Dire Dawa: Random Thoughts On a CentenaryADDIS ABABA, 17 JAN 2003 (ADDIS TRIBUNE)--On December 23, 1902, the first train of the Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer Ethiopiens or as the French railway was known then reached the hastily built station in the valley of Dire Dawa. This was five years after the rail tracks started to be laid inland from Djibouti, the newly founded port capital of Côte Française des Somalis or the French Somaliland.