List of Towns, Villages and Cities in Fafan Zone

Fafan Zone (Somali: Faafan) is the most populous zone of Ethiopia’s Somali Region and contains Jijiga, which is both the zone’s centre and the regional capital. The zone counted 968,394 people at the 2007 census, more than a fifth of them living in towns. Fafan was known as Jijiga Zone until the regional renaming of the 2010s, when it took the name of the Fafan River.

Woredas (Districts)

Fafan has thirteen woredas. Six carried separate figures at the 2007 census; the rest, including the special woredas at Wajale and Kebri Beyah, were created or reorganised afterwards.

Major Towns

Fafan is the region’s urban core. Jijiga alone held 125,876 residents at the 2007 census and is projected at about 198,000 for 2022. Togochale, on the Somaliland frontier, is the region’s main formal border crossing.

Geography

Fafan sits in the north-west of the Somali Region, on the plateau east of the Harar highlands. Jijiga stands at about 1,640 metres, high enough for cool nights and reliable spring rains, which is why the zone supports cropping that the rest of the region cannot.

The zone borders Sitti Zone to the north, Jarar Zone to the south, Nogob Zone and Erer Zone to the south-west, the Oromia Region to the west, and Somaliland to the east. The Fafan River, also written Fafem, rises near Harar and runs through the Jijiga plain southward towards the Ogaden; it is seasonal for most of its length.

Demographics

The 2007 census recorded 968,394 people in Fafan, of whom 203,588, or 21.04 per cent, lived in towns — by far the highest urban share in the region. Somali was the first language of 95.51 per cent of residents, Amharic of 2.1 per cent and Oromo of 1.05 per cent. Muslims made up 96.86 per cent of the population and Orthodox Christians 2.11 per cent.

Ethiopia has held no census since 2007, so later figures are Central Statistical Agency projections rather than counts. On those projections the six census-era woredas rise from 967,652 to about 1.43 million by 2022. The zone also hosts long-standing refugee camps at Kebri Beyah, Sheder and Awbare, holding Somali refugees, some for more than thirty years.

Economy & Local Life

Fafan mixes farming with herding. The Jijiga plain grows sorghum, maize, wheat and pulses in a good year, and the zone is one of the few parts of the Somali Region with real rain-fed cropping. Elsewhere, camels, goats, sheep and cattle dominate. Khat from Babille and the Oromia border moves through Jijiga daily.

Trade is the other pillar. Goods land at Berbera in Somaliland and cross at Togochale, which makes Fafan the region’s commercial gateway. Jijiga has the region’s university, referral hospital and airport, and its market is the largest in eastern Ethiopia outside Dire Dawa. Babille is known nationally for its camel market and for the Babille Elephant Sanctuary on the Oromia side of the boundary.

Getting There

Jijiga is 630 km east of Addis Ababa by paved road, via Awash, Dire Dawa and Harar; the Harar–Jijiga leg takes about two hours. Ethiopian Airlines flies to Jijiga’s Wilwal International Airport from Addis Ababa. Buses run daily from Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Harar. From Jijiga, gravel roads reach Togochale in about an hour, Kebri Beyah in under an hour and Harshin in two to three.

FAQ

Where is Fafan Zone?

In the north-west of Ethiopia’s Somali Region, on the plateau between the Harar highlands and the Somaliland border.

What is the capital of Fafan Zone?

Jijiga, which is also the capital of the whole Somali Region.

What was Fafan Zone called before?

Jijiga Zone. It was renamed after the Fafan River.

How many woredas does Fafan have?

Thirteen, including the special woredas at Kebri Beyah and Wajale.

What is the population of Fafan Zone?

968,394 at the 2007 census. Later figures are projections; Ethiopia has held no census since 2007, and the “2014 census” once cited for this zone did not take place.

Where is the border crossing to Somaliland?

At Togochale, also written Tog Wajale, about 55 km north-east of Jijiga.