Western Sahara Map

United Nations Map of Western Sahara (Click "different sizes" on the right to see a higher-resolution version).

In the 1980s the Moroccan armed forces began constructing defensive earthworks around key population centres and strategic locations. These were joined and extended, and now form a defensive wall (the "Berm", shown on the map as a red line) which extends for some 1500 km from southern Morocco and throughout Western Sahara to the border with Mauritania. This wall, manned by an estimated 160,000 Moroccan troops, divides Western Sahara into a Moroccan-occupied zone and a region controlled by the Polisario, known locally as the "Free Zone". The Berm as shown on this UN/MINURSO map is contained within the territory of Western Sahara; in reality the Berm transits through the far north-western corner of Mauritania, northwest of Bir Maghrein, annexing a small area of Mauritanian territory and separating the Northern and Southern Sectors of Western Sahara from each other. The Berm, and its transit through Maurtiania, is visible on Google Earth. However, the border between Western Sahara and Mauritania is effectively open, facilitating free movement between the northern and southern sections of the Free Zone.