Place:Tindouf, Tindouf, Algeria

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Tindouf (Berber: Tinduf) is the main town, and a commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian, Western Saharan and Moroccan borders. The commune has population of around 160,000 but the census and population estimates do not count the Sahrawi refugees making the population as of the 2008 census 45,966, up from 25,266 in 1998, and an annual population growth rate of 6.3%.^[1]

The region is considered of strategic significance. It houses Algerian military bases and an airport with regular flights to Algiers as well as to other domestic destinations. The settlement of Garet Djebilet lies within the municipal territory of Tindouf near the border with Mauritania; the settlement has an iron mine and a defunct airport, and is approximately northwest of Âouinet Bel Egrâ. Since 1975, it also contains several Sahrawi refugee camps , a national liberation movement seeking the self-determination of Western Sahara.

History

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Since Algerian independence in 1962, the town has been deliberately built up, partly because of its importance as a last outpost before the Moroccan, Sahrawi and Mauritanian borders.

In 1963, the area was the scene of fighting between Algerian and Moroccan forces laying claim to western Algeria, in the Sand War. , a Sahrawi nationalist organization fighting for Western Sahara's independence. , which filled up as Moroccan and Mauritanian forces conquered Western Sahara in 1975. During the war years of 1975–1990, Polisario forces struck in Western Sahara, Mauritania (until 1979) and southern Morocco (including the region of Tata), , with Algerian protection and support. Since 1990 the area has been quiet, although the refugee community remains in Algeria, pending a UN-sponsored peace process and a referendum on independence. (See Minurso.)

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