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Tifariti
Tifariti () is an oasis town and the temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, located in north-eastern Western Sahara, east of the Moroccan Berm, from Smara and north of the border with Mauritania. It is part of what Polisario Front calls the '' Liberated Territories'' and Morocco call the ''Buffer Zone''. It has been the ''de facto'' temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic since the government moved there in 2008 from Bir Lehlou. It is the headquarters of the 2nd military region of the SADR. It is also the name of a '' daïra'' of the '' wilaya'' of Smara, in the Sahrawi refugee camps. In 2010, the population of Tifariti was estimated at 3,000 people. Tifariti is located between Smara, the traditional spiritual centre of the Sahara founded by Ma El Ainin, ( away) and the Algerian town of Tindouf ( away), where the Sahrawi refugee camps are located. The government quarter of Tifariti houses the Parliament of the SADR, a hospital, a ...
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Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is military occupation, occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated territory in Africa and the list of countries and dependencies by population density, second most sparsely populated territory in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara. Previously occupied by Spain (Spanish Colony) as the Spanish Sahara until 1975, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand. In 1965, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonization, de ...
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Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only the easternmost one-fifth of that territory. It is recognized by 44 UN member states and South Ossetia. Between 1884 and 1975, Western Sahara was known as Spanish Sahara, a Spanish colony (later an overseas province). The SADR is one of the two African states in which Spanish is a significant language, the other being Equatorial Guinea. The SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlou, Western Sahara. The SADR government calls the territories under its control the ''Liberated Territories'' or the '' Free Zone''. Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory, and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The claimed capital city of the SADR is Laayoune (the capital of the territ ...
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Free Zone (region)
The Free Zone or Liberated Territories () is a term used by the Polisario Front government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognized sovereign state in the western Maghreb, to describe the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of a border wall flanked by a minefield, often referred as the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall, Berm, and to the west and north of the borders with Algeria and Mauritania, respectively. It is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as opposed to the area to the west of the Berm, which is controlled by Morocco as part of its Southern Provinces. Both states claim the entirety of Western Sahara as their territory. The zone was consolidated as a Polisario-held zone in a 1991 cease-fire between the Polisario Front and Morocco, which had been agreed upon together as part of the Settlement Plan. Morocco controls the Southern Provinces, areas west of the Berm, including most of the te ...
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Sahrawi National Council
The Sahrawi National Council (SNC; , ) or Sahrawi Parliament is the legislature of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Its structure and competences are guided by the Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The present speaker since 2020 is Hamma Salama. It was first created by Polisario Front members and Sahrawi tribal notables as the Provisionary National Council in April or November 1975, after the proclamation of Guelta Zemmur. On February 27, 1976, POLISARIO leader El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed announced that the Council had declared the creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, of which it became the first parliament. On the POLISARIO's III General Popular Congress (August 26–30, 1976), a newly elected membership was formally installed as the Sahrawi National Council. The SNC is a unicameral body, with 53 seats, elected every two years (since the XIII POLISARIO Congress) at the General Popular Congresses by delegates from the Sahrawi refug ...
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Polisario Front
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupation of Western Sahara through the means of self-determination and Wars of national liberation, armed resistance. Tracing its origin to a Sahrawi nationalist organization known as the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab, the Polisario Front was formally constituted in 1973 with the intention of launching an armed struggle against the Spanish Sahara, Spanish occupation which lasted until 1975, when the Spanish decided to allow Mauritania and Morocco to partition and occupy the territory. The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, and Western Sahara War, waged a war to drive out the two armies. It forced Mauritania to relinquish its claim over Western Sahara in ...
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Bir Lehlou
Bir Lehlou (also transliterated ''Bir Lahlou'', ''Bir Lehlu'' Arabic language, Arabic: بئر الحلو) is an oasis town in north-eastern Western Sahara, 236 km from Smara, near the Mauritanian border and east of the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall, border wall, in Polisario Front-held territory. It has a pharmacy, a school and a mosque. It is the head of the 5th military region of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and was the factual temporary capital of SADR until Tifariti became the temporary capital in 2008. It is also the name of a Daïra of the Wilaya of Smara, in the Refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria, Sahrawi refugee camps. The name "Bir Lehlou" is transcribed from Maghrebi Arabic, and means "the sweet (meaning palatable or non-salty) water well". The Modern Standard Arabic transcription would be "bir al Halou" (بئر الحلو). History The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic with an exiled government seated earlier in Tindouf, Algeria, administered Bir Lehl ...
