Dire Dawa - History

History

Dire Dawa was founded in 1902 after the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway reached the area. The railroad could not reach the city of Harar at its higher elevation, so Dire Dawa was built nearby. This led to Dire Dawa becoming an important center of trade between the port of Djibouti and the capital city, Addis Ababa. (Dire Dawa is home to several market centers; the biggest being Taiwan along with Qefira which is located on the flood plain. Near Dire Dawa and what is now Kebele 01, trading happened in the town called Melka Jebdu and in fact, it has been the gateway for most of the goods sold in places such as Taiwan.).

Dire Dawa's first governor was Ato Mersha Nahu Senay who was also one of the negotiators of the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway (1897–1902) and represented Emperor Menilek at the inauguration ceremony of the railway when it reached the Ethiopian frontier in 1902, according to historians Dr. Richard Pankhurst and Shiferaw Bekele as well as other sources.

Soon afterwards, Ras Makonnen, the governor of Harar, ordered the construction of a road from Dire Dawa to Harar, one of the first in this part of the country. This road was substantially improved in 1928, improving travel times between the two cities from two days to only a few hours. A generation later, the writer C.F. Rey described the city as the most "advanced" urban center in the area, with good roads, electric lights and piped water.

In 1931, the Bank of Ethiopia opened its first branch in Dire Dawa.

During the Italian invasion, Mussolini ordered that both Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa would be spared air attacks as a response of demands of the United States and certain European countries for the safety of their citizens. On 6 May 1936 Graziani's units, advancing from Harar, reached the barbed-wire fence at Dire Dawa where they met two French armed cars; the railway was under French administration, and with the departure of Emperor Haile Selassie two days earlier, they remained to protect French interests. The next day, the first train under Italian control left Addis Ababa carrying the 46th Infantry Regiment. The two Italian forces met in Dire Dawa, and the occupation of the town was more or less a formality.

Following the return of Emperor Haile Selassie, Dire Dawa was among the early provincial towns to have its own football league. Around 1947, their Taffari team participated in the Ethiopian Championship series. That same year, the Railroad Workers Syndicate of Dire Dawa, a labor union was formed for welfare purposes. Although its leadership co-operated with the Government, it attempted to strike in 1949 which was brutally suppressed by government troops in 1949; at the time, all strikes were seen by government officials as a form of insurrection.

In 1955 a public address system was installed in the central square, for receiving radio transmissions from the state radio and re-broadcasting them.

The Ethiopian revolution affected the city in many ways. Starting March 1974, there was some unrest of workers; six people were wounded when police opened fire on demonstrating railwaymen and students on 17 April. Many Europeans, Yemeni Arabs and Indians left Dire Dawa; the Greek and Armenian churches were eventually closed due to dwindling membership. On 3 February 1975 the Derg announced that the Cotton Company of Ethiopia was among 14 textile enterprises to be fully nationalized. The cement factory was also later nationalized. In August 1976, the entire leadership of the local branch of the teachers' union was sacked for alleged anti-revolutionary activities. Ten new officials were appointed pending fresh elections.

According to Gebru Tareke, the success of the Ethiopian Army in holding Dire Dawa (17–18 August 1977) against the Somali Army was decisive in winning the Ogaden War.

Dire Dawa was occupied by the EPRDF 31 May 1991. There were reports of about 100 people killed resisting the EPRDF. In 1991, when the Somali National Movement took control of northern Somalia, they dismantled and sold the only publicly owned industry in the whole Somali northern region, a cement factory located near Berbera, which was shipped off to help expand the cement factory in Dire Dawa. Both the Issa and Gurgura Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front claimed the city; as a result, there were numerous clashes between the two groups from 1991 until 1993. This ongoing violence and the fear of protracted ethnic conflict caused the city to be designated federally administered city. Dire Dawa was separated from the Oromia Region around 1998 to become a chartered city.

On June 24, 2002, a small explosive was detonated at the headquarters of the Ethiopian Railway Commission in Dire Dawa. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) afterwards claimed responsibility for this attack in retaliation "for the continuing harassment of Oromo students, merchants, and farmers by the Ethiopian government." Although blamed for other isolated incidents, this was the latest bombing inside Ethiopia for which the OLF claimed responsibility.

The city was flooded in August 2006 when the Dechatu River overflowed its banks. About 200 people were reported dead, thousands were displaced and there was extensive damage to homes and markets. Floods are fairly common during the June–September rainy season; over 200 people in the region had been killed by flooding in 2005 that also did millions of dollars in damage.

An overturned truck, heading from Dengego to Dire Dawa, killed a total of 41 people 4 March 2009. The truck was carrying an unknown number of day laborers when the accident happened, and 38 were immediately killed and as many as 50 were injured in the accident. Both dead and injured were taken to Dil-chora Hospital in Dire Dawa. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.