 From documents captured by the soldiers, they learned that this group, who shortly afterwards organized themselves as the Afar National Liberation Movement, was leftist in political orientation and unaffiliated with the Afar Liberation Front of Sultan Alimirah Hanfadhe, and subsequently brokered a peace treaty with them which led the Derg to include a clause in their Program for the National Democratic Revolution which recognized the rights of the nationalities of Ethiopia.On 4 February 2007, the Afar Regional Cabinet approved the division of this woreda, creating a new woreda out of the northwestern part next to Administrative Zone 2 to the border with Eritrea, centered on Biru.Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this woreda has a total population of 58,087, of whom 31,780 are men and 26,307 women; with an area of 11,636.48 square kilometers, Elidar has a population density of 4.99.