Ayesha (woreda)

Ayesha (Italian Aiscia) is a woreda in Somali Region, Ethiopia. The northernmost woreda of the Shinile Zone, Ayesha is bordered on the south by Dembel, on the west by Shinile, on the north by Djibouti, on the east by Somaliland, and on the southeast by the Jijiga Zone. Towns in Ayesha include Ayesha, Dewele, Lasarat and Mermedebis.

The average elevation in this woreda is 766 meters above sea level.[1] As of 2008, Ayesha has 180 kilometers of all-weather gravel road and 287.2 kilometers of community roads; about 20% of the total population has access to drinking water.[2] The tracks of the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway and Ethio-Djibouti Railways cross this woreda, following the canyon cut by the Ayesha River in a southern direction, then turning southwest into Shinile just before reaching Adigale.

In mid April 2006, floods were reported to have displaced up to 3,000 people in Laserat. According to woreda officials, the floods destroyed more than 190 houses and killed as many as 500 head of livestock.[3] The Ethiopian De-mining Office reported in November 2008 that it had cleared land mines planted in Ayesha as part of the four million square meters of land the office had cleared in the Somali Region.[4]

  1. ^ Hailu Ejara Kene, Baseline Survey of 55 Weredas of PCDP Phase II, Part I Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (Addis Ababa: August 2008), Annex 1 (accessed 23 March 2009)
  2. ^ Hailu Ejara Kene, Baseline Survey, Annexes 16, 17
  3. ^ "Regional overview: Somali", Focus on Ethiopia, UN-OCHA, 20 April 2006 (accessed 27 February 2009)
  4. ^ "Landmines Cleared From 4 Million Square Meters Of Land"[permanent dead link‍], Ethiopian News Agency, 20 November 2008 (accessed 17 June 2009)