Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar is the former capital of Gojjam province and the current capital of the Amhara Regional State in Ethiopia. Administratively, Bahir Dar is a Special Zone. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The city is known for its wide avenues lined with palm trees and a variety of colorful flowers. In 2002 it was awarded the UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.

Originally the settlement was called Bahir Giyorgis. In the 19th century, Bahir Dar was visited by Belgian, French, British and Italian travelers, who described it alternatively as a village or a town.The Italian traveller Mario Alamanni (1891) estimated its population between 1,200 and 1,600.

During the early 20th century, the British, desiring to construct a barrage at the outlet of Lake Tana, dispatched several study teams, such as those of Dupis (1902), Grabham and Black (1920-21) and Cheesman (1926-34). In 1930 the Ethiopian Government sent to Bahir Dar its own team of experts, who described Bahir Dar as a village with considerable trading activity, with a population from the interior as well as from Lake Tana ports such as Zege. At this time Bahir Dar was characterized by various traditional settlement areas, each of which was distinguished by the social position its members occupied. The kahenat (clergy) and balabbat communities were the most important. In addition, three groups of tenant-craftsman communities, tanners, Muslims weavers and the Weyto stone-mill grinders, lived on balabbat lands. Although all were economically interdependent, there was no intermarriage between the tenant communities or between them and the balabbat and kahenat.

In 1936, Bahir Dar was occupied by the Italians, who gave it modern urban features. Abolishing communal family ownership of land, they instituted private ownership. Alienating the balabbats from their rist, the allocated land for administration, the army, an airstrip and port facilities. New residential and commercial zones were demarcated. Bahir Dar was connected by motor-boats with other Lake Tana ports and by motor roads with Gonder, Debre Marqos and Addis Ababa. The physical and social appearance of Bahir Dar was considerably changed. New settlement patterns emerged: and Italian camp, a Muslim community and a Weyto quarter, while the tanners' quarter remained unaffected. Bahir Dar became a melting-pot of different people and cultures. In the commercial zone, different types of shops, tea-rooms, tailor shops, bars and restaurants run by Italians, Arabs, Somalis and Sudanese made their first appearance. Ethiopian participation in this realm was insignificant.

The Italians gave Bahir Dar political importance making it the administrative center of the Lake Tana southern territories. They also showed interest in the possibility of developing the Lake Tana and Blue Nile basic agriculturally and of exploiting their waters for hydroelectric power. In 1941, the Ethiopian Government was reinstated. It made Bahir Dar a capital, first at a sub-district and then at a district level. Various offices and public services were set up. In 1945 Bahir Dar was raised to the status of a municipality. In the early 1950s, it was considered to be the best site selected for the construction of an alternative capital of Ethiopia.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bahir Dar grew rapidly, being the capital of the awrajja by the same name in the Gojjam province. The central government developed it as a market and transportation center of the economic growth of Lake Tana and the Blue Nile basin. A comprehensive master plan, with the new zoning, was prepared by German experts. Its implementation changed completely the physical appearance of Bahir Dar, which grew as a center of industrial and economic development. It was provided with a water-supply, hydroelectric power, improved lake-port facilities, the Abbay bridge, textile mills, a hospital and institutions of higher education which now form Bahir Dar University.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, May 1988 the 603rd corp of the Third Revolutionary Army (TLA) made its headquarters at Bahir Dar. On 3–4 March 1990, the TLA abandoned Bahir Dar in disarray, blowing up the nearby bridge with several hundred soldiers which stopped the TPLF/EPRDF forces from occupying the city. However, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) claimed they had too few effectives in the area to capture the town at that time, and the Derg army reoccupied Bahir Dar a few days later.The EPRDF gained permanent control of the city around 1810 hours on 23 February 1991, as one of the objectives of Operation Tewodros. In the 1990s Bahir Dar experienced remarkable growth and expansion. It has become the capital of the Amhara National State. The country's free-market economic policy has encouraged investment and other market potentialities. Today Bahir Dar is not only a center of administration, but also a nucleus of commerce, industry, transport, communication, health, education and tourism.

The city, in honor of the Millennium celebrations, hosted a National Investment Bazaar and Trade Fair on 6–9 January 2007. Mulat Gezahegn, head of the Trade, Industry and Investment Promotion Coordination Office, told journalists that more than 150 local and foreign companies participated.

Bahir Dar is located at the exit of the Abbay from Lake Tana at an altitude of 1,820 metres (5,970 ft) above sea level.The city is located approximately 578 km north-northwest of Addis Ababa. The Lake Tana region is a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve since 2015.

Bahir Dar has a borderline tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), very close to a subtropical highland climate. Afternoon temperatures are very warm to hot year-round, and morning temperatures cool; however, the diurnal range is much larger in the largely cloudless dry season.

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Bahir Dar Special Zone has a total population of 221,991, of whom 108,456 are men and 113,535 women; 180,174 or 81.16% are urban inhabitants, the rest of population are living at rural kebeles around Bahir Dar. At the town of Bahir Dar there are 155,428 inhabitants; the rest of urban population is living at Meshenti, Tis Abay and Zege towns which are part of Bahir Dar Special Zone. As Philip Briggs notes, Bahir Dar "is not only one of the largest towns in Ethiopia, but also one of the fastest growing the western outskirts have visibly expanded since the first edition of this guide was published in 1994."

