Sodo

Soddo
Town
Street of Soddo
Soddo Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates: 6°51′18″N 37°46′51″E / 6.85500°N 37.78083°E / 6.85500; 37.78083Coordinates: 6°51′18″N 37°46′51″E / 6.85500°N 37.78083°E / 6.85500; 37.78083
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples'
Zone	Wolaita
Elevation	1,600 m (5,200 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	86,050
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Sodo or Wolaita Sodo is a town and separate woreda in south-central Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Wolaita Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 6°54′N 37°45′E / 6.900°N 37.750°E / 6.900; 37.750 with an elevation between 1600 and 2100 meters above sea level. It was part of the former Sodo woreda which included Sodo Zuria which completely surrounds it.

Sodo is served by an airport. A 166 kilometers long road connecting Sodo with Chida, whose construction had started in 1994, was completed by early 1999. Featuring an 80 meter Bailey bridge across the Omo river and five other bridges, this road cost 255 million Birr, and reduced the distance between the Regional capital at Awassa and Mizan Teferi to 400 kilometers.^[1] According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, as of 2003 Sodo's amenities include digital and mobile telephone access, postal service, 24-hour electrical service, two banks, and a hospital.^[2] Sodo is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Sodo-Hosaena.

History

In the early 1930s, Sodo was described as the only locality in Wolaita district deserving to be called a town. It had a Saturday market, a telephone line to the capital and a weekly mail courier. Italian ground troops captured Sodo on 27 January 1937; it was there that two Italian generals with their divisions – Liberati with his 25th Division, and Bacarri with his 101st Division – surrendered on 22 May 1941, after a minimum of resistance. The British also captured the remnants of the 21st Division, who had escaped around the north end of Lake Abijatta. The loot included more than 4,000 officers and men, 6 medium tanks, 4 light tanks, 100 machine guns, ammunition and supplies.^[3]

By 1958 Sodo was one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. A branch of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was established between 1965-68.^[3] The administrator of Sodo Zuria woreda and one-time student activist, Melaku Gebre Egziahber, was arrested in 1975 for encouraging peasants and the urban poor to rise up against "exploiters" in the town.^[4] In 1984, a refugee camp was established in the town for the victims of that year's famine.^[3]

On 6 November 1999, police arrested two teachers in Sodo for objecting to the use of a new language in school textbooks. Student demonstrations against the arrests led to widespread week-long protests and riots. Special police units were brought in to suppress the demonstrations, and killed as many as 10 people, injured hundreds and arrested up to 1,000 others. A former Young Men's Christian Association camp outside Sodo was used as a temporary detention facility for hundreds of demonstrators.^[5]

Prior to the Ethiopian 2005 General Elections, Amnesty International reports that some members of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces political party were amongst 200 people reportedly detained under vagrancy laws in Sodo on 22 February 2005. Amnesty International included this incident as one of a series of government intimidation of opposition party activists.^[6]

Demographics

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this town has a total population of 76,050, of whom 40,140 are men and 35,910 women. The majority of the inhabitants were Protestants, with 54.61% of the population reporting that belief, 38.43% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 4.76% were Muslim, and 1.28% were Catholic. ^[7]

The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 36,287 of whom 18,863 were men and 17,424 were women.

Climate

Located in the tropics at high altitude, Sodo possesses a well-moderated Subtropical highland climate (Koppen Cwb), with a pronounced pattern of wet summers and dry winters. Despite being located in the Northern Hemisphere, Sodo is actually cooler in the "summer" than the "winter" due to much higher rainfall in the high-sun season, a phenomenon common to Sodo's region.

Notes

Woredas of the Wolayita Zone Boloso Bombe Boloso Sore Damot Gale Damot Pulasa Damot Sore Damot Weyde Diguna Fango Humbo Kindo Didaye Kindo Koysha Offa Sodo Sodo Zuria