Sidi Ifni

Sidi Ifni is a city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region, and the capital of Sidi Ifni Province. Its inhabitants are Shilha from the Ait Baamrane tribe, and its economy rests on fishing, helped by a large fishing port completed in 2000 that serves as a base for fish exports. Historically it is claimed as the site of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequena, a Spanish fortress of the fifteenth century. Morocco ceded the surrounding Ifni territory to Spain in 1860, and Sidi Ifni stayed Spanish until Spain relinquished it to Morocco in 1969, after the Ifni War of 1957 and 1958. In the 1960s the Spanish authorities built an unusual cable system that lifted cargo from ships anchored offshore to the cliffs east of town. The climate is hot desert, moderated by the cold Canary Current, with scant winter rain. Violent protests over unemployment at the port took place in June 2008.