The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles (345 km) north of Mogadishu.

[2] During the Ethiopian invasion that occurred during June 1982, Beledweyne was a primary objective before driving onto the Somali coastline.

[3] On 30 June 1982[4] the first offensive came at the border town of Ferfer a few kilometers away from the city, in an attempt to capture the high ground overlooking a vital roadway connecting north and south Somalia.

[9] In April 2008 al-Shabaab fighters killed British/Somalian Headteacher Daud Ali and three of his teachers at the Hiran Educational Project in Beledweyne.

This project had been started by Mr Ali to provide a British type education to primary-aged children in the war-torn region.

Two hundred delegates took part in the contest, which was overseen by the Hiran region's head of elections, Sadaq Omar Sabriye.

[13] To further tighten up on security, Beledweyne municipality over a three-day period started simultaneously registering all local residents.

[13] In July 2012, his administration imposed a two-day night-time curfew in Beledweyne, while government soldiers demolished structures that had been illegally erected along the area's main road in one of the Municipality's first urban renewal initiatives.