The three largest ethnic groups reported in Bahir Dar Special Zone were the Amhara (96.23%), the Tigrayan (1.11%), and the Oromo (1.1%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.56% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 96.78%, and 1.01% spoke Oromiffa; the remaining 2.21% spoke all other primary languages reported. The 1994 national census reported a total population for Bahir Dar of 96,140 in 20,857 households, of whom 45,436 were men and 50,704 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in the city were the Amhara (93.21%), the Tigrayan (3.98%), and the Oromo (0.7%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.11% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.52%, and 2.93% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.55% spoke all other primary languages reported.

In 2007 census 89.72% of the population said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 8.47% were Muslim, and 1.62% were Protestants.

The 1994 national census reported 87.53% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 11.47% of the population said they were Muslim.

The Ethiopian Catholics, who practice the Alexandrian Rite in Geez language, have a cathedral in the city, which is the episcopal see since 2015 of the Ethiopic Catholic Diocese of Bahir Dar–Dessie, one of the suffragan eparchies (dioceses) of the Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, a Metropolitanate sui juris.

he city offers a small daily market and a very extensive weekly market. There are some music clubs in the city.

The Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat) are located about 30 km to the south. Nowadays the amount of water running through the falls is being reduced and regulated, since the construction of a hydroelectric power dam. Nevertheless, the Blue Nile Falls are still one of the main tourist attractions of Bahir Dar, especially during the rainy season when the water level rises and the falls become greater.

Bahir Dar is home to a number of universities and colleges. The most prominent of all is the Bahir Dar University, which projects an enrollment of over 40,000 students in the academic year beginning in October 2012. Bahir Dar University is home to more than 40,000 students. Emperor Haile Sellasie inaugurated the Technical School in Bahir Dar University on 11 June 1963.

As part of political initiatives and development efforts in Africa, renewed interest in the higher education in Ethiopia has been the focus of partnerships between governmental and private funders. The Ethiopian university system has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" systems in the twenty-first century.

Bahir Dar University, one of the largest universities in Ethiopia, has an enrollment of 45,000 students in 65 undergraduate and 67 graduate programs. A Council of Ministers regulation combined the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College in 2000 to establish the university. Supporting the country’s objective to attain a "middle income status" by 2025, a research priority has produced eleven research centers. within the university.

As part of the US AID objective IR 3.2: Improved workforce skills development, an identified strategy of enhancing "... university partnerships with U.S. Universities to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian Universities." Primary and secondary education goals are supported by the university through teacher education programs designed to improve literacy rates, supporting employment and higher education opportunities for citizens. Degrees in science and health support the effort to address Ethiopia’s inclusion as one of 57 countries on the health workforce crisis list.

Alkan University College is located in Bahir Dar. The Institute of Land Administration was founded and located in Bahir Dar in 2006.

Air transportation in Bahir Dar is served by the Bahir Dar Airport, also known as Belay Zeleke Airport; it has paved runways. Ethiopian Airlines operates daily flights through the facility, linking Bahir Dar with the capital, as well as with Gondar to the northwest. In December 2014 a new domestic airline TNA started flights to Bahir Dar but only on Mondays and Fridays.

Additionally, the city is also connected through roads (and buslines) to these cities. The most common and convenient way of traveling in Bahir Dar is cycling. Auto rickshaws and share taxis also provide transportation in the city. Intercity bus service is provided by the Selam Bus Line Share Company, Abay Bus s.c, Ethio Bus s.c and Sky Bus Transport System which operates daily to and from the capital.

THE END OF ABIY MIGHT BE SOONER THAN YOU THOUGHT

Ethiopia's new disguising tyrant PM—Abiy Ahmed—facing a number of backlashes in the capital. 

Immediately after getting the nomination of the regime as the PM of Ethiopia—Abiy Ahmed—Ethiopia's incumbent head of the tyrant regime, altered leadership positions in the bodies of the Ethiopian government. These changes in leadership positions —though heavily branded as reforms —are riffled with outright racism, over-representation of ethnic Oromos and under-representation of ethnic Amhars in clear demographical constitutiencies( for instance , in the capital); and backlashes, conflict of interests and tyranny, among others.

Evident instances of such cases, to mention, but a few, are :

A) The nomination by tyrant Abiy of a mayor for Washa-Mikael ( Addis Ababa) city straight out of the capital—Takele Umma, who by birth, culture and residence is from another part of the country, and didn't have an Addis city resident ID until he, illegally, was handpicked to become the mayor —bypassing the official, elected, city council ; and thousands of Addis Abebians capable of taking the position.
B)The subsequent filling up of the Washa-Mikael city cabinet by hand picked Oromos who represent only 19% of the population of the capital while under-representing ethnic Amharas who represent over 65% of the population of the city.
C) The over extension of the election for a new mayor.
D) The swift implementation of decisions that will affect the city for a long term, without a popular consent, such as making 30 hectares of land available to investors from Middle East; altering as to what sort of information must be specified in the Addis Abebian's ID(removing origin of birth); and interfering in the business, culture and finances of the Washa-Mikael city, among others.
E)The mass issuing of Washa-Mikael City ID to Oromos living outside of the Washa-Mikael City Administrative region.
F) The mass gunning down of the youth of Washa-Mikael who went out to demonstrate against what they —according to sucessive protests carried out under the leadership of Abiy Ahmed, PM , and Takele Umma, enforced intruding Mayor —say is transition to yet another authoritarian regime in Addis, among others.
G)The dissmesal of competent Addis Abebian Amhara and Gurage media professionals from Addis Ababa City Mass Media Agency; and the filling up of the corrosponing positions by ethnic Oromos who are less qualified, and are niether from Addis nor advocating for the residents of the Washa-Mikael city.
H) Spending city money on Takele affilated hotels outside of Addis Ababa, in the Oromia reigion
I) The superession of the voices of the residents of the city of Addis by the same city media that over hypes the enforced Mayor, and dissemenating confilicting political issues that doesn't represnt the people of Addis, but those who want to intrude the city, instead.
J) A number of Addis Abebians who went to express their anger towards the nomination of a Mayor who has been advocating againest the poeple of Addis —and who shamelessely has filled the city cabinate with thos who don't advocate for, and doesn't refelect a just reprentation of the resident of Addis—have gone to addis city media to express thier opionon, only to be denied acess to media.

