Tindouf

Template:Infobox Algerian Municipality

Tindouf (Arabic: تندوف) is the main town in Tindouf Province, Algeria. It is close to several Algerian military bases, and also to the autonomous areas of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the government in exile of Western Sahara, which contains several Sahrawi refugee camps operated by the Polisario Front. There is an airport outside Tindouf, north-west of the town, with regular Air Algérie flights to Algiers and other cities. Within the municipal territory of Tindouf, there is Gara Djebilet, a settlement near the border with Mauritania with a iron mine and a defunct airport. It is approximately 70 kilometers northwest of Aet Legra.

For more on the Sahrawi refugee camps, see Refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria.

History

The town of Tindouf was built near an isolated Saharan oasis in 1852 by members of the Sahrawi Tajakant tribe, but sacked and destroyed by Reguibat Sahrawis in 1895. It remained deserted until French troops arrived in the area in 1934. Since Algerian independence in 1962, the town has been purposely built up, partly because of its importance as a last outpost before the Moroccan, and Mauritanian borders.