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Coordinates: 12°08′N 39°39′E / 12.133°N 39.650°E / 12.133; 39.650
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{{short description|District in Amhara Region, Ethiopia}}
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'''Kobo''' ({{Lang-ti|ቆቦ}}) is a district ([[Districts of Ethiopia|woreda]]) currently in the [[Amhara Region]] of [[Ethiopia]]. Located in the northeast corner of the [[Semien Wollo Zone]], Kobo is bordered on the south by the [[Logiya River]] which separates it from [[Habru]] and [[Guba Lafto]], on the west by [[Gidan]], on the north by [[Tigray Region]], and on the east by the [[Afar Region]]. Towns in Kobo include [[Gobiye]], [[Kobo, Ethiopia|Kobo]] and Robit (Kobo Robit).
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Kobo
| official_name =
| other_name = Raya Kobo
| type = [[Woredas of Ethiopia|Woreda]]
| coordinates = {{coord|12|08|N|39|39|E|type:adm3rd_region:ET|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin_map = Ethiopia
| pushpin_label_position = bottom<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
| pushpin_mapsize =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia
| area_footnotes = <ref name=geohive>[http://www.geohive.com/cntry/ethiopia.aspx Geohive: Ethiopia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805184429/http://www.geohive.com/cntry/ethiopia.aspx |date=2012-08-05 }}</ref>
| area_total_km2 = 2,001.57
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_total = 244,046<ref name=geohive/>
| population_as_of = 2012 est.
| native_name = ራያ ቆቦ
| subdivision_type = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
| subdivision_name = {{flag|Ethiopia}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[Regions of Ethiopia|Region]]
| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Amhara|Region}}
| subdivision_type2 = [[List of zones of Ethiopia|Zone]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[North Wollo Zone]]
| image_map =
| image_skyline =
}}
⚫
'''Kobo''' or '''Raya Kobo''' ({{Langx|am|ራያ ቆቦ}}) is a [[Districts of Ethiopia|woreda]] in the [[Amhara Region]] of Ethiopia. Located in the northeast corner of the [[North Wollo Zone]], Kobo is bordered on the south by the [[Logiya River]] which separates it from [[Habru]] and [[Guba Lafto]], on the west by [[Gidan]], on the north by [[Tigray Region]], and on the east by the [[Afar Region]]. Towns in Kobo include [[Gobiye]], [[Kobo, Ethiopia|Kobo]] and Robit (Kobo Robit).