K) Takele Umma is over-representing Addis city Police, and many institutions in the town with Oromos at the moment.
L) Takel Umma is exerciseing the agenda of Oromo nationalist, who are againest the people of Addis.
M)Takele Umma, who after illegally being assigned as a Mayor by tyrant PM Abiy Ahmed has been displacing a number of Addis Abebas on the background while falsely hyping himself as an elected Mayor of Addis on regime’s controlled city media notorious for repressing the voice of Addis Abebians
N)Furthermore, under the watch of Takele Umma, Addis Abeba youth who went out to demonstrate against the nomination of a Mayor— Takele Umma— who is notorious for advocating against the people of Addis, bypassing the city council , were shot dead and put in prison few weeks after Takele was intruded from another part of the country in to Addis Abeba as a Mayor tyrantely.

Background of the city of Addis

Demographical and/or religious backslash

As a chartered city, or indipendent region, Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state. Although all Ethiopian ethnic groups are represented in Addis Ababa , there is a clear religious and ethnic divide in the city with the Amhara (67.04%), Oromo (19.00%), Gurage (16.34%), Tigrayan (5.18%), Silt'e (2.94%), and Gamo (1.68%). And, languages spoken in the city include Amharic (90.0%), Oromiffa (10.7%), Gurage (8.37%), Tigrinya (3.60%), Silt'e (1.82%) and Gamo (1.03%). With attendance to the church at 90%, about 85% of the population of Addis declare themselves as Christians. The denomination with the most believers in Addis Ababa, with 74.7% of the population, is the Ethiopian Orthodox church, while 16.2% are Muslim, 7.77% Protestant, and 0.48% Catholic, according to census 2007.

"The disposed TPLF regime installed administrative regimes which weren't only un-elected democratically, but also handpicked the most hostile, disrespectful and ruthless intruders as mayors of Addis. And, now, Abiy Ahmed is persisting on the same culture tyrantley," said Ahmed Bedrue, a businessman in Merkato.

Ethnic Backlash :

Ethnic Oromos make up only less than 19% of the population and taxpayers of Addis Ababa. As a result, the Amharas —who represent 67% of the population and tax payers of the capital—are lamenting of an outright tyranny architected by PM Abiy Ahmed which by all means necessary must not be tolerated any more.

"There is a lot of premium hype internationally that Ethiopia has transitioned to democracy. Can anybody explain as to what isn't tyranny to the people of Addis, " said Mekonen Amare, a financial manager born in Addis.

Political Backlash :

Tyrant Abiy Ahmed would like to incorporate —and has already officially begun processing his vision for the annexation of the independent region of Addis Ababa into Oromia—and take control of the city that produces 50% of the GDP of the country against the will of the city population.

The implementation of the awkward process began when handpicking a non-Addis Abebian renown for advocating for the suppression of the basic rights of the people of Addis on record as a Mayor of the city he campaigned against, bypassing the city council and potential in-city candidates.

"It isn't uncommon to watch the diatribe of dishonest and dellusioned Oromo activists and politicians —who don't know, or has never lived in the capital —make a blatant case that the community of the people of Addis Ababa must keep quiet, accept being repressed like before, or else could be intruded by horsemen," said Fire Weldehana, a college lecturer born and raised in Addis.

"It's insane and rediculious that they come from Ambo, or Arsi, or Gelemso, and make a case that they have to rule over the peope of Addis"

"We aren't afraid of being invaded. Because, we're too, too, many to count in Addis. We'll go, and get them where they are instead. We are thinking about liberating our brothers and sisters in Nazreth and Debreziet, instead, not about the stupid propoganda of those who cound't develop thier own cities. Gelemso and Welega, among others, are wating to be developed by Jewar and etll. " Fire continued with smile.

The immanence of a stupid, insane, horizontal political virus carried by ODP is nothing new. And, it could ultimatley get in trouble. Addis voted against the incumbent TPLF regime and its cronies in May 2005 unanimously. Unable to deny the clear message, regime resorted to nullifying the vote of Addis Abebians by the fist of iron. Addis Abeba(Washa-Mikael) Police, which refused to gun down protestors in May 2005, was ordered to get disarmed, and was put under the late tyrant PM Meles Zenawi's command authocratically. And, lingering in the memory of many Addis Abebians, is that Police from the neighboring Oromia region who don't speak Amharic were brought in to the scene of the protest under the leadership of the current foreign minister, among others, and, as a result, hundreds of Addis Abebians were shot dead and imprisoned.

