Laayoune Travel information from LookLex / Morocco Metropolis in the sand Flamingo lake Place Mechouar Suuq Djemal The new mosque Urban Saharan architecture The Spanish cathedral Hotels / Restaurants / Transportation

City in Western Sahara (occupied by Morocco) with 200,000 inhabitants (2009 estimate), 30 km inland from the Atlantic Ocean.
It is defined as future capital of an independent Western Sahara. As part of Morocco, it is the capital of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra region.
The economic base of the city are governmental subsidies, military activities, regional administration and trade.
Laayoune has excellent connections to other urban centres, by highways and airport. Western Saharan centres like Boujdour 200 km southwest, Smara 230 km east, Moroccan centres Goulimime 500 km northeast.
It is the headquarter of the The United Nations mission for the referendum, MINURSO, which administers the ceasefire settlement of 1991 between Morocco and Polisario.
The population of Laayoune is largely Moroccans with a substantial presence of Sahrawis. Most Sahrawis are indigenous, but many are from the Morocco. The languages are Moroccan Arabic and Hassaniya Arabic, with French and Spanish as first foreign languages. Religion is Sunni Islam.

History
1940: Founded by the Spanish to become the administative centre for Spanish Sahara.
1975: Spain abandons the region, Laayoune is taken by Morocco, and annexed.
2005: Heavy demonstrations against the Moroccan occupation.