== History ==
== Overview ==
⚫
The landscape of this district is characterized by a broad fertile plain that is separated from the lowlands of the Afar Region by the Zobil mountains, which are over 2000 meters high. In general, the altitude of Kobo ranges from 1100 meters on the plains to slightly more than 3000 meters above sea level along the border with Gidan.<ref>Svein Ege, [http://www.svt.ntnu.no/ethiopia/c05xNorthWoloMap.pdf "North Wälo 1:100,000. Topographic and administrative map of North Wälo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718143143/http://www.svt.ntnu.no/ethiopia/c05xNorthWoloMap.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}. Trondheim, NTNU, 2002</ref> Kobo, as well as the other seven rural districts of this Zone, has been grouped amongst the 48 districts identified as the most drought prone and food insecure in the Amhara Region.<ref>Seid Yassin, [http://etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/bitstream/123456789/827/1/Seid%20Yassin.pdf "Small-Scale Irrigation and Household Food Security: A Case Study of Three Irrigation Schemes in Gubalafto Woreda of North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720153034/http://etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/bitstream/123456789/827/1/Seid%20Yassin.pdf |date=2011-07-20 }}, Master's Thesis, Graduate School of the University of Addis Ababa (June 2002), p. 35</ref> To combat increasing droughts and improve crop yields, two irrigation projects have been undertaken in this district by the Commission for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in the Amhara Region and the [[NGO]] [[Lutheran World Federation]], affecting 302 hectares and benefiting 1,017 households.<ref>Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation", p. 42</ref>
Kobo historically has always been mainly inhabited by [[Tigrayan]] people, and it has always been part of the old Tigray province governance (including during [[Yohannes IV]]'s reign). And before all this, it was part of [[Kingdom of Aksum|Kingdom of Axum]] where its capital city was [[Axum]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/KingdomOfAksum_TeachersNotes.pdf |title=The British Museum, "The wealth of Africa:- The kingdom of Aksum"}}</ref> However, at the mid of [[Haile Selassie]]'s rule of [[Ethiopia]] (on 1941 & 1943), Raya (Kobe & Azabo) and Welkait were taken away from the old Tigray state and they were given to [[Begemder]] and to [[Welo]] [[Provinces of Ethiopia|provinces]]. One of the reasons why Raya was given to Welo was because [[Haile Selassie]]'s son Crown Prince [[Amha Selassie]] was appointed as the governor of [[Welo]]. According to historical books & historical maps, [[Tigray Region|Tigray state]]'s south-eastern border has always been Alewha river (i.e. {{Lang-ti|አሉሃ ምላሽ}}), which includes [[Kobo (woreda)|Kobo district]] (also called Raya-Kobo) and [[Kobo, Ethiopia|Kobo town]]. However, [[Kobo (woreda)|Kobo district]] have not yet been returned to [[Tigray Region|Tigray state]].<ref name="BBC_Aloha_river">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/tigrinya/news-45626100 |title=BBC-News, "-ኢሳይያስ መቐለ ከይረኣየ ብምኻዱ ብጣዕሚ ኣሕዚኑኒ- ዶ/ር ሰሎሞን ዕንቋይ"}}</ref><ref name="Abrham_Aloha_river">{{Cite web|url=http://www.togoruba.org/togoruba1964/mainTogorubamap/mainMap/headingMap/2018/1207AB8-02AT.pdf |title=ኣብራሃም ብርሃነ, "ኣርካን፡ነጋድራስ ገብረሕይወት ባይከዳኝ፡ድሕሪ ሓደ ዘመን!"}}</ref>


⚫
The northern part of the Kobo district is traversed from west to southeast by the Hormat River. The river passes south of Zobil Mountains.
[[Welkait]] and some other provinces were given to [[Begemder]] since there was armed rebellion in Tigray against [[Haile Selassie]]'s rule, so it was part of the effort to divide and rule [[Tigrayans]]. Therefore, from 1943 until the [[1995 Constitution of Ethiopia|1995 constitution]] ratification, Raya was part of [[Welo]] [[Provinces of Ethiopia|province]]. Raya was then split into two parts once [[ethnic federalism]] was established in Ethiopia. One of the two parts which now turned to have an Amhara majority ([[Kobo (woreda)|Kobo woreda]]) went to the new Amhara Region, the other ([[Raya Azebo]]) which still had a majority of Tigrayans was returned to [[Tigray Region]] (like it was for most of the 3000 years history of Ethiopia that had Tigrayans-who are direct decedents of Axumits<ref>Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: A Civilization of Late Antiquity'' (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), pp. 57</ref>- <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/12012872/DMT_-_One_and_the_same_as_Queen_Yodits_Damot|title= Bernard Leeman, THE REALM OF D’MT - ONE AND THE SAME AS QUEEN YODIT’S DAMOT?}} </ref><ref name="Thurstan612">{{citation | last=Shaw | first=Thurstan | year=1995 | title=The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-11585-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TmUwjhQX-rcC&pg=PA612 | page= 612}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/KingdomOfAksum_TeachersNotes.pdf |title=The British Museum, "The wealth of Africa:- The kingdom of Aksum"}}</ref>; before [[Haile Selassie]] changed it on 1941/1943).<ref>Bereket Habte Selassie, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/744683 "Constitutional Development in Ethiopia", ''Journal of African Law''], '''10''' (1966), p. 79.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/id/1299/vaughanphd.pdf |title=Sarah Vaughan, "Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia", PhD dissertation, p. 123, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia Results for Tigray Region|last=|first=|publisher=Central Statistical Authority|year=1995|isbn=|volume=1|location=Addis Ababa|pages=70}}</ref>