Addis Ababa and its people's sense of community, religious rituals, culture, language, and accent existed before the creation of any of the states of the federal government of Ethiopia. And, still, there is a clear administrative, legal, political, cultural and linguistics boundary/difference between 'Addis Ababa administrative region' and 'Oromia administrative region'. If we have to make analogy in terms of culture, language and religion , Addis has a lot more in common with the Amhara regional state than any other. And, many, wonder as to why Addis wasn't part of the Amhara regional state as opposed to being an indipendent region, region 14, in the first palce.

Historical backlash:

"Washa Mikael, a rock-hewn semi-monolithic church in the heart of Addis Ababa was destroyed when Islamic ethnic Oromos expanded with the help of Ottoman Turks couple of hundered years a go," according to tangible archeological facts.

"It’s surprising that many Oromo activists and intellectuals deny Oromo expansion, let alone Ethiopia's verified and validated history of judial christianity from the 4th century"


Budget Backlash :

With millions of its residents living way below the national poverty level, Addis Abeba pays for the budget of the Ethiopian government for the most part. And, adding fuel to the already existing sentiment in the town —being administered by non-Addis Abebians for over decades, and totalitarian suppression of its residents, among others — the current regime, put in place by Abiy Ahmed, is misusing the remaining fund of the city, even after Addis' generous support to the Federal government, jeopardizing the very living standards of its residents.

Environmental Backlash :

Addis Ababa isn't just only a community, city, and home to its residents, but also a hub for HQs such as African Union, EU, the Federal Government of Ethiopia, and a number of private and international organizations. This, undoubtedly, has affected the environmental safety and wellbeing of the residents of Addis , with 70% of 'city waste' accounted by institutions keeping the country running.

"Addis Abeba, as it's providing so much benefit to the rest of the country politically and economicall while getting Addis Abebians to melt like candle, is affected by environmental pollution, but the nearest , neighboring , Oromia regional state was reluctant to provide a small plot of land for processing waste from the city which can't process its wastes otherwise, as a result of its service orientation to the need of the country: carrying all these orgniazations " continued Mekonen.

This is happening at a time when many families were displaced from Dembel-Olompiya Area to make a plot of land for Oromia Media Complex.

Tenkir Teka, a public servant in Addis Abeba public administration, said: " There was a time when water project aimed at responding to the needs of the city of Addis was delayed for a long as a result of a deliberate badwill for co-cooperation with the neighboring Oromia regional state. ODP officials infiltrated, or illegally imposed, in the administration of the chartered city of Addis in conjuction with thier clicks in the neighboring Oromia regional state have been circumventing a number of projects out of Addis Abeba” added Mekonen.

The atrocities happening on the people of Addis, at this very momoent, is enormious. Protests across the streets of Addis are inevitable.

Will tyrant Abiy Ahmed show his balls, ask apology to the people of Addis, and walk back the wrong steps taken; and put in place an Addis Abebian Amhara , such as Dagmawit Moges, as a full mayor, so as to stop the mischief going on by Takele on the background and conform to the virture of representation, instead ?

One thing is clear : Addis Abebians are fed up with Abiy Ahmed acting, faking, talking, only taking, acting, faking, or only showing up to talk, but never, ever, listening to the majority of the residets , or the tax payers, of Addis Ababa( Washa-Mikael) city.

By Mikael Arage
Washa-Mikael(ancient name of Addis Ababa), Ethiopia

Ethiopian Women

Ethiopian Women 

There have been several studies concerning women in Ethiopia. Historically, elite women in Ethiopia have been visible as administrators and warriors. This never translated into any benefit to improve the rights of women, but it had meant that women could inherit and own property, and act as advisors on important communal matters. As late as the first part of the nineteenth century, Queen Menen, consort of Emperor Iyasu IV, had a decisive role in running the Ethiopian Empire. Workit and Mestayit regents to their minor sons have been held responsible for their provinces. They owed their rights to landed property because of a special type of land tenure that expected tenants to serve as militia to overlords, irrespective of gender. In 1896, Empress Tayetu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, actively advised the government and participated in defending the country from Italian invasion. Prominent and other landowning women fought against the second invasion in 1935-41. Thanks to European advisors, women in the ensuing period were kept out of the army and politics, even as advisors. Instead, they were restricted to family and household work of raising children and cooking. With a steady increase in female representation in education, they have started to undertake nursing, teaching and similar other supportive roles.Over 2018-2019 period their gradual participation in state politics has been increasing pace.

As in other traditional societies, in Ethiopia a woman's worth is measured in terms of her role both as a mother and wife. Over 85 percent of Ethiopian women reside in rural areas, where households are engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture. In the countryside, women are integrated into the rural economy, which is often labor-intensive and exacts a heavy physical toll on all, including children. The Ethiopian Revolution had little impact on the lives of rural women. Land reform did not change their socioeconomic status, which was anchored in deep-rooted traditional values and beliefs. An improvement in economic conditions would improve the standard of living of women, but lasting change would also require a transformation in the attitudes of government officials and men regarding the roles of women.

In urban areas, women have greater access to education, health care and employment outside the home. In 1976, around 40 percent of employed women in urban areas worked in the service sector, mainly in hotels, restaurants, and bars. A few women with higher education also found professional employment. Employment in production and related areas (such as textiles and food processing) accounted for 25 percent of the female work force, followed by sales, which accounted for about 11 percent. The survey also found that women factory workers in Addis Ababa earned about a quarter of the wages men earned for the same type of work. These differences existed despite a 1975 proclamation stipulating equal pay for equal work for men and women.

