Western Sahara Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Western Sahara الصحراء الغربية Sahara Occidental

Capital and largest city	El Aaiún (Laâyoune)
Official languages	see respective claimants
Spoken languages	Berber and Hassaniya Arabic are locally spoken. Spanish and French are widely used.
Demonym(s)	Western Saharan
Disputed sovereignty¹

• Relinquished by Spain	14 November 1975

Area
• Total	266,000 km² (103,000 sq mi) (76th)
• Water (%)	negligible
Population
• 2009 estimate	513,000 (168th)
• Density	1.9/km² (4.9/sq mi) (237th)
Currency	Moroccan Dirham (in the Morocco-controlled zone) Algerian Dinar with the Sahrawi Peseta being commemorative and not circulating (in the SADR-controlled zone) (MAD)
Time zone	UTC+0
Calling code	+212 (Tied with Morocco)
ISO 3166 code	EH
Internet TLD	None. .eh reserved, not officially assigned.
¹ Mostly under administration of Morocco as its Southern Provinces. The Polisario Front controls border areas behind the border wall as the Free Zone, on behalf of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Western Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الغربية; Amazigh: Tanẓṛuft Tutrimt; Spanish: Sahara Occidental) is a territory in Africa. To the north is Morocco, to the east is Algeria, to the south is Mauritania, and to the west is the Atlantic Ocean. Its surface is 266,000 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world. Most of the territory is made of desert flatlands. The largest city is Laâyoune. More than half the population live there. The territory has a population estimated at just more than 500,000.

Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since the 1960s when it was a Spanish colony. The Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement, with its Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) government, both want control of the territory.

Since 1975, most of the territory has been controlled by Morocco. In 1973, the local people, the Sahrawis, said the Moroccans and Mauritanians were occupying their land and started a movement. The movement turned violent, and the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991. Many Sahrawis became refugees in Algeria. The rest of Western Sahara is controlled by the Polisario/SADR, backed by Algeria. Many important countries have pressed both parties to agree to a peaceful solution. Both Morocco and Polisario have tried to get recognition from other countries. Polisario has won formal recognition for SADR from 81 states, and was extended membership in the African Union, while Morocco has won recognition for its position from the Arab League. In both instances, recognitions have over the past two decades been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends.

Some countries say that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic should be the government in Western Sahara. Morocco says that they own it. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was made by the "Polisario Front" a group of people who wanted Spain to leave, but now want Morocco to leave also.

The United Nations calls all of the Western Sahara a dependency of Spain.

Images for kids

Western Sahara 1876
A demonstration in Madrid for the independence of Western Sahara.
A MINURSO car (left), and a post of the Polisario Front (right) in 2017 in southern Western Sahara
A Moroccan police checkpoint in the suburbs of Laayoune
A sangar (fortification) from the Western Sahara conflict. The fortification is built of rocks on top of a mesa overlooking the Grart Chwchia, Al Gada, Western Sahara. The Sangar is facing north and was probably built by the Sahrawis in the 1980s.
Sahrawi national police
Natural products in a pharmacy.
Morocco built several empty towns in Western Sahara, ready for refugees returning from Tindouf
Sahrawi people
Two women outside a hospital emergencies at a Sahrawi refugee camps.
Topography of Western Sahara.

Western Sahara facts for kids

Images for kids

See also