⚫
The district Agriculture and Rural Development Office announced on 8 April 2007 that it was starting a program to improve the livelihood of district inhabitants, affecting 53,000 farmers. This would use 23.3 million [[Ethiopian birr|birr]] of Regional funds to develop basin and degraded mountains, construct all-weather roads and irrigation diversion canals, improve springs as well as various "water harvesting structures". A similar program initiated a few years previously led to a decline in the number of farmers migrating to the Afar Region, [[Djibouti]] and [[Sudan]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007234829/http://www.waltainfo.com/EnNews/2007/Apr/08Apr07/27213.htm "Woreda implementing over 23mln birr food security projects"] ([[Walta Information Center]])</ref>
The decline of the Tigrayan population in Ethiopia during [[Haile Selassie]]'s reign – in particular in districts of the former Tigray province, which are given to the present-day [[Amhara Region]], like [[Addi Arkay (woreda)]], [[Kobo (woreda)]] & [[Sanja (woreda)]] – is likely to have been as a result of Haile Selassie's suppression and systematic persecution against non-[[Amhara people|Amhara]] ethnic peoples of Ethiopia (in particular, his immense systematic persecution of [[Tigrayans]]). For example, on the 1958 famine of Tigray, Haile Selassie refused to send any significant basic emergency food aid to Tigray province despite having the resources to; as a consequence, over 100,000 people died of the famine (in Tigray province).<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.amazon.com/History-Ethiopia-1855-1974-Eastern-African/dp/0821409727 |title= Bahru Zewde, [London: James Currey, 1991], p. 196. "A History of Modern Ethiopia: 1855–1974"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf |title= Peter Gill, p.26 & p.27. "Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.amazon.com/Rural-Vulnerability-Famine-Ethiopia-1958-77/dp/0946688036 |title= Mesfin Wolde Mariam, "Rural Vulnerability to Famine in Ethiopia: 1958-77"}}</ref>


⚫
In December 2008, construction on a 2.5 kilometer [[flood wall]] was completed, which would protect hundreds of hectares of farmland from frequent flooding by the Dikalla river.<ref>[http://www.ena.gov.et/EnglishNews/2008/Dec/14Dec08/75517.htm "Flood wall worth over 6 mln Birr constructed"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212193532/http://www.ena.gov.et/EnglishNews/2008/Dec/14Dec08/75517.htm |date=2009-02-12 }}, [[Ethiopian News Agency]] (accessed 29 April 2009)</ref>
Later on, the [[Mengistu Haile Mariam]]-led brutal [[military dictatorship]] ([[Derg]]) also used the [[1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia]] as government policy (by restricting food supplies) for counter-insurgency strategy (against [[Tigray People's Liberation Front]] guerrilla-soldiers), and for "social transformation" in non-insurgent areas (against people of Tigray province, Welo province and such).{{sfn|de Waal|1991|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RcVFXUwraxsC&pg=PA4 4–6]}}{{sfn|Young|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=S9LX8UpI97MC&pg=PA132 132]}}<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf |title= Peter Gill, page.43 "Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid"}}</ref> Due to organized government policies that deliberately multiplied the effects of the famine, around '''1.2 million people died in''' Ethiopia from this famine where most of the death tolls were from '''Tigray province''' (and other parts of northern [[Ethiopia]]).<ref name="Ethiopia Since Live Aid">{{Cite web|url= https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf |title= Peter Gill, page.44 "Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid"}}</ref><ref name="Red Tears">{{Cite web|url= https://www.amazon.com/Red-Tears-Famine-Revolution-Ethiopia/dp/0932415342 |title=Dawit Wolde Giorgis, "Red Tears: War, Famine, and Revolution in Ethiopia"}}</ref>{{sfn|de Waal|1991|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RcVFXUwraxsC&pg=PA5 5]}}