Following the Ethiopian Revolution, women made some gains in economic and political areas. The Revolutionary Ethiopian Women's Association (REWA), which claimed a membership of over 5 million, took an active part in educating women. It encouraged the creation of women's organizations in factories, local associations, and in the civil service. Some women participated in local organizations and in peasant associations and kebeles. However, the role of women was limited at the national level. In 1984, for example, the government selected only one woman as a full member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia. Of the 2,000 delegates who attended the party's inaugural congress in 1984, only 6 percent were women.

Under the Derg regime, the enrollment of girls in primary and secondary schools increased from about 32 percent in 1974/75 to 39 percent in 1985/86. The enrollment rate among girls in urban areas far exceeded that of girls in rural areas. The adult literacy rate also rose to 60 percent following a nationwide educational campaign. After the Derg's ouster, the adult literacy rate dropped to around 39 percent as of 2007; 28.9% for females and 49.1% for males. In response, the Ministry of Education launched a new educational campaign, which targets an eventual literacy rate of 95 percent and aims to educate 17 million adults.

As of 2008-2009, there was a steady increase in general enrollment and a decrease in gender disparity in access to education. The average annual growth rate of enrollment in all levels education was 27.2 percent for females and 33.7 percent for males, with an average annual growth rate of 29.7 percent for girls in Kindergarten, 13.4 percent for girls in primary school, 30.8 percent for girls in secondary school, 14.5 percent for women in TVET, and 21.4 percent for women in higher education.

After the formation of the Federal Republic in 1995, the Ministry of Women's Affairs was also established. As of October 2009, Muferiat Kamil serves as the Minister.

Women's health

The total fertility rate as of 2014 is 5.23 children born/woman.Although most women do not traditionally use contraception, there has been a marked increase in contraceptive use. Between 2000 and 2011, contraceptive prevalence increased from 8.2% to 28.6%. As of 2010, the maternal mortality is 350 deaths/100,000 live births.

The HIV/AIDS rate for both genders was estimated at 1.3% in 2012. More women are infected than men, and infections among women are partly due to their often lower socioeconomic status. Since sex between spouses is traditionally regarded as an obligation, the UNFPA argues that married women are at a greater risk of contracting HIV as they have less control over the frequency and nature of such relations.

Violence against women

An UN analysis of several international studies suggests that domestic violence against women is most prevalent in Ethiopia. Sexual violence is also reportedly common.Article 620 of the 2004 Criminal Code of Ethiopia, defines rape differently as compelled "sexual intercourse outside wedlock". Article 53 of the 2000 Revised Family Code of Ethiopia also stipulates that "they [the wife and husband] shall have with one another the sexual relations normal in marriage unless these relations involve a risk of seriously prejudicing their health".

This is interpreted as rendering marital rape a legally impossible concept. In a 2005 WHO study, 59% of women reported lifetime sexual abuse by a partner, while one third of women reported that during the past 12 months they were physically forced to have sex against their will with their partner. This was the highest prevalence of all countries surveyed.

Female genital mutilation

As of 2005, 74.3% of women aged 15 – 49 years had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). The pre-marital custom is mainly endemic to Northeast Africa and parts of the Near East and has its ultimate origins in Ancient Egypt. Although legally proscribed under Articles 565 and 566 of the 2004 Penal Code, the procedure is still widely practiced, as it is deeply ingrained in the local culture. Encouraged and performed by women in the community, circumcision is primarily intended to deter promiscuity and to offer protection from assault.

Bride kidnapping

Bride kidnapping is practiced by certain communities in Ethiopia, mainly in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR). According to surveys conducted in 2003 by the National Committee on Traditional Practices in Ethiopia, the custom's prevalence rate in the SNNPR was estimated at 92 percent. The 2004 Criminal Code criminalizes this practice, as well as other forms of abuse of women, such as child marriage, trafficking and sexual harassment, at Chapter III – Crimes Committed against life, person and health through harmful traditional practices (Articles 561–570) and also by other provisions (Articles 587, 597, 625, 635, 637, 648). Wife-beating is also illegal: Article 564 – Violence Against a Marriage Partner or a Person Cohabiting in an Irregular Union.

The 2014 gang rape and death of Hanna Lalango, as well as several other contemporaneous high-profile sexual assaults, prompted outrage from women in Ethiopia and internationally. The Yellow Movement was founded as a response to encourage women to speak out against sexual violence.

Gender equality has been a problem in Ethiopia for decades but has had an improvement over the past three years since when Mulatu Teshome became president. he USAID is one of the worldwide countries that have done a lot in promoting women in Ethiopia and giving them an opportunity to live a better life without discrimination. Other international organizations working with Ethiopia include All African Women For Peace (AAWP) and many others part of the UN keeping their focus on advancing the participation of women in peacemaking and strive to stop early marriages and gender-based violence. In addition to the international help and participation, the Ethiopian government has also created some organizations such as the Ethiopian Women Association (EWA) which mainly focuses on stopping some dangerous cultural practises done against women and girls like FGM which involves removing some parts of their private parts and promoting their economic, social and legal rights.

