Amgala (; ) is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment 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 located between

Tifariti Tifariti () is an oasis town and the temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, located in north-eastern Western Sahara, east of the Moroccan Berm, from Smara and north of the border with Mauritania. It is part of what Polisario ...

and

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 ...

, outside the

Moroccan Wall The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (), is an approximately berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separation barrier, separates the Morocca ...

in the area controlled by the Polisario.

Western Sahara War

Amgala was the scene of several SPLA-RMA battles. In January 1976 and again in February 1976, clashes took place in Amgala between units of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (RMA) and

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 ...

forces (SPLA), supported by units of the Algerian Army. Because of its ample supply of water, Amgala was an important place in the Saguia el-Hamra Valley and Algerian troops set up a Polisario base here where refugees could be given food and medical assistance and transported onward to Algeria. The unexpected attack by the Moroccans caused much anger as well as heavy damage, and ninety-nine Algerian soldiers were captured. An all-out war between the two countries was only avoided because of decisive action by President Houari Boumediene of Algeria. After that, Algeria withdrew its troops from the area but increased its support for the rebels. Algeria claimed that their forces were only in the area to render humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s fleeing from Moroccan occupation and heading for the Sahrawi refugee camps at

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 ...

, in western Algeria. Morocco said the conflict was a direct military intervention by Algeria on the side of Polisario. A second battle took place at Amgala between the 13 and 15 February 1976. On this occasion, Polisario troops defeated the small Moroccan garrison which suffered heavy casualties and were nearly wiped out. Morocco complained that the Algerians had been involved in this attack, but the latter denied the claim. Another Battle of Amgala took place on 8 November 1989.

References

{{reflist Oases of Western Sahara Ghost towns in Africa Former populated places in Western Sahara Es Semara Province