Shilavo (
Somali Shilaabo; also spelled "Scilave", "Shelabo") is a town of the
Ethiopian part of the
Ogaden. Located in the
Korahe Zone of the
Somali Region, the town has a latitude and longitude of
6°06'N 44°46'E? / ?6.1°N 44.767°E? / 6.1; 44.767Coordinates 6°06'N 44°46'E? / ?6.1°N 44.767°E? / 6.1; 44.767 with an elevation of 395 meters above sea level. it is the administrative center of
Shilavo woreda.
Shilavo hosts an airport ( IATA code HIL) with an unpaved runway, the destination of scheduled flights by Ethiopian Airlines.
Dr G. Agge passed through the area in the 1930s, and later wrote that he encountered groves of acacia trees around a spring of brackish and sulphurous water. Some ten years previous to his arrival, there had been a fight between Somali and Italian soldiers, and bones of the dead could be seen in the grass. The details about the battle were contradictory one source claims they were Somali that the Italians had hunted down and killed, while another claimed that the Somali had slaughtered the Italians. By June 1935, the Ethiopian government had installed a garrison of 200 soldiers at Shilavo.[1]
The former President of nearby Somalia, Maj. General Mohamed Siyad Barre, was born in Shilavo, although he later claimed he was born in Garbahaarreey so he would be eligible to serve in the Italian colonial police force.[2]
