Bou Craa (also transliterated as Bo Craa, Bu Craa or Boukra) (, Berber: ⴱⵓⴽⵔⴰⵄ, ) is a town in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, southeast of the main city of El Aaiún. It is inhabited almost exclusively by employees of phosphate company Phosboucraa, a subsidiary of Morocco's OCP Group.

Historically located in the Saguia el-Hamra region, Bou Craa is the site of a phosphate deposit of over 1.7 billion tons. Mining operations by Phosboucraa started in 1972. During the Spanish colonization of the area (see Spanish Sahara), many early recruits of Sahrawi nationalist movements such as the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab and Polisario Front were workers in the phosphate mines.

The town became part of the Moroccan-occupied zone in the April 1976 partition resulting from the Madrid Accords.). Mining resumed on a reduced scale in July 1982. The phosphates are transported to the coast by an automated conveyor belt. Approximately long, the belt is the longest in the world and dust blown from it is visible from space.

Twin towns

  • Castro Urdiales, Spain
  • Llodio, Spain

References

  • World’s Longest Conveyor Belt System, from the Bou Craa mine to the port at El Marsa, Western Sahara. Article at NASA Earth Observatory, January 21, 2023