==Timeline and history==
Since May 2018, different groups of youths in [[Amhara Region]] have started robbing food/grain loads from trucks heading to supply [[Tigray region]], in an effort to starve [[Tigrayans]] & further depopulate [[Tigray region]], as they claim. It is part of these [[Amhara people|Amhara]] youths' rhetoric to take away more lands from [[Tigray Region]] (especially from [[Welkait]] district & from [[Raya Azebo|Raya]] district). The youths are also blocking roads which lead to Tigray region, but the Amhara regional government and [[Abiy Ahmed|Abiy Ahmed Ali]]'s new federal government administration has turned a blind eye to their lawlessness. (Since June 2018, the Amhara state TV has even started echoing these rhetorics. Following these rhetorics, over 70,000 [[Tigrayans]] have been barbarically killed or displaced in Ethiopia, where the majority of these [[Tigrayan]] victims were in [[Amhara Region]].)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-displacement-tracking-matrix-dtm-tigray-region-round-14-november-december |title= International Organization for Migration, "Ethiopia: Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Tigray Region, Round 14: November – December 2018 - Summary of Key Findings"}}</ref>
Events are listed in a revers-chronological order.


===Civilian deaths during the 2021 Tigray War===
== Overview ==
During the [[Tigray War]], local residents reported that the [[Tigray Defense Forces]] (TDF) killed 600 civilians in Kobo on 9 September 2021.<ref name="voa20210920">{{Cite web|url=https://amharic.voanews.com/a/kobo-civilian-killings-9-20-2021/6236279.html|title=ቆቦ ውስጥ ስድስት መቶ ሰው እንደተገደለ ነዋሪዎች ተናገሩ|trans-title=Residents say 600 people have been killed in Kobo|quote=Residents told VOA by telephone that the TPLF militants, who were branded terrorists by the Ethiopian government, had killed more than 600 civilians in Kobo town and its environs and committed other serious human rights abuses.|website=[[Voice of America]]|language=am|date=20 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=25 September 2021 |title='Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters|website=[[Associated Press]]|url=https://apnews.com/article/africa-kenya-nairobi-ethiopia-7a8b7aa08db4e0710105bc36a8321298|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926011834/https://apnews.com/article/africa-kenya-nairobi-ethiopia-7a8b7aa08db4e0710105bc36a8321298|archive-date=2021-09-26|url-status=live|quote=The Associated Press spoke with more than a dozen witnesses who were in Kobo during the killings, along with others who have family there. They said the fighting started on Sept. 9 as a battle but quickly turned against civilians. At first, Tigray forces who had taken over the area in July fought farmers armed with rifles. But after the Tigray forces briefly lost and regained control of the town, they went door-to-door killing in retaliation, the witnesses said.}}</ref>
⚫
The landscape of this woreda is characterized by a broad fertile plain which is separated from the lowlands of the Afar Region by the [[Zobil mountains]], which are over 2000 meters high. In general, the altitude of Kobo ranges from 1100 meters on the plains to slightly more than 3000 meters above sea level along the border with Gidan.<ref>Svein Ege, [http://www.svt.ntnu.no/ethiopia/c05xNorthWoloMap.pdf "North Wälo 1:100,000. Topographic and administrative map of North Wälo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718143143/http://www.svt.ntnu.no/ethiopia/c05xNorthWoloMap.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}. Trondheim, NTNU, 2002</ref> Kobo, as well as the other seven rural woredas of this Zone, has been grouped amongst the 48 woredas identified as the most drought prone and food insecure in the Amhara Region.<ref>Seid Yassin, [http://etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/bitstream/123456789/827/1/Seid%20Yassin.pdf "Small-Scale Irrigation and Household Food Security: A Case Study of Three Irrigation Schemes in Gubalafto Woreda of North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720153034/http://etd.aau.edu.et/dspace/bitstream/123456789/827/1/Seid%20Yassin.pdf |date=2011-07-20 }}, Master's Thesis, Graduate School of the University of Addis Ababa (June 2002), p. 35</ref> To combat increasing droughts and improve crop yields, two irrigation projects have been undertaken in this woreda by the Commission for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in the Amhara Region and the [[NGO]] [[Lutheran World Federation]], affecting 302 hectares and benefiting 1,017 households.<ref>Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation", p. 42</ref>


During [[Tigray War]] on August the [[Tigray Defense Forces]] (TDF) captured Kobo and the [[Ethiopian National Defense Force]] has withdrawn. Both sides have confirmed it.
⚫
The northern part of Kobo woreda is traversed from west to southeast by Hormat River. The river passes south of Zobil Mountains.


===Air raids during the civil war of the 1980s===
⚫
The woreda Agriculture and Rural Development Office announced 8 April 2007 that it was starting a program to improve the livelihood of woreda inhabitants, affecting 53,000 farmers. This would use 23.3 million [[Ethiopian birr|birr]] of Regional funds to develop basin and degraded mountains, construct all weather roads and irrigation diversion canals, improve springs as well as various "water harvesting structures". A similar program initiated a few years previously led to a decline in the number of farmers migrating to the Afar Region, [[Djibouti]] and [[Sudan]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007234829/http://www.waltainfo.com/EnNews/2007/Apr/08Apr07/27213.htm "Woreda implementing over 23mln birr food security projects"] ([[Walta Information Center]])</ref>
During the [[Ethiopian Civil War]], the town of Gobiye in what is now the Kobo district, was bombed repeatedly by the [[Ethiopian Air Force]]:<ref>Human Rights Watch, 24 July 1991: [https://www.hrw.org/reports/archives/africa/ETHIOPIA907.htm ETHIOPIA - "Mengistu has Decided to Burn Us like Wood" - Bombing of Civilians and Civilian Targets by the Air Force]</ref>

* On 9 September 1989: 1 killed
⚫
In December 2008, construction on a 2.5 kilometer flood wall was completed, which would protect hundreds of hectares of farmland from frequent flooding by the Dikalla river.<ref>[http://www.ena.gov.et/EnglishNews/2008/Dec/14Dec08/75517.htm "Flood wall worth over 6 mln Birr constructed"], [[Ethiopian News Agency]] (accessed 29 April 2009)</ref>
* On 10 September 1989: 21 killed, 100 wounded (market day)


==Demographics==
==Demographics==
Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the [[Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)|Central Statistical Agency]] of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 221,958, an increase of 26.43% over the 1994 census, of whom 111,605 are men and 110,353 women; 33,142 or 14.93% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 2,001.57 square kilometers, Kobo has a population density of 110.89, which is less than the Zone average of 123.25 persons per square kilometer. A total of 54,466 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.08 persons to a household, and 52,108 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity]], with 82.88% reporting that as their religion, while 16.5% of the population said they were [[Islam in Ethiopia|Muslim]].<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=266&format=raw&Itemid=521 Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114004005/http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=266&format=raw&Itemid=521 |date=2010-11-14 }}, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.</ref>


The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 175,558 in 37,031 households, of whom 87,636 were men and 87,922 were women; 28,706 or 16.35% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Kobo were the [[Amhara people|Amhara]] (98.63%), and the [[Tigray-Tigrinya people|Tigrayan]] (1.26%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.11% of the population. [[Amharic language|Amharic]] was spoken as a first language by 98.45%, and [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]] was spoken by 1.47%; the remaining 0.08% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the population practiced [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity]] with 83.2% reported to profess this belief, while 16.72% of the population said they were [[Islam in Ethiopia|Muslim]].<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/surveys/Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%201994/survey0/data/docs%5Creport%5CStatistical_Report%5Ck03%5Ck03_partI.pdf ''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region'', Vol. 1, part 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115052151/http://www.csa.gov.et/surveys/Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%201994/survey0/data/docs%5Creport%5CStatistical_Report%5Ck03%5Ck03_partI.pdf |date=2010-11-15 }}, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)</ref>
Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the [[Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)|Central Statistical Agency]] of Ethiopia (CSA), this district has a total population of 221,958, an increase of 26.43% over the 1994 census, of whom 111,605 are men and 110,353 women; 33,142 or 14.93% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 2,001.57 square kilometers, Kobo has a population density of 110.89, which is less than the Zone average of 123.25 persons per square kilometer. A total of 54,466 households were counted in this district, resulting in an average of 4.08 persons to a household, and 52,108 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity]], with 82.88% reporting that as their religion, while 16.5% of the population said they were [[Islam in Ethiopia|Muslim]].<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=266&format=raw&Itemid=521 Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114004005/http://www.csa.gov.et/index.php?option=com_rubberdoc&view=doc&id=266&format=raw&Itemid=521 |date=2010-11-14 }}, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.</ref>

