Rabouni refugee camp () is a Sahrawi refugee camp located in

Tindouf province Tindouf, also written Tinduf (), is the westernmost province of Algeria, having a population of 58,193 as of the 2008 census (not including the Sahrawi refugees at the Sahrawi refugee camps). Its population in reality could be as high as 160,00 ...

in southwestern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Background

It is the administrative centre of the Sahrawi refugee camps. It is the site of the

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

(SADR) state ministries, the main hospital and the principal field offices of international

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

agencies that regularly operate in the refugee camps. The camp is the settlement most easily accessible by paved road from

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 ...

. On 23 October 2011, suspected

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 kidnapped three foreign aid workers from Rabouni. It was not until July 2012 that they were released by Islamist militants who had been holding them in northern

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. Consequently, SADR authorities constructed one meter high earth berms around Rabouni and other individual camps.

References

Sahrawi refugee camps Refugee camps in Algeria Populated places in Tindouf Province {{Algeria-geo-stub