Heritage and its conservation in dire dawa: vanishing history of kezira

Urban centers are heritage by themselves. Cultural heritages are non renewable and non replaceable. Once destroyed, it has gone for good and could not be revived, and replaced in its authentic form. Heritage need protection by laws. In the absence of protective laws, cities would be destroyed by regeneration. The article is aimed at exploring the status of Cultural Heritage in the city of Dire Dawa with particular emphasis on Kezira quarter. This is mainly because some of cultural heritage of Kezira has gone. The study revealed that Kezira’s landscape is under major menace of Local Development Project, which has already demolished some of its cultural heritage, hence in appalling condition to vanish its history and identity. The main driving force is the Local Development Project. The absence of strong and effective relevant legislation has given an impetus to LDP. The legal framework for Heritage Conservation of the city has gaps as shown from its failure stop the indiscriminate destruction of its heritage. Failure to address each other among various offices of the city, lack of awareness and lack of commitment are among the factors that contribute to the destruction of cultural heritage, thus vanishing history of Kezira. The article concluded that the condition is more serious that need immediate intervention. Kezira and its landscape deserve designation as cultural heritage of Ethiopia. It recommended the possible solutions for saving kezira’s heritage through Historic landscape strategy, thereby protecting the history of Dire Dawa. This article is a kind of a call to conserve the cultural heritage of Kezira and its history threatened by local development project.