Laayoune
Morocco
Surprisingly, a rather modern and well maintained city in the middle of nowhere, with a very strong military presence.
This feels a lot like an initiative of the Moroccan government to properly affirm its presence in the Western Sahara by modernising it and building military bases there 🪖
The locals have been confirming that most of them come from northern cities, such as Casablanca or Rabat, but emigrated to Western Sahara following an expansion initiative by the Moroccan state, shortly after the well known "green march" (1975, the Spanish retreat from Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea, Morocco organises mass demonstrations, supported by armed forces)
Sick again, with a cold as well as stomach cramps, I have decided to go wait for my visa to be approved in Dakhla, a bit closer to the border, in order to rest a little better and hopefully get fully back on my feet before I enter Mauritania.