La Güera


La Güera is a ghost town on the Atlantic coast at the southern tip of Western Sahara, on the western side of the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula which is split in two by the Mauritania–Western Sahara border, west of Nouadhibou. It is also the name of a daira at the Sahrawi refugee camps in south-western Algeria.
It is the southernmost town of Western Sahara, claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco. La Güera is situated south of the Moroccan Wall, and is technically abandoned by Moroccan forces. In January 2015, the Polisario established a military presence in La Güera.

History

The name La Güera comes from the Spanish word Agüera which is a ditch that carries rainwater to crops.

Foundation and settlement

La Güera came into existence in late 1920, when Spanish colonizer Francisco Bens, after negotiating with tribal chiefs of the zone, established a fort and an air base on the western side of the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula, just a few kilometres away from the French settlement of Port-Étienne on the eastern side of the peninsula.
In 1924, La Güera was incorporated into the Spanish colony of Río de Oro. During the short period that the town was ruled as a separate part of the colony it released its own postage stamps. The town was served by La Güera Airport until the 1970s.

Western Sahara War

In 1979, when Mauritania withdrew from the war, La Güera's population was estimated to be 816 inhabitants.
By 2002, it had been abandoned and partially overblown by sand, inhabited only by a few Imraguen fishermen and guarded by a Mauritanian military outpost, despite this not being Mauritanian territory.

Twin towns and sister cities