Bou Craa

Bou Craa Bu Craa
Country	Western Sahara Spain
Claimed by	Morocco, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Controlled by	Morocco

Bou Craa (Bo Craa, Bu Craa, Boukra) (Arabic: بوكراع) is a town in the Saguia el-Hamra region of northern Western Sahara, south and slightly east of the city of El Aaiún. It is inhabited almost entirely by employees of the Moroccan-controlled Bou Craa phosphate industry. During the Spanish colonization of the area (see Spanish Sahara) time, many early recruits of the nationalist movements Harakat Tahrir and Front Polisario were Sahrawi workers in the phosphate mines. The mine produces around 3 million tonnes, contributing 10% of the Moroccan production

The phosphates are transported to the coast by an automated conveyor belt, the longest such belt in the world. This transportation system was vandalized and disabled several times by the Front Polisario, during the war between the Moroccan Royal Army and the Polisario Front from 1976. These attacks gradually ceased after the town was enclosed in the early 1980s by the Moroccan Wall, and the town is under Moroccan control.

Twin towns

• Castro Urdiales, Spain
• Llodio, Spain

Satellite images

Landsat images of Bou Craa in 2000 and 1987. The straight line to the Northwest is the conveyor belt.

(Google maps)

• Low resolution view of the conveyor belt to the port at Laayoune-Plage. Its location can be seen from the line of windswept sand accumulating on its south-western side.
• The mines and tailings
• the start of the conveyor belt at the mine