II.

Population

Western Sahara has a population of about 393,831 (2008 estimate), predominantly of Berber or Arab descent. A significant proportion of the population is made up of recent settlers from northern Morocco, encouraged to migrate to Western Sahara by Moroccan government incentives. Most of the indigenous Saharawi population lives in exile in south-west Algeria; there are an estimated 165,000 Saharawis in refugee camps around Tindouf. The main towns of Western Sahara are El Aaiún, or Laâyoune, which was formerly the capital of Spanish Sahara, and Ad Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros).