Sabata (town)

Sebeta is a town located in the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne of the Oromia Region. This town has a latitude and longitude of 8°54′40″N 38°37′17″E and an elevation of 2,356 meters (7,730 feet) above sea level.

The Sebeta School for the Blind is located in Sebeta. It became part of the Haile Selassie I Foundation in 1959, and construction on a new building began on 4 October 1962. The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research opened a research station in Sebeta in 1967, which operates as the national center for research into improving fishing yields.

History

A plot to kill the Emperor near Sebeta with a land mine in the road was discovered on 16 November 1969. Eight people were arrested, and the leader, 76-year-old Tekle Wolde Hawariat, killed himself next day after a gun battle with police at his home in Addis Ababa. He was mentioned without dishonor in the Ethiopian media because of his valuable service to the country in previous years.

A congregation of the Mekane Yesus Church was established in 1979. The congregation's church was burnt by a mob in April 1994, and the leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church afterwards failed to condemn the act.

Demographics

The 2007 national census reported a total population for Sebeta of 49,331, of whom 24,356 were men and 24,975 were women. The majority of the inhabitants said they practised Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 61.1% of the population reporting they observed this belief, while 26.87% of the population were Muslim, and 11.18% were Protestant.

According to the 1994 national census, the town had a population of 14,100.