Dire Dawa

Brief information about the Dire Dawa

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa (Amharic: ድሬ ዳዋ, Oromo: Dirre Dhawaa, lit. "Place of Remedy", Somali: Diri Dhaba, meaning "where Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", Arabic: ديري داوا‎) is one of two chartered cities (astedader akabibi) in Ethiopia (the other being Addis Ababa, the capital).

It is divided administratively into two woredas, the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura. Dire Dawa lies in the eastern part of the nation, on the Dechatu River, at the foot of a ring of cliffs that has been described as "somewhat like a cluster of tea-leaves in the bottom of a slop-basin." The western outskirts of the city lie on the Gorro River, a tributary of the Dechatu River.

It is located at the latitude and longitude of 9°36′N 41°52′E. The city is an industrial centre, home to several markets and the Diredhawa Airport. The projected population for 1 July 2015 was 440,000 for the entire chartered city and 277,000 for the city proper, making the latter the seventh largest city in Ethiopia.