Āwuberē

Āw-Barre, also known as Teferi Ber, is a town in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Jijiga Zone of the Somali Region, near the Somali border on the main trade route between Jijiga and the sea. It is the administrative center of Awbere. It was one of the biggest towns of the Adal Empire. It is also known as The Gate of Fear, hence the name Teferi Ber. According to Ethiopian Christian folklore, this town was the only gateway that has caused fear for the Ethiopian Christian Kingdom.

The main trade route between Jijiga and the sea passes through Āwuberē; an ancient route to Zeila almost always went through Aw-Barre. In 1962 it was described as a dry weather road. The Ethiopian News Agency reported in early 1998 that much khat was illegally smuggled out of Ethiopia by this route.

When emperor Haile Selassie inspected the Western Somalia in 1935 prior to the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Haile Selassie made a secret two-day excursion to Āwuberē. The Italian Giuda described Āw-Barrē in 1938 as a Somali village with about 1,000 inhabitants, whose houses were partly built of masonry, and possessing a mosque; a little to the west of the village was the tomb of Shek Barek.

Awbere (woreda)

Awbere (Somali: Awbarre), (also known as Teferi Ber), is one of the woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Jijiga Zone, Awbere is bordered on the southwest by Jijiga, on the west by the Shinile Zone, on the east by Somalia, and on the southeast by Kebri Beyah. Towns in Awbere include Āwuberē, Derwonaji, Lefe Isa, and Sheed Dheer.

High points in this woreda include Sau (1863 meters), near the international border.

History

Due reports of a new wave of Somali refugees reaching Hart Sheik in late 2006, the Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs and the UNHCR together opened a new refugee camp at Awbere 13 July 2007. As of June 2012 13,553 individuals were resident at the camp, with a further 11,639 at the Sheed Dheer camp.

The Ethiopian De-mining Office reported in November 2008 that it had cleared land mines planted in Awbere as part of the four million square meters of land the office had cleared in the Somali Region.

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 339,503, of whom 187,090 are men and 152,413 women. While 39,750 or 11.71% are urban inhabitants, a further 26,555 or 7.82% are pastoralists. 99.97% of the population said they were Muslim. This woreda is primarily inhabited by the Gadabuursi clan of the Somali people.