GEDO

'Gedo' (Somali: ''Gedo''; '') is an administrative region (''gobolka'') in Jubaland, Somalia. Its capital is Garbahaarreey. Gedo is the second largest region of Somalia after Bari and is bordered by Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Somali regions of Bakool, Bay, Jubbada Dhexe, and Jubbada Hoose further down east. Gedo is part of the larger historical region of Jubaland. Gedo region's population exploded in the last twenty years reaching almost one million early 1990s after the civil war erupted in Mogadishu.
Most of the newcomers to the region, suddenly left and resettled different parts of world. This new migration movement made Buuloxaawo the second largest district in Gedo. Lugh used to be the second largest city and district, Bardera being the first. At one time Buuloxaawo District became the largest city and district in the region.
'During 1990s In Northern Gedo'
The population in Buuloxaawo swelled 200 000. This was in early 1990s when the SNF military wing ruled Gedo region. The group ran into conflict with then well financed Al-Itahad Al-Islamia led by Dahir Aweys. The Islamic function's rule in Lugh District spilled over to Ethiopia and it soon began to threaten Ethiopia. By late 1998, the Ethiopian army rooted out Al-Itahad from Gedo region. SNF function led by Omar Haji, an army general and former minister, gave up control of Gedo region to no one, and hence a power vacuum developed. The Ethiopian army re-occupied Gedo northern districts of Lugh, Dolow and Beled Hawo.

Contents

Gedo Districts

Baardheere and Beledxawo

Population

Commerce in Gedo

Landscape

References

Gedo Districts

Gedo region consists of seven districts, namely Baardheere, Buurdhuubo, Buuloxaawo, Doolow, Ceelwaaq, Garbahaarreey, and Luuq (also spelled Lugh). The regional capital is Garbahaarreey. Major rivers in the Gedo region include the Dawa and the Juba. Dawa river runs on the border between Ethiopia and Gedo region. Dolow town sits on Dawa's river banks. Juba river starts from Dolow, just north of Luuq District, then follows to Burdubo, Bardera then to Bu'aale and Jilib of Middle Juba region until the river empties to Indian Ocean at Goobweyn where one sees one of nature's splenders, red river waters merging into the vast blue ocean waters. There is a clear and as it seems, a permanent separating line between the two colours of the water; blue ocean waters and red river waters.

Baardheere and Beledxawo

The most populous towns in Gedo are Baardheera and Balad Xaawo or(Buulo Xaawo)or Balad Hawo in English. Buuloxaawo is the commercial gateway of the region and the neighboring regions, while Baardheera is the breadbasket of the region. Agricultural products from this fertile land, which include maize, potatoes, sorghum, tobacco,onions, sesame, fruits such as papayas, mangoes , and bananas are shipped to many different parts of the country.

Population

According to a 1994 United Nations reports, the estimated population of Gedo was 690,000.^[1] According to the nomadic culture of the people and their movement these numbers can decrease or increase over time. Large cities such as Bardera, Beled Hawo, and Lugh have sizable populations; most of the urban dwellers live in these cities plus the capital region area in the town of Garbaharey.

Commerce in Gedo

Bardera (Baardheere) has become urbunized to the extent that its population multiplied 400% since the breakdown of law and order in the capital city of the country, Mogadishu. Aside from the urban population in proper Bardere city, the rest of the region's population are pastoralists with the exception of people living in the cities where the region's seven district seats are located. Those who live on the fringes of district seats or outside of large cities such as Garbahaarreey, Baardheere, Luuq and Buuloxaawo, generally keep either a farm on the river banks or herds of sheep, camel or cattle. There are significant farmers around towns and cities alongside the Juba River and this has made close to half of the region's population city dwellers since the breakout of the civil war in 1991. The economy mostly depends on livestock and farming but Gedo has strong interregional and international cross-border trade with Kenya and some extent in Ethiopia.
The town of Beled Hawo is the commercial gateway to Mogadishu and parts of Kenya. Large manufactured goods cross both sides of the border everyday going to and coming from the rest of Somalia. Buuloxaawo is part of Buulxaawo, Luuq, and Doolow Tri-District commerce activity region. Both Lugh and Doolow have sizable agriculture output.
Gedo region is famous for its agricultural production in the south. The farming land is mostly concentrated in four towns and these are Dolow, Luq, Burdubo and Bardera. During the peace years, produce from Bardera farms used to reach as far north to DJibouti on the Gulf of Aden.

Landscape

The Gedo region in Somalia is a vast land with a varied landscape. In the middle of the region, one finds ancient scarred land with gorges in all directions and rocky mountains. These gorges are filled with eastern-downstream rain waters. On the lower southern portion of Gedo region is red sandy flat land from Bardere district on the Juba Valley all the way west to El Wak town on the border with Kenya's Northern Frontier District, a district mainly populated by Somalis through the ages.
There are plenty of the four most popular Somali livestock roaming the land. These are camels, cattle, goats, and sheep. In the Somali language, camel, cattle, goats, and sheep are called ''geel'', ''lo', ''ari cad'' and ''iddo'', respectively. A mixture of goats and sheep are normally herded together. This mixture of livestock is called'' ari'' in Somali and means a mixture of goats and sheep, which in most cases, is in the hundreds per family. Similarly, Gedo region is famous for its horse breeding. Large number of horses can be found in Beled Hawa flat lands and Dirharra area near town of Damase, of Elwak District.
The mountain areas of Gedo region have sizable safari animals from elephants to cheetahs. It is not rare to hear lions roar during the night hours. Lions, ostriches, oryx, giraffes, warthogs and hyenas are plenty around the grassy lands of western part of Bardera District between the towns of Gerileey and Faafahdhuun. This is in Gelgel Prairies (Banka Gelgel)in Somalia or simply Gelgel (Gelgesha).
The Jubba River from Doolow to Baardheere has large river animals such as crocodiles and hippopotamus. Crocs and hipos bask in the sun on the the sandy island spots during the drying up of the river.

References

1. UNDOS (United Nations Development Office for Somalia) Regional Report: Gedo Region (''Note:'' PDF file)