Tindouf Province
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| Tindouf Province | |
| ولاية تندوف | |
 Map of Algeria highlighting the Province of Tindouf |
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| Province Code | 37 |
| Area Code | +213 (0) 49 |
| Administration | |
| Capital | Tindouf |
| Districts | 1 |
| Municipalities | 2 |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 159.000 km² (61.390 sq mi) |
| Population | 27.060 (1998) |
| Density | 0.17/km² (0.44/sq mi) |
Tindouf, also written Tinduf, (Arabic: تندوف) is the westernmost province of Algeria, having a population of 27.060 as of the 1998 census (not including Sahrawi refugees). Despite the barren landscape, Tindouf is a resource-rich province, with important quantities of iron ore located in the Gara Djebilet area close to the border with Mali. Prior to Algerian independence, the area served as a strongpoint of several tribes of the nomadic Reguibat confederation.
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[edit] Administrative divisions
The province is divided into one daïra (district): the daïra of Tindouf , which is coextensive with the province (it is the only province in the country which has only one daïra). The province and daïra has a population of 27.060 inhabitants (excluding Sahrawi refugees). The daira is further divided into two municipalities, this is, again, the lowest number in the country.
- Tindouf (1) Oum El Assel (2)
[edit] Sahrawi refugee camps
[edit] Strategic significance
The province houses army and airforce bases for the Algerian military, and is strategically important due to its proximity to the Moroccan border, and its location at a four-country border crossing. Together with Béchar, it was the scene of a brief Moroccan-Algerian border war in 1963, after Morocco claimed the area as its own following Algerian independence. (See below.)
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. The Polisario remains in the province, running the large refugee camps located south of Tindouf city.
[edit] Moroccan territorial claims
From independence in 1956, the Kingdom of Morocco claimed the Tindouf area and western Algeria as part of Morocco. These claims are based on the fact that until 1952, Tindouf was part of French Morocco and was administratively attached to Agadir, and promises made by parts of the Algerian underground during that country's war for independence. After Algeria's independence in 1962, Morocco's claim to Tindouf was not accepted by the new Algerian republic. This led to the 1963 Sand war, fought along the Moroccan-Algerian border in the Tindouf region.
In a process begun in 1969 and finalized during the OAU summit in Rabat in 1972, Morocco recognized the border with Algeria, in exchange for joint exploitation of the iron ore in Tindouf. However, parts of Moroccan society and some nationalist political parties still refer to the Tindouf area as historically Moroccan territory.
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