Local organizations such the Women Fight in Harar, a small city in Ethiopia have been trying to fight any parents who keep their from school and putting shame to men who attack, rape or try to rape girls and women. Furthermore, Ethiopian girls and women’s struggles and problems are mostly associated with social acceptance, access to education and child or forced marriages. To many, it seems the tragedy begins immediately when they are born because when a mother gives birth to a baby girl, the baby is considered as something unwanted but celebrations are made when a baby boy is born. Being regarded as vulnerable, parents give various excuses to keep their daughters at home doing housework instead of going to school.

A school age girl won’t be allowed to attend school with an excuse that she may be raped, abducted or harmed on the way to school. While boys are considered strong enough to protect themselves from any attack or harm. Girls can’t choose when and who to get married to. “Either the parents will choose the bride, or the groom will marry the girl of his choice” (Womankind). A woman who is a victim of rape will face humiliation starting from the police. Rape is not taken seriously and hence men are seen committing several atrocious violence against women, especially in villages.

Gondar City

Gondar City 

Gondar is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Tana Lake on the Lesser Angereb River and southwest of the Simien Mountains. It has a latitude and longitude of 12°36′N 37°28′E with an elevation of 2133 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the Gondar Zuria woreda. Gondar served as a strong Christian kingdom for many years.

Gondar previously served as the capital of both the Ethiopian Empire and the subsequent Begemder Province. The city holds the remains of several royal castles, including those in Fasil Ghebbi (the Royal Enclosure), for which Gondar has been called the "Camelot of Africa".

Until the 16th century, the Solomonic Emperors of Ethiopia usually had no fixed capital town, but instead lived in tents in temporary royal camps as they moved around their realms while their family, bodyguard and retinue devoured surplus crops and cut down nearby trees for firewood. One exception to this rule was Debre Berhan, founded by Zara Yaqob in 1456; Tegulet in Shewa was also essentially the capital during the first century of Solomonic rule. Gondar was founded by Emperor Fasilides around the year 1635, and grew as an agricultural and market town. There was a superstition at the time that the capital's name should begin with the letter 'Gʷa' (modern pronunciation 'Gʷe'; Gonder was originally spelt Gʷandar), which also contributed to Gorgora's (founded as Gʷargʷara) growth in the centuries after 1600. Tradition also states that a buffalo led the Emperor Fasilides to a pool beside the Angereb, where an "old and venerable hermit" told the Emperor he would locate his capital there. Fasilides had the pool filled in and built his castle on that same site.^[5] The emperor also built a total of seven churches; the first two, Fit Mikael and Fit Abbo, were built to end local epidemics.The five emperors who followed him also built their palaces in the town.

16th Century

Beginning with Emperor Menas in 1559, the rulers of Ethiopia began spending the rainy season near Lake Tana, often returning to the same location each year. These encampments, which flourished as cities for a short time, include Emfraz, Ayba, Gorgora and Dankaz.

17th Century

In 1668, as a result of a church council, the Emperor Yohannes I ruled that the inhabitants of Gondar were to be segregated by religion. This caused the Muslims to move into their own quarter, Islamge (Amharic: እስላምጌ, "Islam place," or "Islam country") or Islam Bayt (እስላምቤት"House of Islam," lit. "Islam house"), within two years. This quarter came to be known as Addis Alem (Amharic for "New World").

During the seventeenth century, the city's population is estimated to have exceeded 60,000. Many of the buildings from this period survive, despite the turmoil of the eighteenth century. By the reign of Iyasu the Great, Gondar had acquired a sense of community identity; when the Emperor called upon the inhabitants to decamp and follow him on his campaign against the Oromo in Damot and Gojjam, as had the court and subjects of earlier emperors, they refused. Although Gondar was by any definition a city, it was not a melting pot of diverse traditions, nor Ethiopia's window to the larger world, according to Donald Levine. "It served rather as an agent for the quickened development of the Amhara's own culture. And thus it became a focus of national pride... not as a hotbed of alien custom and immorality, as they often regar Addis Ababa today, but as the most perfect embodiment of their traditional values." As Levine elaborates in a footnote, it was an orthogenetic pattern of development, as distinguished from an heterogenetic one.

19th Century

The town served as Ethiopia's capital until Tewodros II moved the Imperial capital to Magadala upon being crowned Emperor in 1855; Tewodros II plundered and burnt the city in 1864, then devastated it again in December, 1866. Abdallahi ibn Muhammad sacked Gondar when he invaded Ethiopia June 1887. Gondar was ravaged again on 23 January in the next year, when Sudanese invaders set fire to almost every one of the city's churches.

20th Century

After the military occupation of Ethiopia by the Kingdom of Italy in 1936, Gondar was further developed under Italian occupation,^[14] and the Comboni missionaries established in 1937 the Latin Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of Gondar, which would be suppressed after its only prefect's death in 1951.

During the Second World War, Mussolini's Italian forces made their last stand in Gondar in November 1941, after Addis Ababa fell to British forces six months before. The area of Gondar was one of the main centers of activity of Italian guerrilla against the British forces until summer 1943.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, the forces of the Ethiopian Democratic Union gained control of large parts of Begemder, and during parts of 1977 operated within a few kilometers of Gondar, and appeared to be at the point of capturing the city. As part of Operation Tewodros near the end of the Civil War, Gondar was captured by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front in March 1991.

