Al Wahat District

Al Wahat (الواحات)
District
Fatimid castle
Country  Libya
Capital Ajdabiya
Population 177,047 (2012) [1]
Map of Libya with Al Wahat district highlighted

Al Wahat (Arabic: الواحات‎‎ Al Wāḥāt, English: The Oases), occasionally spelt Al Wahad or Al Wahah (English: The Oasis) is one of the districts of Libya.[2][3][4] Its capital and largest city is Ajdabiya.

History

Ajdabiya museum

Traditionally Al Wahat was the western part of Cyrenaica. With the division of Libya into ten governorates in 1963, Al Wahat became part of the Misrata Governorate. In the 1973 reorganization it became part of Al Khalji Governorate.[5] In 1983 Al Khalji was divided into a number of baladiyat (districts), with what is now Al Wahat being included in the Ajdabiya baladiyah and the Jalu baladiyah. In the 1988 reorganization, Jalu was subsumed within Ajdabiya baladiyah. The status of the area in the reorganization of 1995 which created thirteen districts is unclear; however, in the 1998 reorganization into twenty-six districts, the name "Al-Wahad" appears as a district for the first time.[3] In 2001 the area was divided between Al Wahat District and Ajdabiya District.[2] In 2007 the former Al Wahat district (area:108,670 km2) was enlarged to include what had been the Ajdabiya District and part of Kufra District.[4] It now has essentially the boundaries that the baladiyah (district) of Ajdabiya did from 1988 to 1995.[6]

Geography

Al Wahat has a short border with Egypt, and borders the following Libyan districts, namely, Butnan in east and northeast, Kufra in south, Jufra in southwest, Sirte in west, Benghazi in north, Marj in north, Jabal al Akhdar and Derna in the north. The district is lcoated in Cyrenacia, the largest geographical division in Libya, which is mostly semi arid in nature. The region receives an annual rainfall of 5 in (130 mm). There are no perennial rivers in the region, but the region is abundant with groundwater aquifers.[7] Libya has mostly a flat undulating plain and occassional plateau, with an average elevation of around 423 m (1,388 ft). Around 91 per cent of the land is covered by desert, with only 8.8 per cent agricultural land (with only 1 % arable lands) and 0.1 per cent of forests. It is desert climate in most of the parts of the district. Dust storms lasting four to eight days is pretty common during Spring.[8] Triplotania is the northwest region, while it is Cyrenacia in the east and Fezzen in southwest.[9]

Demographics

Al Wahat District from 2001 to 2007

Per 2006 census, there were totally 54,593 economically active people in the district. There were 20,225 government employees, 6,585 employers, 23,074 first level workers and 024 second level workers. There were 9,586 workers in state administration, 7,212 in agriculture, animal husbandary and forestry, 7,621 in agriculutre & hunting, 8,715 in education, 8,517 in private enterprises, 1,820 in health & social work, 4,340 in production, 9,931 in technical work and 492 service workers. The total enrollment in schools was 61,849 and the number of people above secondary stage and less than graduation was 3,882.[10] As per the report from World Health Organization (WHO), there were 2 communicable disease centres, 4 dental clinics, 2 general clinics, 0 in-patient clinics, 10 out-patient clinics, 27 pharmacies, 47 PHC centres, 1 polyclinics, 1 rural clinics and 0 specialized clinics.[11]

Administrative subdivisions

As of the 2007 reorganization, Al Wahat District was subdivided into seventeen Basic People's Congresses, namely, Zueitina, East Ajdabiya, West Ajdabiya, North Ajdabiya, Brega, Bashir, Sultan, al`Arqub, El Agheila, Albydan, Antalat, Marsa Brega, Alguenan, Awjila, Jalu, Jikharra and Maradah. The following major towns are located within Al Wahat District, as of 2007: Ajdabiya, Awjila, Labba, El Agheila, Jalu, Jikharra and Sultan.[4] Libya became independent in 1951 from the colonial empire and generally known for its oil rich resources.[12] As a part of decentralization in 2012, the country is administratively split into 13 regions from the original 25 municipalities, which were further divided in 1,500 communes.[6] As of 2016, there were 22 administrative divisions in the country in the form of districts.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "الواحات (Population statistics 2006: Al-Wahat)" (in Arabic). General Information Authority, Government of Libya. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Statoids reports 177,047 "Districts of libya". statoids.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Districts of libya". statoids.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  3. 1 2 Statesman's Yearbook 2006
  4. 1 2 3 "شعبيات الجماهيرية العظمى – Sha'biyat of Great Jamahiriya" (in Arabic). G.P.C.O. of the Government of Libya. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Map of the ten governorates of Libya", Area Handbook for Libya, United States Library of Congress
  6. 1 2 Great Socialist People's Libyan Arag Jamahiriya Public Administration and Country profile (PDF) (Report). Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations. 2004. p. 9. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  7. ↑ McColl, R. W. (2014). Encyclopedia of World Geography, Volume 1. Infobase Publishing. p. 543. ISBN 9780816072293.
  8. 1 2 "Libya profile". 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Otman, Waniss; Karlberg, Erling (2007). The Libyan Economy: Economic Diversification and International Repositioning. Springer Science & Business Media,. pp. 1–3. ISBN 9783540464631.
  10. ↑ "Census of Libya". General Information Authority, Libya. 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "Health statistics of Libya". World Health Organization (WHO). 2007. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Libya profile - Timeline". BBC. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.

External links

Coordinates: 30°N 22°E / 30°N 22°E / 30; 22

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