Dolo

History

One of the earliest recorded mentions of Dolo was during Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis's campaign against the Borana, when he reached as far as Dolo in 1896-1897 and founded military garrisons in the region. Dolo was one of the markets on the trade route that stretched from Bardera through Luuq (in modern-day Somalia) to Ginir. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani started his attack in the Second Italian-Abyssinian War on 4 October 1935 and soon occupied Dolo. In December 1935, the Italians bombed a Swedish run Red Cross center in the Dolo hospital airstrike. He began his major large attack northwards on 10 January 1936. Dolo was one of several border points in the Ogaden where heavy fighting between Somalia and Ethiopia occurred during the first three months of 1964. In December 1972 Tenneco Oil Co. discovered a natural gas deposit yielding of gas a day at Dolo. This led to the border area between Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya being considered "politically hot".