Metu
Mattuu | |
|---|---|
Town | |
  Metu Location within Ethiopia | |
| Coordinates: 8°18′N 35°35′E / 8.300°N 35.583°E | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Region |  Oromia |
| Zone | Illubabor |
| Elevation | 1,605 m (5,266 ft) |
| Population (2007) | |
| • Total | 28,782 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Metu (Oromo: Mattuu) is a market town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. Located in the Illubabor Zone of the Oromia along the Sor River, this town has a latitude and longitude of 8°18′N 35°35′E / 8.300°N 35.583°E and an altitude of 1605 meters. Metu was the capital of the former Illubabor Province from 1978 until the adoption of the new constitution in 1995.[1]
Metu has been an important market of the coffee trade, with several foreigners residing in the town as early as the 1930s to buy the crops from local farmers. At this early date, the town was connected by telephone to Gore and Addis Ababa.[2] The town's source of electricity is the nearby Sor Hydroelectric Station.[3] The city also has a high school and hospital.
Metu is known for its local waterfalls, the best known being the Sor Falls and their surrounding forest with its wildlife.
- ^ Matt Philips and Jean-Bernard Carillet, Ethiopia and Eritrea, third edition (n.p.: Lonely Planet, 2006), p. 240
- ^ "Local History in Ethiopia" Archived 2008-10-02 at the Wayback Machine (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 27 November 2007)
- ^ World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and International center on small hydro power (ICSHP), p. 1.