In its early history Aussa appears to neighbor the powerful
Mora state in medieval times. Aussa was once home to the extinct
Harla people, their moniker still exists within clans in rural areas. Aussa is unique to the Afar region since it is the only area today that Afar people are engaged in agriculture. Farming was established by Harla as far back as the fourteenth century. The town also seems to have been a haven for mutineers of the
Harari kingdom early on. In the middle of the 16th century Aussa is mentioned in texts as part of the
Harar based
Adal Sultanate, the ruler of Aussa in this period was known as
Hegano. Aussa became prominent when it served as capital of the
Adal Sultanate in 1577. After Adal's demise, the Imamate of Aussa was established by Hararis and continued ruling the southern parts of Afar region until they were overthrown in the eighteenth century by the
Mudaito dynasty of
Afar who later established the
Sultanate of Aussa. In 1960 it was reported Aussa consisted of numerous clans with various origins, who each had a religious leader with the title
Kabirto, Sharifa, Saido or Harara. Asaita was flooded by the
Awash River in August 1954, and again in September, 1998.
Jon Kalb, who was working in the Afar region at the time, provides a narrative which reconciles the two accounts. According to Kalb, Ras Alimirah had fled in May across the border to Djibouti, where his brother-in-law was in charge. : Apparently the flight coincided with a preemptive strike by the Afar on several key bridges and military garrisons to aid the Sultan's [Alimirah] escape. The ensuing attack on the
Tendaho Plantation by the Afar, and the killing of the several hundred highlanders, may have also been a spontaneous reaction by the Awsa population to the news that the Sultan had been forced to flee. Whatever the cause, the retaliation by the military was predictably brutal. A battalion of troops was sent to Awsa... [and] a two-day battle ensued, during which a reported 1000 Afar were killed in and around Aysaita. Following the fall of the
Derg, Ras Alimirah, who had in the meantime founded the
Afar Liberation Front (ALF), returned to Asaita with his son,
Hanfadhe Alimirah. However, on 8 November 1995,
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) troops surrounded their family residence in Assayita, then after exchanging gunfire overpowered Alimirah's guards, and entered the residence, where they confiscated weapons and other items. According to observers, this action against the Sultan and the ALF was another effort to reduce his influence in the Afar Region. Despite the EPRDF's persistent efforts to bring the group under its control, the ALF is said to have remained independent. ==Climate==