mirab Imi, damaging crops on 3,200 hectares of farmland.^[3]

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 48,104, of whom 27,067 are men and 21,037 women. While 7,897 or 16.42% are urban inhabitants, a further 10,811 or 22.47% are pastoralists. 98.72% of the population said they were Muslim.^[4] This woreda is primarily inhabited by the Digil clan of the Somali people known as Duubo.

The 1997 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 38,675, of whom 20,627 were men and 18,048 were women; 1,197 or 3.1% of its population were urban dwellers. (This total also includes an estimate for the inhabitants of 3 rural kebeles, which were not counted; they were estimated to have 3,436 inhabitants, of whom 1,847 were men and 1,589 women.) The two largest ethnic groups reported in Mirab Imi were the Somali people (96.53%) and the Oromo (3.3%).^[5]

Notes

1. Hailu Ejara Kene, Baseline Survey of 55 Weredas of PCDP Phase II, Part I (Addis Ababa: August 2008), Annex 1 (accessed 23 March 2009)
2. Hailu Ejara Kene, Baseline Survey, Annexes 16, 17
3. "Ethiopia: Thousands displaced by floods in Somali region", IRIN (last accessed 8 December 2008)
4. Census 2007 Tables: Somali Region, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 3.1 and 3.4.
5. 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Somali Region, Vol. 1 Tables 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.13 (accessed 10 January 2009). The results of the 1994 census in the Somali Region were not satisfactory, so the census was repeated in 1997.

Coordinates: 6°10′N 42°25′E / 6.167°N 42.417°E