Hawassa, Sidama Region, Ethiopia

🇪🇹 Hawassa is a city in Ethiopia, on the shores of Lake Awassa in the Great Rift Valley. It is 273 km south of Addis Ababa via Bishoftu, 130 km east of Sodo, and 75 km north of Dilla. The town serves as the capital of the Sidama Region. It lies on the Trans-African Highway 4 Cairo-Cape Town at an elevation of 1,708 meters above sea level. Its name comes from a Sidamic word meaning "wide body of water".

The city is home to Hawassa University a major university in the country (which includes Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, an Agricultural College, the Main Campus, and a Health Sciences College), Awasa Adventist College, and a major market. The city is served by Awasa Airport (ICAO code HALA, IATA AWA), opened in 1988. Postal service is provided by the main branch; electricity and telephone service are also available. Important local attractions include the St. Gabriel Church and the Awassa Kenema Stadium. Fishing is a major local industry.

Hawassa was capital of the former Sidamo Province from about 1978 until the province was abolished with the adoption of the 1995 Constitution. It then became the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. When the Sidama Region was formed in June 2020, the city became part of that region. Hawassa currently serves as the capital of both the Sidama Region and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Hawassa will continue to serve as the seat of government of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region for two national electoral cycles, after which the regional government will move to a city within the region's boundaries.

History In 1957, with Ras Mengesha Seyoum at the head of the Sidamo Governorate General (Sidamo Teklay Gizat), Emperor Haile Selassie became greatly interested in establishing a new town in the area where the city is now located. The area appealed to the emperor on many levels. It was located on the important Addis Abeba– Moyale (Kenya) highway; its flat, expansive topography was conducive to city building; and the nearby tourist attractions of Lake Hawassa and the Dume hill (later named Tabor) provided a dramatic backdrop to the area.

In 1958, upon the order of the emperor, a seasonal palace for him was built along Lake Awasa in an area called Kutuwa. The building of the palace intensified interest in the area among many people, most notably the empress herself proceeded to lay claim to extensive hectares of land in the name of the emperor. As the town grew, more than three thousand people who were living in the area were displaced. Dubale (2010) also notes that a political dispute accompanied the displacement of the Sidama from the Hawassa area. Governor Ras Mengesha Seyoum (r.1955–1960) enthusiastically supported the urbanization of the area, regardless of its impact on the Sidama who had been living there, while succeeding Governor Ras Andargachew Mesay (r. 1960–1965) was much more concerned with the impact of this displacement on the Sidama people. Ras Andargachew Mesay refused to endorse the implementation of a large mechanized farming project in and around the Hawassa area by the Ministry of National Development unless he was guaranteed alternative land for the thousands of Sidama households. Their houses were simply bulldozed without any prior notification and compensation. However, despite his efforts to delay or block the displacement of the Sidama by the emerging city plan and the mechanized farming scheme, the government was not deterred from its intentions and many Sidama were pushed out of the city and its surrounding areas.

Following the displacement, about four hundred heads of families who served in the war against the Italian aggression from 1936–1941 were brought from Wukro and Korem (northern Ethiopia), Harar (eastern Ethiopia) and Addis Ababa and awarded land to settle in Hawassa. The places they settled still bear the names of their places of origin.

In 1960 the office of the vice district governorate moved from Hawella Tulla to Hawassa. In 1962 a municipality was founded. The shift of the political centre to Hawassa was not an immediate or easy decision, as there was significant opposition from the landlords in Yirgalem who benefited substantially from having the political centre in their city. Initially, when Sidamaland was incorporated into the ‘modern Ethiopian empire’, the political centre had been at Hagereselam (85 km from Hawassa); during Ras Desta Damtew’s reign the centre shifted to Yirgalem in 1941. In the brief period of the Italian occupation, the Italians shifted the centre to Aposto, a small roadside town located at the entrance of Yirgalem town and along the paved road connecting Addis Abeba and Moyale (Kenya).

Finally, the political centre shifted to Hawassa in 1968; until the fall of the imperial regime in 1974, it served as a capital of the Sidamo Governorate General (Sidamo Teklay Gizat), which included Sidama, Wolayta, Gedeo, Jemjem, Borena and Arero. In 1974, the Derg military regime established Hawassa as the capital of its Sidamo district (Kifle Hager). Later on during the transitional government Hawassa became a capital of region 8 and soon after as a capital of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region and later the Sidama Region.

Demographics The five largest ethnic groups reported in Awasa were the Sidama (48.68%), the Amhara (15.43%), the Welayta (13.90%), the Oromo (5.21%), and the Gurage (4.33%); all other ethnic groups made up 12.45% of the population. Sidamo is spoken as a first language by 47.97% of the inhabitants, 31.01% speak Amharic, 9.58% speak Welayta, 2.53% Oromiffa,1.98% Gurage, and 1.82% Kambatta; the remaining 5.09% spoke all other primary languages reported.

Economy Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) is situated on the outskirts of the city flanked by the picturesque Rift Valley Lake Awassa. The park that got 18 leading global apparel and textile companies by the end of 2017 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 20 June 2017. Construction of the park is led by Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC), which is chaired by Arkebe Oqubay. The park is the first in its kind in the country, consumed more than US$250 million and was built in a time of less than one year. The zone implements Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) that enables to recycle 90 percent of sewerage disposal water and fulfills international standards. Covering an area of 1,300,000 m2 (14,000,000 sq ft), of which 300,000 m2 (3,200,000 sq ft) is factory shed build-up area, the park have additional area allocated for shared facilities.

As of 2020, about 30,000 people work there, and it's growing rapidly, albeit somewhat slower than expected.

Sport Football (soccer) and swimming are the most played games in Hawassa. Hawassa City S.C. (Amharic: አዋሳ ከተማ), a football club based in Hawassa—like Debub Police S.C. and Sidama Coffee S.C.—and using the Awassa Kenema Stadium, was the first to win the Ethiopian Premier League from outside of Addis Ababa, the capital. In addition to winning the league twice, the club took part twice in CAF Champions League. Other sports like basketball—represented by Hawassa City BC—and skateboarding are becoming popular among the youth. Biking and running competitions are occasionally held on the main streets of the town.

Education Hawassa University, established in 1999 through the merger of a number of higher education institutions, is based in the city. Info link College is the first private engineering college found in Hawassa. Africa Beza College campus is also in the city. Hawassa University is the first university in Ethiopia to offer a Hotel Management degree program.