Kebri Beyah (also spelled Kebribeyah, Qebri Beyah, Gabribagia, Gabribaja,[1] Qabribayah, Somali: Qabribayax) is a town in southeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Jijiga Zone of the Somali Region, 50 kilometers south east of Jijiga, it has a longitude and latitude of and an altitude of 1686 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Kebri Beyah woreda.
Kebri Beyah comprises a number of smaller villages (Dhurwale, Qaha, Gilo, Horoqalifo, Horohawd, Campka Rayad) and there are many valleys in the surrounding area (Farda, Garbile, Danaba, Dubur, and Toga Jarer).
Kebri Beyah has been the site of a refugee camp since 1989.[2] The camp originally housed about 10,000 refugees and returnees from Somalia, most of whom belonged to various Darod subclans.[3] It was the only camp in the Somali Region to remain open while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was able to close down the other camps in the region between 1997 and 2005. By 2005, the UNHCR expected to close the Kebri Beyah camp soon as well.[4] However, the influx of more refugees from south-central Somalia led to the growth of the camp up to 16,000 or 17,000 inhabitants. In 2007, 4,000 refugees were relocated from Kebri Beyah to Teferi Ber where a former camp was partially re-opened.[5][6]
Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Kebri Beyah has an estimated total population of 13,192 of whom 7,273 are men and 5,919 are women.[7]
The 1997 census reported this town had a total population of 8,840 of whom 4,805 were men and 4,035 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in this town were the Somali (93.98%), the Amhara (2.9%), and the Oromo (1.4%); all other ethnic groups made up the remaining 1.72% of the residents.[8] Kebri Beyah, also spelled Qabribayax 9in Somali) The City belonged to Abaskuul sub-clan of Jidwaq Absame, the second largest Somali clan in Somali region Ethiopia (after ogaden) has had the most population growth in Somali region. In January, 2011 it’s estimated that kebribayah county has 1.2 million population, including city population also estimated 250,000.