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this district of 175,558 in 37,031 households, of whom 87,636 were men and 87,922 were women; 28,706 or 16.35% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Kobo were the [[Amhara people|Amhara]] (98.63%), and the [[Tigrayans|Tigrayan]] (1.26%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.11% of the population. [[Amharic language|Amharic]] was spoken as a first language by 98.45%, and [[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]] was spoken by 1.47%; the remaining 0.08% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the population practiced [[Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity]] with 83.2% reported to profess this belief, while 16.72% of the population said they were [[Islam in Ethiopia|Muslim]].<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/surveys/Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%201994/survey0/data/docs%5Creport%5CStatistical_Report%5Ck03%5Ck03_partI.pdf ''1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region'', Vol. 1, part 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115052151/http://www.csa.gov.et/surveys/Population%20and%20Housing%20Census%201994/survey0/data/docs%5Creport%5CStatistical_Report%5Ck03%5Ck03_partI.pdf |date=2010-11-15 }}, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|2}}


{{Districts of the Amhara Region}}
{{coord|12|08|N|39|39|E|display=title|type:adm3rd_region:ET}}
{{Woredas of the Semien Wollo Zone}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobo (Woreda)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobo (Woreda)}}
[[Category:Amhara Region]]
[[Category:Districts of Amhara Region]]
[[Category:Districts of Ethiopia]]

Latest revision as of 20:30, 21 October 2024

Kobo
ራያ ቆቦ
Raya Kobo
Woreda
Kobo is located in Ethiopia
Kobo
Kobo
Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates: 12°08′N 39°39′E / 12.133°N 39.650°E / 12.133; 39.650
Country Ethiopia
Region Amhara
ZoneNorth Wollo Zone
Area
[1]
 • Total
2,001.57 km2 (772.81 sq mi)
Population
 (2012 est.)
 • Total
244,046[1]

Kobo or Raya Kobo (Amharic: ራያ ቆቦ) is a woreda in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Located in the northeast corner of the North Wollo Zone, Kobo is bordered on the south by the Logiya River which separates it from Habru and Guba Lafto, on the west by Gidan, on the north by Tigray Region, and on the east by the Afar Region. Towns in Kobo include Gobiye, Kobo and Robit (Kobo Robit).

Overview

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The landscape of this district is characterized by a broad fertile plain that is separated from the lowlands of the Afar Region by the Zobil mountains, which are over 2000 meters high. In general, the altitude of Kobo ranges from 1100 meters on the plains to slightly more than 3000 meters above sea level along the border with Gidan.[2] Kobo, as well as the other seven rural districts of this Zone, has been grouped amongst the 48 districts identified as the most drought prone and food insecure in the Amhara Region.[3] To combat increasing droughts and improve crop yields, two irrigation projects have been undertaken in this district by the Commission for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Rehabilitation in the Amhara Region and the NGO Lutheran World Federation, affecting 302 hectares and benefiting 1,017 households.[4]

The northern part of the Kobo district is traversed from west to southeast by the Hormat River. The river passes south of Zobil Mountains.