Gondar traditionally was divided into several neighborhoods or quarters: Addis Alem, where the Muslim inhabitants dwelled; Kayla Meda, where the adherents of Beta Israel lived; Abun Bet, centered on the residence of the Abuna, or nominal head of the Ethiopian Church; and Qagn Bet, home to the nobility.^[18] Gondar is also a noted center of ecclesiastical learning of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and known for having 44 churches – for many years more than any other settlement in Ethiopia. Gondar and its surrounding countryside constitute the homeland of most Ethiopian Jews.

The modern city of Gondar is popular as a tourist destination for its many picturesque ruins in Fasil Ghebbi (the Royal Enclosure), from which the emperors once reigned. The most famous buildings in the city lie in the Royal Enclosure, which include Fasilides' castle, Iyasu's palace, Dawit's Hall, a banqueting hall, stables, Empress Mentewab's castle, a chancellery, library and three churches. Near the city lie Fasilides' Bath, home to an annual ceremony where it is blessed and then opened for bathing; the Qusquam complex, built by Empress Mentewab; the eighteenth century Ras Mikael Sehul's Palace and the Debre Berhan Selassie Church.

Downtown Gondar shows the influence of the Italian occupation of the late 1930s. The main piazza features shops, a cinema, and other public buildings in a simplified Italian Moderne style still distinctively of the period despite later changes and, frequently, neglect. Villas and flats in the nearby quarter that once housed occupation officials and colonists are also of interest.

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Gondar had a total population of 207,044, of whom 98,120 were men and 108,924 women. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 84.2% reporting that as their religion, while 11.8% of the population said they were Muslim and 1.1% were Protestant.

The 1994 national census reported a total population of 112,249 in 21,695 households, of whom 51,366 were men and 60,883 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Gondar Zuria were the Amhara (88.91%), the Tigrayan (6.74%), and the Qemant (2.37%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.98% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 94.57%, and 4.67% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 0.76% spoke all other primary languages reported. 83.31% adhered to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 15.83% of the population said they were Muslim. Gondar was once the home of a large population of Ethiopian Jews, most of whom immigrated to Israelin the late 20th and early 21st century, including the current Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Belaynesh Zevadia.

Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar City.

Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar is the former capital of Gojjam province and the current capital of the Amhara Regional State in Ethiopia. Administratively, Bahir Dar is a Special Zone. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The city is known for its wide avenues lined with palm trees and a variety of colorful flowers. In 2002 it was awarded the UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.

Originally the settlement was called Bahir Giyorgis. In the 19th century, Bahir Dar was visited by Belgian, French, British and Italian travelers, who described it alternatively as a village or a town.The Italian traveller Mario Alamanni (1891) estimated its population between 1,200 and 1,600.

During the early 20th century, the British, desiring to construct a barrage at the outlet of Lake Tana, dispatched several study teams, such as those of Dupis (1902), Grabham and Black (1920-21) and Cheesman (1926-34).In 1930 the Ethiopian Government sent to Bahir Dar its own team of experts, who described Bahir Dar as a village with considerable trading activity, with a population from the interior as well as from Lake Tana ports such as Zege. At this time Bahir Dar was characterized by various traditional settlement areas, each of which was distinguished by the social position its members occupied. The kahenat (clergy) and balabbat communities were the most important. In addition, three groups of tenant-craftsman communities, tanners, Muslims weavers and the Weyto stone-mill grinders, lived on balabbat lands. Although all were economically interdependent, there was no intermarriage between the tenant communities or between them and the balabbat and kahenat.

In 1936, Bahir Dar was occupied by the Italians, who gave it modern urban features. Abolishing communal family ownership of land, they instituted private ownership. Alienating the balabbats from their rist, the allocated land for administration, the army, an airstrip and port facilities. New residential and commercial zones were demarcated. Bahir Dar was connected by motor-boats with other Lake Tana ports and by motor roads with Gonder, Debre Marqos and Addis Ababa. The physical and social appearance of Bahir Dar was considerably changed. New settlement patterns emerged: and Italian camp, a Muslim community and a Weyto quarter, while the tanners' quarter remained unaffected. Bahir Dar became a melting-pot of different people and cultures. In the commercial zone, different types of shops, tea-rooms, tailor shops, bars and restaurants run by Italians, Arabs, Somalis and Sudanese made their first appearance. Ethiopian participation in this realm was insignificant.

The Italians gave Bahir Dar political importance making it the administrative center of the Lake Tana southern territories. They also showed interest in the possibility of developing the Lake Tana and Blue Nile basic agriculturally and of exploiting their waters for hydroelectric power. In 1941, the Ethiopian Government was reinstated. It made Bahir Dar a capital, first at a sub-district and then at a district level. Various offices and public services were set up. In 1945 Bahir Dar was raised to the status of a municipality. In the early 1950s, it was considered to be the best site selected for the construction of an alternative capital of Ethiopia.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bahir Dar grew rapidly, being the capital of the awrajja by the same name in the Gojjam province. The central government developed it as a market and transportation center of the economic growth of Lake Tana and the Blue Nile basin. A comprehensive master plan, with the new zoning, was prepared by German experts. Its implementation changed completely the physical appearance of Bahir Dar, which grew as a center of industrial and economic development. It was provided with a water-supply, hydroelectric power, improved lake-port facilities, the Abbay bridge, textile mills, a hospital and institutions of higher education which now form Bahir Dar University.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, May 1988 the 603rd corp of the Third Revolutionary Army (TLA) made its headquarters at Bahir Dar. On 3–4 March 1990, the TLA abandoned Bahir Dar in disarray, blowing up the nearby bridge with several hundred soldiers which stopped the TPLF/EPRDF forces from occupying the city. However, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) claimed they had too few effectives in the area to capture the town at that time, and the Derg army reoccupied Bahir Dar a few days later.The EPRDF gained permanent control of the city around 1810 hours on 23 February 1991, as one of the objectives of Operation Tewodros. In the 1990s Bahir Dar experienced remarkable growth and expansion. It has become the capital of the Amhara National State. The country's free-market economic policy has encouraged investment and other market potentialities. Today Bahir Dar is not only a center of administration, but also a nucleus of commerce, industry, transport, communication, health, education and tourism.

