La Güera

La Güera (Template:Langx, Template:IPA; also known as La Agüera, Lagouira, El Gouera) 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, Template:Convert 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. La Güera is situated about Template:Convert south of the Moroccan Wall at Guerguerat and is technically abandoned.

History

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

Foundation and settlement

File:Casa del gobierno La Agüera 1.928-1.935.jpg

Residence of the Spanish Governor in La Güera, 1935.

La Güera came into existence in late 1920, when Spanish colonizer Francisco Bens (who had earlier taken possession of the Cape Juby region as a protectorate in 1916), 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 kilometers away from the French settlement of Port-Étienne (now Nouadhibou) on the eastern side of the peninsula. (In the 1912 Convention of Madrid, Spain and France had agreed on a border between Mauritania and Spanish possessions that ran down the middle of the peninsula.)

In 1924, La Güera was incorporated into the Spanish colony of Río de Oro. During the short period (1920–1924) that the town was ruled as a separate part of the colony it released its own postage stamps.<ref>Stamp Issuers – La Aguera Template:Webarchive Stampsofdistinction.com, 24 March 2008</ref><ref>SELLOS DE COLONIAS ESPAÑOLAS LA AGÜERA Todocoleccion.net Template:In lang</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Since the Alegal Madrid Tripartite Agreement of 1975 it remains Territory in dispute. Before the long Sahrawi liberation war, the city was famous for its rich marine fauna: the monk seal as a symbol of the City, cetaceans and the special relationship of symbiosis in the art of fishing of these (dolphins) with fishermen belonging to the segment of the Sahrawi population most attached to Berber customs whose Amazigh language was still preserved, in the highest proportion of the territory, in addition to techniques and linguistic terms in common with Spanish fishermen from the Canary Islands and brothers of the same ethnic group imraguen, from the Mauritanian side. The times when the Canary-Saharan fishing bank functioned at full capacity for the local people are now only memories of the yesterday.<ref>https://elpais.com/planeta-futuro/2023-03-15/la-barquilla-canaria-que-emigro-a-mauritania.html</ref><ref>https://rasdargentina.wordpress. com/2016/08/01/la-guera-ciudad-fantasma-del-sahara/</ref><ref>https://elpais.com/elpais/2013/01/03/africa_no_es_un_pais/1357196400_135719.html</ref>

By 2002, it had been still abandoned and partially overblown by sand, inhabited only by a very few Imraguen fishermen<ref>Template:In lang Abdallah Ben Ali, Guéguerre à LagouiraTemplate:Dead link, Maroc Hebdo International, issue 534, 22–28 November 2002</ref><ref name="TQ">Template:In lang Redouane Ramdani, Enquête: Aux frontières du réel Template:Webarchive, TelQuel, issue 248, 18–24 November 2004</ref> and guarded by a Mauritanian military outpost, despite this not being Mauritanian territory.<ref name="TQ" />

Twin towns and sister cities

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Signboard showing, among others, the twinning of La Güera with the Spanish town of Crevillent

• Template:Flagicon Águilas, Murcia, Spain (since July 18, 2005)<ref>Águilas y la Güera se hermanan Template:Webarchive Aguilasnoticias.com, 19 July 2005 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Alaquàs, Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain (since April 14, 2004)<ref>11.- PROTOCOLO DE COOPERACIÓN ENTRE EL AYUNTAMIENTO DE ALAQUÀS Y LA DAIRA LA GÜERA.- PROPUESTA DE APROBACIÓN. Alaquas.org Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Almansa, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain <ref>Veinte años de hermanamiento almanseño con Saint Mèdard La Verdad, 16 May 2010 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Castagneto Carducci, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy<ref name="ToscanaGemellaggi">Gemellaggi e Patti di AmiciziaTemplate:Dead link Regione Toscana – Consiglio Regionale, 27 March 2010 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Crevillent, Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain<ref>Ayuntamiento de Crevillent – Composición Crevillent.es Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain (since 1993)<ref>En 2013 se celebrará el 20 aniversario del hermanamiento con el pueblo saharaui Andaluciainformacion.es, 9 October 2012 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Fauglia, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy (since 2009)<ref name="ToscanaGemellaggi" />
• Template:Flagicon Gorliz, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain<ref>Hermanos lejanos El Correo, 24 August 2008 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Guadix, Granada, Andalucía, Spain
• Template:Flagicon Iurreta, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Leganés, Madrid, Spain (since August 17, 2001)<ref>La Güera, Sáhara Template:Webarchive Leganes.org Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Londa, Florence, Tuscany, Italy (since 2017)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Monteriggioni, Siena, Tuscany, Italy<ref name="ToscanaGemellaggi" />
• Template:Flagicon Orio, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flagicon San Marcello Piteglio, Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy<ref name="ToscanaGemellaggi" />
• Template:Flagicon Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (since October 29, 1986 -First twinning between a Sahrawi and a Spanish town-)<ref>Acta del pleno municipal sobre el Hermanamiento de Santa Lucía con la Güera. 1986 Lefrig.org Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Valle de Yerri, Navarra, Spain (since September 29, 2005)<ref>Hermanamiento Yerri.es, 29 September 2005 Template:In lang</ref>
• Template:Flagicon Vitoria, Álava, Basque Country, Spain (since 1987).<ref>Un libro de fotografías conmemora el XX aniversario del hermanamiento de Vitoria con la Daira de la Güera El Diario Vasco, 2 March 2008 Template:In lang</ref>

External links

• Map of Ras Nouadhibou peninsula
• El Último Testigo La Agüera Memories of the son of a Spanish lieutenant in La Güera during the 1930s Template:In lang Internet Archive copy