{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} <!-- Infobox begins here; main text of article is below --> {{Infobox settlement | native_name = ሰለኽለኻ | pushpin_map = Ethiopia | pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ethiopia | pushpin_mapsize = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Ethiopia | subdivision_type1 = Region | subdivision_name1 = Tigray | subdivision_type2 = Zone | subdivision_name2 = Semien Mi'irabawi (North Western) | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 = <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager --> | leader_name1 = | established_title = | established_date = | unit_pref = <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired--> | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion--> | area_land_km2 = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion--> | area_water_km2 = | area_total_sq_mi = | area_land_sq_mi = | area_water_sq_mi = | area_water_percent = | area_urban_km2 = | area_urban_sq_mi = | area_metro_km2 = | area_metro_sq_mi = | population_as_of = 2005 | population_footnotes = | population_note = | population_total = 7,391 | population_density_km2 = | population_density_sq_mi = | population_metro = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_urban = | population_density_urban_km2 = | population_density_urban_sq_mi = | population_blank1_title = | population_blank1 = | population_density_blank1_km2 = | population_density_blank1_sq_mi = | utc_offset = +3 | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|14|07|N|38|29|E|region:ET|display=inline,title}} | elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags--> | elevation_m = 1972 | elevation_ft = | postal_code_type = <!-- enter ZIP code, Postcode, Post code, Postal code... --> | postal_code = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = | native_name_lang = ti | timezone1 = East Africa Time }} <!-- Infobox ends; main text of article begins on next line --> '''Selekleka''' ({{Langx|ti|ሰለኽለኻ}}; also transliterated as '''Selekhlekha''', '''Selekhlekha''' or '''Selekh Lekha''') is a town in North Western Zone, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Mi'irabawi (North Western) Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of {{coord|14|07|N|38|29|E}} with an elevation of 2107 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Medebay Zana woreda.
This town serves as the primary market center for much of the surrounding area. Sorghum and finger millet are brought from the lowland portions of La'ilay and Tahtay Adiyabo for sale.<ref>[http://www.dppc.gov.et/Livelihoods/Tigray/Downloadable/Tigray%20Livelihood%20Zone%20Reports/MRB.pdf "Livelihood Profile: Tigray Region, Ethiopia: Mereb Basin Livelihood Zone, February 2007"], Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency of Ethiopia website (accessed 14 October)</ref>
== History == Selekh Lekha is mentioned in the ''Royal Chronicle'' as where ''Ras'' Mikael Sehul and his puppet Emperor Tekle Haymanot II spent one night in June 1770 during their campaign through Tigray. The chronicler describes the place as "a holy land where there is no breath of scandal."<ref>H. Weld Blundell, ''The Royal chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769-1840'' (Cambridge: University Press, 1922), p. 220</ref>
Two British hunters passed through Selekh Lekha and its neighbor Beles in January 1923, later describing the settlements in unflattering and dismissive words. In February 1936, during the opening moves of the Second Italian-Abyssinian War, the Blackshirt "21st April" Division, with the "Gavininana" and "Gran Sasso" Divisions clashed with the soldiers of Ras Imru Haile Selassie near Selekh Lekha, as part of the Battle of Shire.<ref name=NAI-web>[http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/s/ORTSEK.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528230857/http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/s/ORTSEK.pdf |date=28 May 2011 }} The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 6 December 2007)</ref>
During the Italian occupation, a leprosarium was built in Selekh Lekha; this was abandoned by its Italian staff on 30 March 1941, and later pillaged and destroyed by the locals.<ref name=NAI-web/> The town was later the center of heavy fighting between the 604th Army Corps of the Derg's Third Revolutionary Army and troops of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front during the Battle of Shire, which ended on 19 February 1989 with a crushing defeat for the Derg.<ref>Gebru Tareke, ''The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa'' (New Haven: Yale University, 2009), pp. 266 - 285</ref>
== Demographics == Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Selekh Lekha has an estimated total population of 7,391, of whom 3,529 are men and 3,862 are women.<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics], Table B.4</ref> The 1994 census reported it had a total population of 4252 of whom 1,879 were males and 2,373 were females.
== Notes == {{reflist}}
Category:Populated places in the Tigray Region