Welkait

Welkait ወልቃይት Wolkait
Woreda
Welkait highlighted in red
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Tigray
Area
• Total	3,374.52 km2 (1,302.91 sq mi)
Population  (2007)
• Total	138,926

Welkait (also spelled Welkayt, Wolkait or Wolqayt) is a woreda in Western Zone, Tigray Region. This woreda is bordered to the north by Humera and to the south by Tsegede. It is bordered on the east by the North West Zone; the woredas of Tahtay Adiyabo and Asgede Tsimbla lie to the north-east, on the other side of the Tekezé River, and Tselemti to the east. The administrative center of Welkait is Addi Remets; other towns in the woreda include Mai'gaba and Awura.

Map from 1935 with Welkait as its own region

Overview and History

See also: Welkait question

Following the fall of the communist Derg regime and ascension to power of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the region incorporated into the Tigray Region due to its historical ties to the Tigray people.

Welkait was historically its own province until 1944 when it was incorporated into Begmeder. This decision by Haile Selassie aimed to punish Tigray for the first Woyane rebellion. The uprising, led by Tigrayan farmers, was a response to Haile Selassie's plans to centralize power in Ethiopia around the government in Shewa, which went against the Tigrayan people's desire for self-determination.

Following the suppression of the rebellion, Haile Selassie assigned Welkait to Begmeder to allow the Amhara-led elite in Begmeder to control the area and weaken Tigrayan unity, preventing further uprisings. Ras Mengesha Seyoum, the last monarch prince in Tigray, attested to the fact that, during his youth, all of Western Tigray and Southern Tigray to Alwuha Milash was known to be ethnically Tigrayan. However, portions of Western Tigray and Southern Tigray were taken from Tigray in the 1940s by Haile Selassie as a punitive measure and to expand Amhara influence. TPLF used this to justify the incorporation of Welkait into the Tigray region.

Welkait is known for its fertile alluvial soil, which grows cash crops such sesame, cotton and also sorghum.

Demographics

The ethnic make up of the region is widely disputed. This question was intensified with its incorporation into the Tigray region. According to a demographic analysis done by the Derg regime about the population of the larger Begmeder province, the population of Welkait in 1984 was 221,692 residents. The same analysis stated that the Tigrayan population of Begmeder was 190,183 people, which made Tigrayans the second largest ethnicity. The study provided evidence that Tigrayans were a majority in Welkait. Multiple linguistic and ethnic maps supporting the population's majority Tigrayan ethnicity. The American sociologist and author Donald N. Levine and the Kenyan politician Peter Anyang' Nyong'o both, prior to Welkait's incorporation into the Tigray region claimed that Welkait was ethnically and linguistically Tigrayan with their respective works, "Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture" and "Class Struggle and the Problem in Eritrea".

However there are arguments made against these claims. That Welkait is historically and ethnically Amhara. These claims come from the idea that TPLF incorporated Welkait into the Tigray region to create a border between Tigray and Sudan. The Welkait comitte was created in Gonder as a response to the incorporation of Welkait into the Tigray region, asking for the Welkait to be incorporated into the Amhara region. There are documents proving that Welkait is historically and majority Amhara and therefore justifying the incorporation of Welkait into Amhara region.

Based on the 2007 census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 138,926, an increase of 90,186 over the 1994 national census, of whom 70,504 are men and 68,422 women; 10,758 or 7.74% are urban inhabitants. With an area of 3,374.52 km² (1,302.91 sq mi), Wolqayt has a population density of 41.17 /km², which is greater than the Zone average of 28.94/km². A total of 30,375 households were counted in this woreda, resulting in an average of 4.57 persons in a household, and 29,336 housing units. The majority of the inhabitants said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 97.28% reporting that as their religion, while 2.71% of the population were Muslim.

The 1994 national census reported a total population for this woreda of 90,186, of whom 45,657 were men and 44,529 were women; 4,597 or 5.1% of its population were urban dwellers. The two largest ethnic groups reported in Wolqayt were the Tigrayan (96.58%), and the Amhara (3.03%); all other ethnic groups made up 0.39% of the population. Tigrinya is spoken as a first language by 97.14%, and 2.75% speak Amharic; the remaining 0.11% spoke all other primary languages reported. 96.75% of the population said they were Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, and 3.09% were Muslim. Concerning education, 3.9% of the population were considered literate, which is less than the Zone average of 9.01%; 3.36% of children aged 7–12 were in primary school, which is less than the Zone average of 11.34%; a negligible number of the children aged 13–14 were in junior secondary school, which is also less than the Zone average of 0.65%; and a negligible number of children aged 15–18 were in senior secondary school, which is less than the Zone average of 0.51%. Concerning sanitary conditions, about 1% of the urban houses and about 8% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census; about 4% of the urban and about 4% of all houses had toilet facilities.

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group	1994 Census	2007 Census*
Tigrayan (Tigrinya) people	96.58%	93.52%
Amhara	3.03%	6.48%
Kunama	-	0.31%
Oromo	-	0.35%
Eritreans	0.21%	0.03%
Afar	0.02%	0.02%
Agaw	0.04%	0.10%
Irob	-	0.11%
Sudanese		0.07%

*Urban and Rural Mi'irabawi Zone statistics because none are available for Welkait specifically.

Mother Language

Language	1994 Census	2007 Census*
Tigrinya	97.14%	86.73%
Amharic	2.75%	12.18%
Afaan Oromo	0.01%	0.33%
Kunama	-	0.32%
Agaw	0.06%	0.09%

*Urban and Rural Mi'irabawi Zone statistics because none are available for Welkait specifically.

Religion

Religion	1994 Census	2007 Census
Orthodox Christian	96.75%	97.28%
Protestant	0.03%	-
Muslim	3.09%	2.71%

Economy

Agriculture

A sample enumeration performed by the CSA in 2001 interviewed 24,417 farmers in this woreda, who held an average of 0.99 hectares of land. Of the 24,286 hectares of private land surveyed, over 86.69% was in cultivation, 1.27% pasture, 10.37% fallow, 0.03% in woodland, and 1.65% was devoted to other uses. For the land under cultivation in this woreda, 63.29% was planted in cereals, 4.19% in pulses, 18.24% in oilseeds, and 0.17% in vegetables is missing. The area planted in gesho was 25 hectares; the area in fruit trees is missing. 79.64% of the farmers both raised crops and livestock, while 10.96% only grew crops and 9.4% only raised livestock. Land tenure in this woreda is distributed amongst 73.93% owning their land, 25.09% renting, and 0.98% reported as holding their land under other forms of tenure. The intensive agriculture is necessary to feed people of the region due to the burgeoning human population, but continuing conversion of natural lands to agriculture is taking a toll on biodiversity in the area.

Sugar industry

The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation is building a sugar mill in Welkait region.

Transportation

Ground Travel

In May 2010 construction was underway on a 98-kilometer road westwards from Adi Remets to Dejena Densha; construction of a road in the other direction, eastwards from Adi Remets to Dedebit in Asgede Tsimbla woreda, was awarded that month to Sur Construction for 801 million birr.

2020 woreda reorganisation

In 2020, Welkait woreda became inoperative and its territory belongs to the following new woredas:

• Welkait (new, smaller, woreda)
• Awra woreda
• Korarit woreda
• May Gaba town