
Last modified: 2026-05-30 by rob raeside
Keywords: bojador | boujdour | western sahara |
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image by Jean-Marc Merklin, 10 April 2026
The flag of the Boujdour commune, on the de facto Moroccan side, is red with the arms, which consists of a crowned shield bearing a white bend with two red fish on a green field, with narrow yellow bends near the white stripe. In each green field is a grey lighthouse with light beaming.
image by Jean-Marc Merklin, 10 April 2026
image located by Jean-Marc Merklin, 10 April 2026
This emblem seems to represent the province of Boujdour - a fess argent on a field vert, edged or. On the three stripes, three items, possibly a sailfish, a red lighthouse and an ostrich.
See also: Boujdour Province
images
located by NguyenPhucDit, 10 April 2026
Bojador is a coastal city in Western Sahara. It has a population of about
40.000 people.
The Saharawi flag of Bojador consists of an emblem placed on a
white bedsheet. The word BOJADOR does not appear on the version on the flag
(seen in photo).
There are 4 towns in the Bojador Wilaya. I have posted the main city earlier, however there are three more: Agti, Lemseyd and 27 de Febrero. The last one does not appear to be on any map.
NguyenPhucDit, 10 April 2026
27 de Febrero is the Spanish name of one of the six Polisario camps located
in exile in Tindouf, Algeria. It is called so in honor of 27 February 1976, day
of the declaration of the SADR. Four of the other camps bear the names of
former Sahrawi localities that are currently under Moroccan control (El-Aiun,
Dakhla, Smara, Auserd).
For Bojador, the flag is described as "Wilaya
of Bojador." A term used in some Arab countries divisions, but particularly
reminiscent of the provinces ("Wilayas") of Algeria. During the Algerian War,
the Provisional Government also created provisional territorial military units
griding the guerrilla zones that were called Wilaya.
In the case of
Western Sahara, there are already the "liberated zones" in the eastern territories under Sahrawi control. Since Bojador (or
Boujador, Boujdour) and Dakhla are located in areas where there are no current
guerrilla activity and are entirely under Moroccan control, I believe those
emblems and flags may be planned in case those places return under Sahrawi
control, eventually they may be used among the Tindouf Polisario camps.
In a photo, we can read: "Gobierno de wilaya de Boujador. Campamentos
saharuis." This means that it is not the city of Bojador located in the de facto
Moroccan Province of Boujdour, but a camp located in Algeria in the Province of
Tindouf.
I found two links (in French and Spanish) discussing this "Wilaya"
that I wasn't familiar with, it was recently created in 2022 or 2025. This might
suggest a new organization of the camps. These camps resemble small towns,
replicating the original ones now controlled by Morocco and adopting their
names, like a parallel country.
https://barlamane.com/fr/camps-de-tindouf-un-etat-dans-letat
https://www.spsrasd.info/es/2025/10/15/12367.html
Jean-Marc Merklin, 10 April 2026
When the 6 Polisario camps had been created in Tindouf, only 4 of them were
Wilaya: El-Aaiun, Dakhla, Smara, Auserd. Rabuni (which is a local name) was the
"HQ camp" (kind of "capital district") and 27 de Febrero was the "school camp"
(27 de Febrero School). In 2014, 27 de Febrero was established as a Wilaya and
in 2025, it changed its name to Wilaya de Bojador.
Each Sahrawi wilaya is,
like those in Algeria, divided into “daira” (subprefecture). So on the photo "Bojador emblem (SADR concept)",
what you see under Bojador (27 de Febrero, Lemsid, Agti) are local "sub-camps"
erected as daira. The 2 latter sub-camps reflect the "real" towns of Lemsheid
and Agti under Moroccan control. Bojador is neither a daira nor a separate
sub-camp. Therefore, the Bojador logo is primarily that of a Wilaya.
What is interesting and unique about this organization is that the "liberated
zones" (that are "Nahiya" - plural Nawahi - a term generally translated as
"subdistrict", an-Nahiya al-Askariya is translated as "Región Militar" in
Sahrawi Spanish) are also established as administrative "Daira"... within a
Wilaya in exile. We are thus faced with a trans-territorial organization
overlapping territories in exile and liberated territory. For example,
Tifariti, the de facto capital since 2008, is in a "liberated zone" within a
Daira of the Wilaya of Smara (Semara).
Zug is a daira of the wilaya of
Auserd, located in liberated zone. As for Rabouni, it is outside the
daira-wilaya system as the administrative center, the main hospital and the
place where NGO and UNO offices and agencies are found.
Jean-Marc Merklin, 11 April 2026
image
located by NguyenPhucDit, 11 April 2026
The emblem of Zug appears on an old image of a twinning ceremony with
Torrelavega. You can clearly see that the emblem was not adopted under the
colonial reign.
NguyenPhucDit, 11 April 2026
The emblem of Zug is clearly from the SADR and the twinning is between two
real towns as Zug is located in liberated zone (in the Zug daira of the Awserd
wilaya).
Jean-Marc Merklin, 11 April 2026
Some additional information about Rabouni: since 2024 Camp Rabouni has been
integrated into a 6th wilaya named "Shaheed El-Hafedh Bujmaa", often shortened
Shaheed El-Hafed (Martyr El-Hafed). The wilaya is however distinguished from the
5 others as being a "Political and Administrative Unit" (Spanish: "Unidad
Política y Administrativa de Chahid El-Hafed Bujmaa - Wilaya de Chahid El-Hafed
Bujmaa" / Arabic: "الوحدة السياسية والإدارية للشهيد الحافظ بوجمعة - ولاية الشهيد
الحافظ بوجمعة"). That is to say, the wilaya is not conceived only as a
residential camp for settlement, but as a central pole of government and
political organization and is not divided into daira camps.
Jean-Marc Merklin, 16 April 2026