El Aaiún

[ el ah-yoon ]

noun

1. a city in and the capital of Western Sahara.

El Aaiún

/ ɛl aɪˈjuːn /

noun

1. a city in Western Sahara, controlled by Morocco: the capital of the former Spanish Sahara; port facilities for rich phosphate deposits nearby. Pop: 197 000 (2005 est) Moroccan (French) nameLaâyoune

Example Sentences

Tateh’s circular homes have sprung from the ground in the camps of El Aaiún, Auserd, Smara, Bojador and Dajla, all of which are named after the western Saharan cities from which thousands of people fled in 1975 after the so-called Green March and Moroccan occupation.

From The Guardian

One of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, Western Sahara has a population of nearly half a million people; nearly 40% of them live in El Aaiún. map Credits: DigitalGlobe via AP This combination of two satellite images shows Rukban Syrian refugee camp on the Jordan-Syria border on 2 November 2014, left, and 23 May 2016, right.

From The Guardian

The river has its source in the mountains 185 miles inland, and it provides a persistent water supply for El Aaiún, the biggest city in Western Sahara.

From The Guardian

What he wanted was the northwestern 20% of the territory, which contained the main towns of El Aaiun and Smara as well as the phosphate mines at Bu Craa.

From Time Magazine Archive