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Temporary Capital
A temporary capital or a provisional capital is a city or town chosen by a government as an interim base of operations due to some difficulty in retaining or establishing control of a different metropolitan area. The most common circumstances leading to this are either a civil war, where control of the capital is contested, or during an invasion, where the designated capital is taken or threatened. By definition, a temporary capital is located somewhere on the country's territory, as opposed to a capital-in-exile located on the territory of a different country. However, a country's capital may move in and out of exile over the course of a conflict. The following list is sorted by the most recent date the temporary capital's status existed. Current * Due to the ongoing Yemeni civil war, Yemen has declared Aden as its provisional capital while its ''de jure'' capital Sana'a is controlled by the rebel Houthis. The declaration was made by then- President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Had ...
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Sahrawi Refugee Camps
The Sahrawi refugee camps (; ), also known as the Tindouf camps, are a collection of refugee camps set up in the Tindouf Province, Algeria, in 1975–76 for Sahrawi refugees fleeing from Moroccan forces, who advanced through Western Sahara during the Western Sahara War. With most of the original refugees still living in the camps, the situation is among the most protracted in the world. The limited opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh desert environment have forced the refugees to rely on international humanitarian assistance for their survival. However, the Tindouf camps differ from the majority of refugee camps in the level of self-organization. Most affairs and camp life organization are run by the refugees themselves, with little outside interference. The camps are divided into five (districts) named after towns in Western Sahara; El Aaiun, Awserd, Smara, Dakhla and more recently Cape Bojador (or the daira of Bojador). In addition, there is a smaller satelli ...
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Mauritania–Western Sahara Border
The Mauritania–Western Sahara border is in length and runs from the tripoint with Algeria in the north-east to the Atlantic Ocean in the south-west. Description The border starts in the north at the tripoint with Algeria, proceeding south in a straight of , then turning west following the 26th parallel north for , then turning south along the 12th meridian west for . The border then turns to the south-west via a broad arc down to 21°20'N, following this parallel westwards for . Just south of Guerguerat the border turns south, bisecting the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula and terminating at its tip on the Atlantic Coast. History The border emerged during the 'Scramble for Africa', a period of intense competition between European powers in the later 19th century for territory and influence in Africa. The process culminated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, in which the European nations concerned agreed upon their respective territorial claims and the rules of engagements going for ...
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Berm (Western Sahara)
The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (), is an approximately berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separates the Moroccan-controlled areas (the Southern Provinces) on the west from the Polisario-controlled areas ( Free Zone, nominally Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) on the east. The main function of the barriers is to exclude guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, who have sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975, from the Moroccan-controlled western part of the territory. According to maps from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in many places the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory. Names The wall is also called the Western Sahara berm and the Western Sahara separat ...
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Temporary Capital
A temporary capital or a provisional capital is a city or town chosen by a government as an interim base of operations due to some difficulty in retaining or establishing control of a different metropolitan area. The most common circumstances leading to this are either a civil war, where control of the capital is contested, or during an invasion, where the designated capital is taken or threatened. By definition, a temporary capital is located somewhere on the country's territory, as opposed to a capital-in-exile located on the territory of a different country. However, a country's capital may move in and out of exile over the course of a conflict. The following list is sorted by the most recent date the temporary capital's status existed. Current * Due to the ongoing Yemeni civil war, Yemen has declared Aden as its provisional capital while its ''de jure'' capital Sana'a is controlled by the rebel Houthis. The declaration was made by then- President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Had ...
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Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBattesti, Vincent (2005) Jardins au désert: Évolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens: Jérid tunisien. Paris: IRD éditions.
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that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. In geography, an oasis may be a current or past rest stop on a transportation route, or less-than-verdant location that nonetheless provides access to underground water through deep wells created and maintained by humans. Although they depend on a natural condition, such as the presence of water that may be stored in reservoirs and us ...
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