Ain Ben Tili () is a small village-fort in northeast

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

, on the border with

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

. It is part of the Tiris Zemmour region.

History

The fort was constructed by the French in 1934 during a campaign aimed at the pacification of the Sahara led by "General Trinquet". This was part of a larger scale French military effort to effectively occupy the interior of the Sahara (e.g.

Tindouf Tindouf () is the main town, and a Communes of Algeria, commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Algeria–Mauritania border, Mauritanian, Algeria–Western Sahara border, Western Saharan and Algeria–Morocco border, Moroccan borders. Th ...

Smara Smāra (also romanized Semara, , ; ) is a city in the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara, with a population of 57,035 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. It is served by Smara Airport and Smara bus station. History The largest city in ...

) which were previously exempt from any foreign presence. Ain bin Tilli

In 1961, the fort was returned to Mauritania which kept in there a small military garrison. On 20 January 1976, the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

(a guerrilla movement demanding the independence of

) surrounded and attacked the isolated fort killing the few Mauritanians which were stationed there. During this attack, a Mauritanian "Commandant" (Soueidatt Ould Weddad) was killed and a Moroccan

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...

fighter aircraft called for support was shot down by the POLISARIO. The latter kept the fort, until the

Moroccan army The Royal Moroccan Army ( ''Al-Quwwat al-Bariyah al-Malakiyah al-Maghribiyah'', ''tasrdast tagldant'') is the branch of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Royal Moroccan Army is about 215,000 ...

took over it in 1977 only to abandon it two years later since it proved difficult to defend against the POLISARIO's raids. After the 1991 cease-fire between

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the Polisario Front, the United Nations'

MINURSO The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (; ; ; MINURSO) is the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, established in 1991 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 690 as part of the Settlement P ...

has occasionally sheltered some of its personnel at the fort. A French Legionnaire's grave marked by a distinctive cross is located at Ain Ben Tili; his name was "Brigadier Tison" and he died in 1934 during the building of the fort. , Ain Ben Tili was occupied by the Mauritanian military who are attempting to secure the border area from

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

militants based in Mali who "raid" into Northern Mauritania and are connected to the many smugglers who operate in the greater Sahara region.

Controversy

On April 10, 2022, the

Royal Moroccan Air Force The Royal Moroccan Air Force (; ; ) is the air force of the Moroccan Armed Forces. History The Moroccan air force was formed on 14 May 1956 as the Sherifian Royal Aviation (). Its modern installations and bases were inherited from France (Bass ...

reportedly launched a drone strike in the Free Zone on the border of the town. The drone strike was part of a series of attacks in the Free Zone in which 2 people were killed and several were badly injured. The

Armed Forces of Mauritania The Armed Forces of Mauritania (, ) is the defense force of the Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, having an army, navy, air force, gendarmerie, and presidential guard. Other services include the national guard and national police, th ...

conducted a

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

mission in the area looking for missing people including a child.

References

*David Newman's book "the forgotten path" {{Authority control Populated places in Mauritania Forts in Mauritania Mauritania–Western Sahara border