Located in the West Hararghe Zone in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia Ahmar Mountains, it has a latitude and longitude of 9°05′N 40°52′E / 9.083°N 40.867°E / 9.083; 40.867 and an altitude of 1826 meters above sea level.

The walls had shed their meagre mud linings, and a few of the buildings tilted to one side or another, making it as dangerous a proposition to stand in their scant shade as to live in them."

His opinion of the inhabitants is equally unkind, detailing how at night the marketplace was transformed into a stage where drunken peasants perpetuated blood feuds generations old.

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.

[1] When Nega Mezlekia visited the town the following year, he learned that the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and Oromo National Liberation Movement were more active around Chiro than in the rest of the province.