Bahir Dar is located at the exit of the Abbay from Lake Tana at an altitude of 1,820 metres (5,970 ft) above sea level.The city is located approximately 578 km north-northwest of Addis Ababa. The Lake Tana region is a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve since 2015.

Bahir Dar has a borderline tropical savanna climate, very close to a subtropical highland climate. Afternoon temperatures are very warm to hot year-round, and morning temperatures cool; however, the diurnal range is much larger in the largely cloudless dry season.

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Bahir Dar Special Zone has a total population of 221,991, of whom 108,456 are men and 113,535 women; 180,174 or 81.16% are urban inhabitants, the rest of population are living at rural kebeles around Bahir Dar. At the town of Bahir Dar there are 155,428 inhabitants; the rest of urban population is living at Meshenti, Tis Abay and Zege towns which are part of Bahir Dar Special Zone. As Philip Briggs notes, Bahir Dar "is not only one of the largest towns in Ethiopia, but also one of the fastest growing – the western outskirts have visibly expanded since the first edition of this guide was published in 1994."

The three largest ethnic groups reported in Bahir Dar Special Zone were the Amhara (96.23%), the Tigrayan (1.11%), and the Oromo (1.1%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.56% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 96.78%, and 1.01% spoke Oromiffa; the remaining 2.21% spoke all other primary languages reported. The 1994 national census reported a total population for Bahir Dar of 96,140 in 20,857 households, of whom 45,436 were men and 50,704 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in the city were the Amhara (93.21%), the Tigrayan (3.98%), and the Oromo (0.7%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.11% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.52%, and 2.93% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.55% spoke all other primary languages reported.
In 2007 census 89.72% of the population said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 8.47% were Muslim, and 1.62% were Protestants.

The 1994 national census reported 87.53% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 11.47% of the population said they were Muslim.

The Ethiopian Catholics, who practice the Alexandrian Rite in Geez language, have a cathedral in the city, which is the episcopal see since 2015 of the Ethiopic Catholic Diocese of Bahir Dar–Dessie, one of the suffragan eparchies (dioceses) of the Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, a Metropolitanate sui juris.

The city offers a small daily market and a very extensive weekly market. There are some music clubs in the city.

The Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat) are located about 30 km to the south. Nowadays the amount of water running through the falls is being reduced and regulated, since the construction of a hydroelectric power dam. Nevertheless, the Blue Nile Falls are still one of the main tourist attractions of Bahir Dar, especially during the rainy season when the water level rises and the falls become greater.

Bahir Dar is home to a number of universities and colleges. The most prominent of all is the Bahir Dar University, which projects an enrollment of over 40,000 students in the academic year beginning in October 2012. Bahir Dar University is home to more than 40,000 students. Emperor Haile Sellasie inaugurated the Technical School in Bahir Dar University on 11 June 1963.

As part of political initiatives and development efforts in Africa, renewed interest in the higher education in Ethiopia has been the focus of partnerships between governmental and private funders. The Ethiopian university system has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" systems in the twenty-first century.

Bahir Dar University, one of the largest universities in Ethiopia, has an enrollment of 45,000 students in 65 undergraduate and 67 graduate programs. A Council of Ministers regulation combined the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College in 2000 to establish the university. Supporting the country’s objective to attain a "middle income status" by 2025, a research priority has produced eleven research centers. within the university.

As part of the US AID objective IR 3.2: Improved workforce skills development, an identified strategy of enhancing "... university partnerships with U.S. Universities to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian Universities." Primary and secondary education goals are supported by the university through teacher education programs designed to improve literacy rates, supporting employment and higher education opportunities for citizens.Degrees in science and health support the effort to address Ethiopia’s inclusion as one of 57 countries on the health workforce crisis list.

Alkan University College is located in Bahir Dar. The Institute of Land Administration was founded and located in Bahir Dar in 2006.

Air transportation in Bahir Dar is served by the Bahir Dar Airport (ICAO code HABD and IATA BJR). Also known as Belay Zeleke Airport, it has paved runways. Ethiopian Airlines operates daily flights through the facility, linking Bahir Dar and the capital, as well as with Gondar to the northwest. In December 2014 a new domestic airline TNA started flights to Bahir Dar but only on Mondays and Fridays.

Additionally, the city is also connected through roads (and buslines) to these cities. The most common and convenient way of traveling in Bahir Dar is cycling. Auto rickshaws and share taxis also provide transportation in the city. Intercity bus service is provided by the Selam Bus Line Share Company, Abay Bus s.c, Ethio Bus s.c and Sky Bus Transport System which operates daily to and from the capital.