Historian Shiferaw Bekele noted: The officials shared certain important characteristics which sharply set them apart from the general run of Ethiopian officialdom at the time… Almost in every province, one would meet one or two men who belonged to this category. However, in no other much concentration as in Dire Dawa. Shiferaw, who is an expert on the early history of Dire Dawa, went on to say: The Dire Dawan officialdom invariably spoke at least one European language. Even the earliest, Mersha, spoke French. A good number of them were highly educated. Afework Gebre Yesus and Gebre Hiwot Baykedagn who were the directors of Customs had had long years of stay in Europe where they had attained a tertiary level education. Beshah Wured was educated in the United States. The rest had gone to Mission schools. Mersha served as governor from 1902 until 1906. He was in charge of administrative as well as judicial affairs. He even held courts "under a tree" in the early years of his tenure. He was succeeded by Ato Negatu Gugsa. The Dire Dawa municipality did not emerge until sometime between 1915 and 1920. Chief of railway security The agreements signed by the Ethiopian government and the railway company required Ethiopia to deploy a police force to safeguard the line and safety of employees. The mission was extremely dangerous due to local hostilities. Mersha became head of railway security full-time in 1906. His strategy for success included working with local chiefs and leaders. In fact he also assumed the position of chief of the Issa territory which much of the opposition to the construction came from. Shiferaw Bekele wrote: As the governor of the province through with the line passed, he (i.e. Ato Mersha) was responsible for the peace and security of the line. He posted detachments of troops all along the line. He carried out negotiations with all the important chiefs of the Afar and Somali tribes in the region. He received orders from Ras Mekonnen and from Menelik. He was in charge of the recruitment, training of the security personnel; negotiated their wage with the company; and settled disputes. He had always been the middle man between the railway company and Ethiopians. That involved making sure that the company honored its contractual obligations as well. As early as September 1900, for example, Mr. J. Gerolimato, the British consul agent in Harar, sent the