Liben-Zone

The Liben zone ( Somali: Liibaan, Ge'ez: ሊበን Libän ) is an administrative zone of the Somali region in Ethiopia. It is located in the south of the Somali region and is bordered by the river Ganale from the rest of the region. To the south it borders with Kenya, Ethiopia in the west within the Oromia region.

According to 2007 census, the area had 539 821 inhabitants, of whom 46 892 were living in urban areas. In 1997, of 476 881 inhabitants, 99.04 % Somali, 97.78 % spoke Somali as their first language. 7.72% ( 12,085 ) were able to read and write.

Liben, Liban or Libin is the name of an area in southern Ethiopia, which extends over the Liben zone out on the territory of the Borana Oromo in Oromia and is regarded by these together with Dirre as a core region and country of origin. Until the reorganization of the administrative structure of Ethiopia in 1991, this area belonged to the province of Sidamo. His division between ethnically defined regions of Oromia and Somali remains controversial. Also, among the Somali groups, there were differences in the choice of the main town. The establishment of a functioning administration of the zone was delayed, therefore.

The zone is divided according to the documents of the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia from 2007 in the four woredas Filtu, Dolo Odo, Moyale and Udet ( Hudet ). In the documents of 1998 and 2005, however, only the three woredas Liben / Filtu, Dolo Odo and Moyale are called. The divisions within the Somali region, have been often, variously modified in the context of local power struggles. On several maps, the boundaries between the Somali and Oromia region also are displayed so that only Dolo Odo the Liben Zone of Somali forms, while the remaining areas are among Oromia.

Larger towns in Liben are Doolow ( Dolo Odo ), Softu and Filtu. The Ethiopian part of the town of Moyale Moyale Woreda belongs administratively to the Borena Zone of Oromia.

The main ethnic groups in the zone are the Somali clans of Degodia and Marehan Darod, the Garri ( Garre ) and Gurra as well as smaller groups Garri Maro, Gabbra, Karanle and Ajuran. The Garre dominate in Moyale Woreda south of the river Dawa, their area is relatively fertile and wooded grassland. Between the Dawa and the Ganale the land is barren, dominate here in Dolo Odo the Degodia and live in Filtu Degodia, Gurre and Marehan. Degodia and Garre mainly live as nomads and keep camels, sheep, goats and cattle, which are also nomadic Gabbra Foodin camels. Especially the Garri Maro operate on the rivers Dawa and Ganale as sedentary farmers maize cultivation with cattle, also fishing and hunting. They vary in appearance from the other groups and are connected to the Degodia. They therefore comply with the Rer Bare at Shabelle. In the wider area of the rivers and in some smaller areas Agropastoralisten connect the cultivation of maize with the farming of cattle and sheep. The farming has expanded in recent years.

For the local population since the early 1990s, returnees and refugees from Somalia were added, fleeing the civil war there.