Bir Lehlou

Bir Lehlou, also transliterated Bir Lahlou or Bir Lehlu, is an oasis town in north-eastern Western Sahara, about 236 kilometres from Smara and near the Mauritanian border, east of the Moroccan-built border wall in territory held by the Polisario Front. It has a pharmacy, a school and a mosque. It is the head of the fifth military region of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and was the factual temporary capital of that republic until Tifariti took over that role in 2008. The name is transcribed from Maghrebi Arabic and means the sweet well, meaning a well whose water is palatable rather than salty. The name is also borne by a daira of the Wilaya of Smara in the Sahrawi refugee camps.