Gamo Gofa is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). It is named for the Gamo and Gofa peoples, whose homelands lie in this Zone. Gamo Gofa is bordered on the south by the Dirashe special woreda, on the southwest by Debub (South) Omo and the Basketo special woreda, on the northwest by Dawro, on the northeast by Wolayita, on the northeast by the Oromia Region, and on the southeast by the Amaro special woreda. The administrative center of Wolayita is Arba Minch.
Gamo Gofa has 431 kilometers of all-weather roads and 122 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 45 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.[1] The highest point in this Zone is Mount Argun (3418 meters).
Originally Gamo Gofa was part of the Semien (North) Omo Zone, and the 1994 national census counted its inhabitants as part of that Zone. However friction between the various ethnic groups in Semien Omo, which was often blamed on the Welayta for "ethnic chauvinism" and despite the efforts of the ruling party to emphasize the need to co-ordinate, consolidate, and unify the smaller ethnic units to achieve the "efficient use of scarce government resources", eventually led to the division of the Zone in 2000, resulting with the creation of not only the Gamo Gofa, but also the Dawro and Wolayita Zones and two special woredas.[2]
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 1,593,104, of whom 793,322 are men and 799,782 women; with an area of 11,010.99 square kilometers, Gamo Gofa has a population density of 144.68. While 157,446 or 9.88% are urban inhabitants, a further 480 or 0.03% are pastoralists. A total of 337,199 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.72 persons to a household, and 324,919 housing units.[3]
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