Bir Lehlou, Sahrawi Republic, Western Sahara

🇪🇭 Bir Lehlou (also transliterated Bir Lahlou, Bir Lehlu Arabic: بئر الحلو) is an oasis town in north-eastern Western Sahara, 236 km from Smara, near the Mauritanian border and east of the border wall, in Polisario Front-held territory. It has a pharmacy, a school and a mosque. It is the head of the 5th military region of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and was the factual temporary capital of SADR until Tifariti became the temporary capital in 2008. It is also the name of a Daïra of the Wilaya of Smara, in the Sahrawi refugee camps.

The name "Bir Lehlou" is transcribed from Maghrebi Arabic, and means "the sweet water well". The Modern Standard Arabic transcription would be "bir al Halou" (بئر الحلو).

History The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic with an exiled government seated earlier in Tindouf, Algeria, administered Bir Lehlou as the temporary capital of the SADR, as long as the Sahrawi capital of El-Aaiun is under Moroccan control. For example, it had been the scenario of reunions of SADR's National Secretariat. This is also from where the republic's existence was proclaimed over radio on the night of February 27, 1976, by its first president, El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed. Some sources list also Bir Lehlou as El-Ouali's birthplace.

Since late 1975, Radio Nacional de la Republica Árabe Saharaui Democrática (National Radio of the SADR) had broadcast from there on both medium and short wave, webcasting the programming in Hassaniya Arabic, and also some hours in Spanish.

On May 20, 2005, coinciding with the 32nd anniversary of the beginning of the armed struggle of the Polisario Front, a primary school was inaugurated in Bir Lehlou. The school was named "José Ramón Diego Aguirre" (Spanish colonel and historian, first foreigner to be awarded with the Sahrawi honorific nationality) in his honour.

On February 27, 2010, Bir Lehlou hosted the 34th anniversary of the proclamation of the SADR, with the presence of several African and South American ambassadors.

On October 12, 2011, during the 36th National Unity Day celebrations, the commander of the Sahrawi 5th military region, Hama Salama, inaugurated an extension of the town's school, as well as a mosque.