Laâyoune

Laâyoune ( El Aaiun ), (in Arabic: rear RTL ''' العيون ''' ʿAīūn, El Aaiún or El-Ayoun , literally: “the eyes” or “the sources”), is the most important city of the the Western Sahara. It is located at the edge of the Atlantique, with 500 km in the south of Agadir, on the road leading to Dakhla. It is controlled and managed by the Morocco since 1975.

Laâyoune is the chief town of province for the Moroccan administration.

The city is asserted like capital by the Arab République sahraouie democratic. El Aaiún is also the name of one of the refugee camps sahraouis of Tindouf (Algérie).

The Mission of the United Nations for the organization of a referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO) has its general headquarter with Laâyoune.

Population

The population of the city reaches the 183.691 inhabitants in 2004.

Number of inhabitant:

Economy

The Conveying belt bringing phosphate of Boukraa finishes with Laâyoune-beach, where the port is.

Laâyoune has an airport with a bituminized track.

History

Laâyoune was founded in 1940, after the discovery of important a Ground water.

June 17th, 1970, of the demonstrators led by Mohammed Bassiri bring a petition to the general governor of the Spanish Sahara, in Laâyoune. Whereas the demonstration disperses, the police force tries to stop the leaders; the demonstrators resist, the government utilized the Spanish foreign legion which shoots at crowd, making 11 dead. Hundreds of people are stopped in the following days, from of which Bassiri, which disappears in prison, probably assassinated or tortured with death.

Twinnings

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