The district Agriculture and Rural Development Office announced on 8 April 2007 that it was starting a program to improve the livelihood of district inhabitants, affecting 53,000 farmers. This would use 23.3 million birr of Regional funds to develop basin and degraded mountains, construct all-weather roads and irrigation diversion canals, improve springs as well as various "water harvesting structures". A similar program initiated a few years previously led to a decline in the number of farmers migrating to the Afar Region, Djibouti and Sudan.[5]

In December 2008, construction on a 2.5 kilometer flood wall was completed, which would protect hundreds of hectares of farmland from frequent flooding by the Dikalla river.[6]

Timeline and history

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Events are listed in a revers-chronological order.

Civilian deaths during the 2021 Tigray War

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During the Tigray War, local residents reported that the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) killed 600 civilians in Kobo on 9 September 2021.[7][8]

During Tigray War on August the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) captured Kobo and the Ethiopian National Defense Force has withdrawn. Both sides have confirmed it.

Air raids during the civil war of the 1980s

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During the Ethiopian Civil War, the town of Gobiye in what is now the Kobo district, was bombed repeatedly by the Ethiopian Air Force:[9]

  • On 9 September 1989: 1 killed
  • On 10 September 1989: 21 killed, 100 wounded (market day)

Demographics

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Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this district has a total population of 221,958, an increase of 26.43% over the 1994 census, of whom 111,605 are men and 110,353 women; 33,142 or 14.93% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 2,001.57 square kilometers, Kobo has a population density of 110.89, which is less than the Zone average of 123.25 persons per square kilometer. A total of 54,466 households were counted in this district, resulting in an average of 4.08 persons to a household, and 52,108 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 82.88% reporting that as their religion, while 16.5% of the population said they were Muslim.[10]

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this district of 175,558 in 37,031 households, of whom 87,636 were men and 87,922 were women; 28,706 or 16.35% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Kobo were the Amhara (98.63%), and the Tigrayan (1.26%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.11% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 98.45%, and Tigrinya was spoken by 1.47%; the remaining 0.08% spoke all other primary languages reported. The majority of the population practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with 83.2% reported to profess this belief, while 16.72% of the population said they were Muslim.[11]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Geohive: Ethiopia Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Svein Ege, "North Wälo 1:100,000. Topographic and administrative map of North Wälo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Trondheim, NTNU, 2002
  3. ^ Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation and Household Food Security: A Case Study of Three Irrigation Schemes in Gubalafto Woreda of North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region" Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Master's Thesis, Graduate School of the University of Addis Ababa (June 2002), p. 35
  4. ^ Seid Yassin, "Small-Scale Irrigation", p. 42
  5. ^ "Woreda implementing over 23mln birr food security projects" (Walta Information Center)
  6. ^ "Flood wall worth over 6 mln Birr constructed" Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, Ethiopian News Agency (accessed 29 April 2009)
  7. ^ "ቆቦ ውስጥ ስድስት መቶ ሰው እንደተገደለ ነዋሪዎች ተናገሩ" [Residents say 600 people have been killed in Kobo]. Voice of America (in Amharic). 20 September 2021. Residents told VOA by telephone that the TPLF militants, who were branded terrorists by the Ethiopian government, had killed more than 600 civilians in Kobo town and its environs and committed other serious human rights abuses.
  8. ^ "'Then the killing started': Witnesses accuse Tigray fighters". Associated Press. 25 September 2021. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. The Associated Press spoke with more than a dozen witnesses who were in Kobo during the killings, along with others who have family there. They said the fighting started on Sept. 9 as a battle but quickly turned against civilians. At first, Tigray forces who had taken over the area in July fought farmers armed with rifles. But after the Tigray forces briefly lost and regained control of the town, they went door-to-door killing in retaliation, the witnesses said.
  9. ^ Human Rights Watch, 24 July 1991: ETHIOPIA - "Mengistu has Decided to Burn Us like Wood" - Bombing of Civilians and Civilian Targets by the Air Force
  10. ^ Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region Archived 2010-11-14 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.
  11. ^ 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region, Vol. 1, part 1 Archived 2010-11-15 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.17, Annex II.2 (accessed 9 April 2009)
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