page_title: Dembidolo
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dembidolo / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Saio heights in Ethiopia
context_page_description: Dembi Dollo, formerly Sayo or Saïo, is a market town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. It is the capital of Kelam Welega Zone of the Oromia Region. This town has a latitude and longitude of 8°32′N 34°48′E with an elevation between 1701 and 1827 meters above sea level.
  Dambi Dolo is known for goldsmith work and for tej production. The town also possesses an airport.
context_section_description: Originally known as Sayo, after the semi-autonomous kingdom that had ruled in this area in the years after 1900, by 1920 this town served as the seat of the governors of this part of south-western Ethiopia until the Italian conquest. Richard Pankhurst notes that during this period Dembidolo was "a great commercial centre for coffee, where by the 1930s perhaps 500,000 kilos of beans, besides large quantities of wax and skins, were exported every year to the Sudan." Emperor Iyasu V visited Dembidolo around 1912, and was welcomed by Dejazmach Jote.
  By 1958 Dembi Dollo became one of 27 places in Ethiopia ranked as First Class Township. That same year, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia opened a branch in the town.
  The last military action of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) before the demise of the Derg 1991 occurred at Dembi Dollo, when some of its units reportedly killed more than 700 government soldiers. Afterwards, the OLF assumed civilian control of Dembi Dollo and its surrounding territory. However, when the OLF found that their efforts to field candidates in the rest of the Oromia region were frustrated by the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization the OLF withdrew from the government in 1992. This proved to be a disaster for the OLF, as EPRDF forces captured Dembi Dollo and forcibly drove the OLF membership into exile.
  Currently a modern water supply system is under construction in the town and will be completed by October 2017.
caption: Saïo heights, circa 1942
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