Bou Craa

Bou Craa
بوكراع (Hassaniyya)
ⴱⵓⴽⵔⴰⵄ (Berber languages)
Bucraa
View of Bou Craa phosphate mine from space, taken in 2018
View of Bou Craa phosphate mine from space, taken in 2018
Bou Craa is located in Western Sahara
Bou Craa
Bou Craa
Location in Western Sahara
Bou Craa is located in Africa
Bou Craa
Bou Craa
Bou Craa (Africa)
Coordinates: 26°19′22″N 12°50′59″W / 26.32278°N 12.84972°W / 26.32278; -12.84972
Non-Self-Governing TerritoryWestern Sahara
RegionLaâyoune-Sakia El Hamra
ProvinceLaâyoune
Claimed by Kingdom of Morocco
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Controlled by Kingdom of Morocco
Area
 • Total
211.62 km2 (81.71 sq mi)
Population
 (2004)
 • Total
2,519
 • Density11.9/km2 (31/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)

Bou Craa (also transliterated as Bo Craa, Bou Cra, Bu Craa or Boukra) (Arabic: بوكراع, Berber: ⴱⵓⴽⵔⴰⵄ, Spanish: Bucraa) is a town in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, southeast of the main city of El Aaiún. Historically located in the Saguia el-Hamra region, Bou Craa is the site of a phosphate deposit of over 1.7 billion tons. The town is inhabited almost exclusively by employees of the mining company Phosboucraa, a subsidiary of Morocco's state-owned OCP Group.

Phosboucraa started phosphate mining in 1972. The mine produces around 3 million tonnes annually, 10% of Morocco's total production. Output material is transported to the coast by an automated conveyor belt. Approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) long, the belt is the longest in the world and dust blown from it is visible from space.

History

During the Spanish colonization of the area (see Spanish Sahara), many early recruits of Sahrawi nationalist movements such as the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab and Polisario Front were workers in the phosphate mines.[citation needed]

The town became part of the Moroccan-occupied zone in the April 1976 partition resulting from the Madrid Accords. It has remained in Moroccan hands, though mining was paused in 1976 as a result of Polisario guerilla attacks. During the Western Sahara War, the Polisario sabotaged and disabled the conveyor belt several times. These attacks gradually ceased in the early 1980s when the town become enclosed by the Moroccan Wall, which consolidated Moroccan occupation over the north-western part of Western Sahara (the so-called "Useful Triangle"). Mining resumed on a reduced scale in July 1982.

Twin towns

References

Historical population
YearPop.±%
20042,519—    
  1. 1 2 3 Anthony G. Pazzanita; Tony Hodges (1994). "Bou-Craa". Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara. Scarecrow Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8108-2661-8.
  2. ↑ WESTERN SAHARA: Bou Craa Phosphate Mine Archived 2015-10-18 at the Wayback Machine, BHP Billiton Watch, November 15, 2010.
  3. ↑ "The World's Longest Conveyor Belt System". Atlas Obscura. 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  4. ↑ "What is Continental negotiating with OCP?". Western Sahara Resource Watch. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  5. ↑ "Bou Craa Phosphate Mine, Western Sahara". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2018-09-23. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  6. ↑ Shelley, Toby (2013-07-04). Endgame in the Western Sahara: What Future for Africa's Last Colony. Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84813-658-8.
  1. ↑ According to Morocco's Higher Planning Commission.

26°19′22″N 12°50′59″W / 26.32278°N 12.84972°W / 26.32278; -12.84972