Bir Lehlou
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Bir Lehlou بير لحلو Bir Leḥlu - ⴱⵉⵔ ⵍⴻⵃⵍⵓ |
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| Municipality and town | |
Inauguration of the school "José Ramón Diego Aguirre" in Bir Lehlou, May 20, 2005
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 Bir Lehlou
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| Coordinates: 26°20′58″N 09°34′32″W / 26.34944°N 9.57556°WCoordinates: 26°20′58″N 09°34′32″W / 26.34944°N 9.57556°W | |
| Territory | Western Sahara |
| Claimed by |
 Kingdom of Morocco Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
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| Controlled by |
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
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| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Mayor | Abeid Moulud |
| Elevation | 475 m (1,558 ft) |
Bir Lehlou (also transliterated Bir Lahlou, Bir Lehlu Arabic: بير لحلو; Berber: Bir Leḥlu, ⴱⵉⵔ ⵍⴻⵃⵍⵓ) 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 dispensary, 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 2011. 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 Hassaniya Arabic, and means "the sweet water well". The Modern Standard Arabic transcription would be "bir lahlu" (بير لحلو).
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.
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