Elidar is a town in northeastern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Located in Administrative Zone 1

Administrative Zone 1 (Afar)

Administrative Zone 1 is one of five Zones of the Afar Region of Ethiopia. This zone is bordered on the south by Administrative Zone 3, on the southwest by Administrative Zone 5, on the west by the Amhara Region, on the northwest by Administrative Zones 4 and 2, on the north by Eritrea, and on the...

 of the Afar Region

Afar Region

Afar is one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people. Formerly known as Region 2, its current capital is Asayita; a new capital named Semera on the paved Awash - Asseb highway is under construction....

, in the angle formed by the border with Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

 to the south, and Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

 to the northeast, it has a latitude and longitude of 12°3′N 41°55′E with an elevation of 418 meters above sea level. Elidar is named for the salt pan

Dry lake

Dry lakes are ephemeral lakebeds, or a remnant of an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Dry lakes are also referred to as alkali flats, sabkhas, playas or mud flats...

 that occupies the eastern end of Elidar

Elidar (woreda)

Elidar is one of the 29 woredas in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Administrative Zone 1, Elidar is bordered on the south by the Awash River which separates it from Asayita, on the west by Dubti, on the northwest by the Administrative Zone 2, on the northeast by Eritrea, and on the east...

 woreda.

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 2228, of whom 1232 were males and 996 were females.

History

Elidar existed at least as early as the 1930s, the period the Swiss wife of an Italian engineer recalled visiting a military fort there in her memoirs. Philip Briggs described Elidar (which he calls "Dobi") 60 years later as "little more than a collection of rickety shacks that provide shelter from the sun and sell lukewarm soda and beer."

During the Eritrean-Ethiopian War

Eritrean-Ethiopian War

The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, forming one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa...

, displaced Afar

Afar people

The Afar , also known as the Danakil, are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although some also inhabit the southern point of Eritrea.-Early history:...

 and non-Afar people from Asseb and Bure took refuge at Elidar, before being transported to Logiya and Mille, both of which had better resources to handle these refugees. Some of the displaced people were sheltered at the local school.