Soro (woreda)

Soro has 19 kilometers of all-weather roads and 48 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 54 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.^[1]

During the 2000 general elections, local police beat Selfamo Kintamo, an elderly supporter of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition (SEPDC) and the uncle of a SEPDC parliamentarian. The US Department of State reports this was because of Selfamo's support of the SEPDC.^[2] During the same election, an activist of the Hadiya National Democratic Organization and his wife were killed in Omoshoro kebele by a grenade allegedly thrown by a member of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) for reporting voting irregularities to the local representative of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE). When the teen-aged son of the dead couple learned of their deaths, he obtained a sword and sought the EPRDF member avenge his parents' death, but when he learned the party member had fled the scene, he instead killed the NEBE representative.^[3]

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this woreda has a total population of 188,858, of whom 94,363 are men and 94,495 women; 16,885 or 8.94% of its population are urban dwellers. The majority of the inhabitants were Protestants, with 88.14% of the population reporting that belief, 5.28% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 4.94% were Catholic.^[4]

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 287,589 of whom 143,835 were men and 143,754 were women; 9,578 or 3.33% of its population were urban dwellers. The five largest ethnic groups reported in Soro were the Hadiya (67.57%), Danta [Dubammo] (24.22%), the Kambaata (2.67%), the Timbaro (1.49%), and the Amhara (1.23%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.82% of the population. Hadiya was spoken as a first language by 84.13%, 3.0% Kizigna (Dubammo language), 2.17% Kambaata, 1.14% Tembaro, and 6.75% spoke Amharic; the remaining 2.81% spoke all other primary languages reported. 60.15% of the population said they were Protestants, 19.04% embraced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 11.39% were Catholic, 4.46% practiced traditional religions, and 0.95% were Muslim.^[5] Concerning education, 29.62% of the population were considered literate, which is less than the Zone average of 33.01%.^[6] Concerning sanitary conditions, 68.48% of the urban houses and 21.33% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; 51.53% of the urban and 9.49% of all houses had toilet facilities.^[7]

7°30′N 37°35′E / 7.500°N 37.583°E / 7.500; 37.583