DALLE WOREDA OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA; A SURVEY OF ITS' HISTORY FROM 1941 UP TO 1991

Abstract Researchers have not yet properly studied the history of Dale Woreda. Nevertheless, the purpose of this study is to conduct a research on the history of the Woreda. It is designed to fill or bridge the existing gap in literature by investigating the historical development of the Woreda focusing on the political, social and economic aspects. This study is a historical survey of Dale Woreda from 1941 to 1991. The year 1941 is taken as a springboard in which the Italian occupation (1936 -1941) had social and political significance in development o of Dale Woreda and Sidama Awuraja. The end of Italian occupation (1941) was followed by the restoration of Emperor Haile Sellassie I to power. He hence further established a strong centralized administration in the country. Generally, this study deals with the reconstruction of the socio-economic and political history of Dale Woreda over half a century. It mainly focuses on the economic, social and political changes during the period of Emperor Haile Sellassie I, the Dergue and the current regimes.Based on the accumulation of national archive, oral and written sources. The whole events that occurred in the Woreda have been discussed properly. Therefore, various knowledgeable informants were systematically interviewed in thirty-six Qebeles of the Woreda. Based on the methods of historical investigation all data gathered from informants were critically analyzed and interpreted. The political and socio-economic system of Dale Woreda and radically changed after the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1936. The restoration of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1941 brought some political and administrative reforms in Dale Woreda and the rest Sidama lands. In addition, the rise of the socialist-militarist Dergue regime in 1974 brought a new political, administrative and economic system of improvement in the life of most the local people of the Woreda (district of Dale). Through distribution of the former feudal and bourgeoisie’s lands to poor peasants and through establishing cooperative workers associations and peasant associations to improve the life of peasants, despite some negative consequences in the socio economic and political system of the socialist militarist regime