Tindouf Province

Coordinates: 27°41′N 8°8′W / 27.683°N 8.133°W / 27.683; -8.133
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tindouf Province
ولاية تندوف
Municipalities
2

Tindouf, also written Tinduf (

Reguibat
confederation.

History

Tindouf, 1880
Musée RASD Polisario

During the Zayyanid period, the Draa region which surrounds the Tindouf province was governed by a sheikh of the Zayyanids.[2]

The town of Tindouf was rebuilt near an isolated Saharan oasis in 1852 by members of the Tajakant tribe,[3][4] but sacked and destroyed by the Reguibat tribe in 1895.[5] It remained deserted until French troops led by colonel Trinquet arrived in the area in 1934 and attached the region to the French Algeria territory.[6]

The province houses army and airforce bases for the

Sand war, fought along the Moroccan-Algerian border in the Tindouf region, and also involving Béchar Province and Tlemcen Province, after Morocco claimed the area as its own following Algerian independence.[9]

In a process beginning in 1969 and finalized during the

nationalist
political parties still refer to the Tindouf area as historically Moroccan territory, and the Moroccan parliament has still not ratified the border recognition.

From 1974, refugees from the contested Spanish Sahara started arriving to the Tindouf area, following an earlier wave from the 1958 unrest. This turned into a major exodus from 1975 onwards, when Morocco and Mauritania seized control of what was then called Western Sahara, and Algeria retaliated by allowing the Polisario Front, a nationalist Sahrawi movement, to use the area as its main base.[12] Sahrawi refugee camps were established in Tindouf in 1975-6, such as Smara refugee camp and El Aaiun refugee camp. The Polisario remains in the province, running the large refugee camps located south of Tindouf city.

The European Commission refers to the Sahrawi refugees as the "forgotten refugees".[13]

The province was created from Béchar Province in 1984.

Administrative divisions

Map showing the 2 municipalities

The province contains one

Tindouf, which is coextensive with the province. The province and daïra has a population of 58,193 inhabitants.[1] The daira is further divided into two communes or municipalities: Tindouf and Oum El Assel. It is one of only 3 provinces in the country which has only one daïra and along with Bordj Baji Mokhtar Province, Djanet Province, In Guezzam Province
also has the fewest communes with just 2.

District Commune Arabic
Tindouf District
 Tindouf تندوف
Oum El Assel أم العسل

See also

References

  1. ^ Sahrawis are not legally recognized as dwellers of the province but rather as illegal or temporary refugees and migrants in Sahrawi refugee camps. Their exact number is unknown.
  1. ^ a b c Office National des Statistiques, Recensement General de la Population et de l’Habitat 2008 Archived 2008-07-24 at the Wayback Machine Preliminary results of the 2008 population census. Accessed on 2008-07-02.
  2. ^ Histoire es berbères, 4: et des dynasties musulmanes de l'afrique septentrionale. Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad Ibn Jaldun. Imprimerie du Gouvernement.
  3. ISBN 978-0-299-07360-2
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  4. ^ Institut des hautes-études marocaines (1930). Hespéris: archives berbères et bulletin de l'Institut des hautes-études marocaines. Emile Larose. p. 46. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  5. ISBN 978-2-600-04495-0
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  6. ISBN 978-2-600-04495-0
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  7. ISBN 978-0-275-96936-3
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  8. ISBN 978-0-7099-3435-6
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  9. ISBN 978-0-415-42920-7
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  10. ISBN 978-1-85109-124-9
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  11. ISBN 978-92-1-070980-4
    . Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  12. ^ Council on Foreign Relations (1979). Foreign affairs. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  13. ^ "Algeria". 3 October 2013.

External links

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