Chiro (town): History
Chiro was founded around 1924 by Fitawrari Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam in a picturesque woody depression at the upper part of the Chiro valley. It was the capital of the former "model" province of Chercher, created as part of Emperor Haile Selassie's campaign of modernization in the 1930s. The receveur of the post office was Dejene Habte Wolde around 1931.
During the 1950s, the coffee plantations around the town were small yet yielded a relatively high production. In 1958, Chiro was one of 27 places in Ethiopia officially ranked as First Class Township. The Ethiopian News Agency reported in mid-July 1976 that negotiations held at Chiro by representatives of hostile groups of the Afars and Issas had led to a peace agreement.
When Nega Mezlekia visited the town in 1977, he learned that the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and Oromo Liberation Front were more active around Chiro than in the rest of the province. "There was a strong peasant base around the town that provided a great deal of support for the party. The forest cover in the areas nearby furnished hideout." However, when he returned the next year, he found the town far more peaceful. "It seemed that most of the threatening political opponents of the regime were dead, in exile or rotting in prison, and the going was good for those in power."