Townapedia

Kofelē, Ethiopia

Kofelē is a town of 27,900 people in Oromiya, Ethiopia.

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Population27,900 GeoNames
RegionOromiya
Elevation2,666 m 8,747 ft
Time zoneAfrica/Addis Ababa
Nearest airportHawassa Airport (AWA) 42 km

About Kofelē

Kofele is a town in Oromia Region Ethiopia, and the administrative center of the Kofele woreda. Located in the West Arsi Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 7°00′N 38°45′E with an elevation of 2695 meters above sea level.

From the Wikipedia article Kofele (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.

History

Kofele was founded on the orders of Balambaras Chakiiso Tuuri in the 1910s; Waako Oborra laid out the market where the town has since occupied. The community was important at the beginning as an assembly point for long-distance caravans because of its water, grazing and strategic location. In the 1930s, Swedish missionaries operated a small school in Kofele; they returned to the town after the Italian occupation. By 1956, however, the road connecting Kofele to Shashamene remained so poor that it took 6 hours to drive the 25 kilometers.

In one of his many published accounts of life in Kofele, P.T.W. Baxter records that in the 1969 Parliamentary elections that the two-seat constituency which included Kofele returned two Arsi Oromo members. Although Arsi made up the overwhelming majority of the electorate, this was the first time that two Arsi had been elected, Baxter explains, "because more Arssi had been persuaded to register and to vote." However the provincial governor ruled the results improper, disqualified one of the candidates, and ordered a fresh election. In the second election, Arsi Oromo voters were intimidated, and the majority prevented from voting with the result that a Christian northerner was elected. "The defeated candidate was transformed from a traditionalist and Government time-server into a tribal martyr," Baxter notes.

From the History section of Kofele on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Map of Kofelē

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Getting there and nearby towns

Hawassa Airport (AWA) is the nearest airport with scheduled flights listed in OpenStreetMap, 42 km away.

  • Shashamane 25 km northwest, about 25 min by car
  • Kuyera 30 km northwest, about 30 min by car
  • Awasa 34 km west, about 34 min by car
  • Arsi Negele 34 km north, about 34 min by car
  • Leku 43 km southwest, about 43 min by car
  • Dodola 45 km east, about 45 min by car
  • Āsasa 46 km east, about 46 min by car
  • Yirga ‘Alem 54 km southwest, about 54 min by car
  • Wendo 66 km southwest, about 1 h by car
  • Ch’iko 73 km southwest, about 1 h 15 min by car

Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.

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Sources and licences

Page built November 4, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us or suggest a place.