The city is exclusively inhabited by the Somali ethnic group, with the Jibril Abokor sub divisions of the Sa'ad Musa subclan of the Habar Awal Isaaq, dominating both the town itself and the wider Wajaale district.

[1] According to the 2007 census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA) the Ethiopian part of the town (Togo Wuchale) had a population of 14,438.

[9] In January 2012, Human Right Watch criticized the Somaliland government for deporting political refugees from Ethiopia.

[14]: 18 In August 2011, it was announced that the Chinese oil company PetroTrans was planning to expand the port of Berbera to include a road to Wajaale for exports to Ethiopia.

[17] Beginning in the early 1960s, a conflict between the Jibril Abokor of Isaaq and the Reer Nuur of Gadabursi occurred, which affected Wajaale.

This conflict lasted for a long time in the areas inhabited by both clans, but reconciliation took place in Wajaale.

[18] In the 1964 Ethiopian-Somali War, fighting between Ethiopian and Somali forces occurred in Wajaale, largely destroying the town.

[21] In February 1997, UNICEF led discussions among the communities of Gabiley, Arabsiyo, and Wajaale on local health issues.

[22] When taxes on Somalis were raised in Ogaden, Ethiopia, the number of people migrating to the Somaliland border town of Wajaale surged, doubling its population.

[33] In August 2018, the Oromia-Somali clashes in Ethiopia destabilized the Somali region but kept calm in Wajaale, a Somaliland territory.