Welenchiti

Welenchiti (also transliterated Wolenchite and Aualancheti) is a town in east-central Ethiopia. Located in the Misraq (East) Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a longitude and latitude of 8°40′N 39°26′E and an elevation of 1436 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Boset woreda.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Welenchiti has an estimated total population of 20,984 of whom 10,545 were males and 10,439 were females.[1] The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 11,732 of whom 5,719 were males and 6,013 were females.

Transpoort

Welenchiti is served by a railway station on the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway. The town also holds a Saturday livestock market.[2]

Religion

Welenchiti is home to one of the 66 congregations of the Emmanuel church, a network of former Ethiopian Orthodox believers who have left the church due to unresolved questions or issues over traditional practices, and which has received the support of Meserete Kristos College. This group has clashed with traditional believers since its creation in the early 1990s.[3] In June 1995, Welenchiti experienced violence between the Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant churches. Priests of the Ethiopian Church had prohibited Protestants to use its cemetery to bury their dead. In the resulting violence, a gas station owned by Protestants was destroyed.[4]

References
  1. CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4
  2. "Afar and Kereyu pastoralists in and around Awash National Park struggle with deteriorating livelihood conditions" UN-Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, July 2002, p. 8 (accessed 14 January 2009)
  3. Byron Rempel-Burkholder, "Seminary student applies lessons to renewal of Orthodox church", Mennonite Weekly Review website (accessed 16 November 2009)
  4. "Local History in Ethiopia" The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 19 November 2007)
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