Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Digest Number 881<br/>
Date: Nov 28, 2002 @ 23:32<br/>
Author: Martin Kopetschke (&quot;Martin Kopetschke&quot; &lt;kinghassan@...&gt;)<br/>
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<div id="ygrps-yiv-997217511">Message: 22<br/>
   Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 04:39:06 -0800 (PST)<br/>
   From: I M Naanu &lt;<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:imnaanu@...">imnaanu@...</a>&gt;<br/>
Subject: Mauritania-Western Sahara<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Here&#39;s another border that I thought was rather odd. what do you guys think<br/>
of it?<br/>
<br/>
Its the border between Morocco (or Western sahara, whatever you think fit)<br/>
and Mauritania. Fifty kilometres long, and ten at its narrowest, Cap Blanc<br/>
is the westernmost tip of the Sahara. It is halved laterally between Morocco<br/>
on the west and Mauritania on the east.<br/>
<br/>
Morocco, however, has been unable to station troops there, and in<br/>
consequence Polisario at one time used the peninsula to launch attacks on<br/>
Morocco-friendly shipping. But the recent completion of the defensive wall<br/>
has more or less eliminated such activity. The western slice of Cap Blanc is<br/>
now no-man&#39;s-land<br/>
<br/>
As you can see on the map, there&#39;s a railway line on the Mauritanian side of<br/>
the border, carrying Iron ore. The trains running on this line are reputed<br/>
to be one of the longest in the world.  I&#39;ve attached another pic showing<br/>
this. There are some tourists too, looking for adventure on the railway<br/>
line.<br/>
<br/>
Any thoughts?<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Hi,<br/>
I´ve gone from Morocco to Mauritania in March 2000.<br/>
After independence from Spain in 1975 , Western Sahara was occupied by<br/>
Morocco (northern part) and Mauritania (southern part including Cap Blanc) .<br/>
In the middle of the 80s Mauritania made a peace agreement with Polisario,<br/>
after which Morocco occupied the whole Western Sahara &quot;by security reasons&quot;<br/>
.<br/>
Today, it is possible to cross this border by land at Cap Blanc. There´s a<br/>
tar road from Morocco´s Mainland until Guergarat, where´s the most southern<br/>
moroccan outpost. From Guergarat, there´s a marked track(partially on an old<br/>
spanish tar road to La Gouira) through the mine fields of the moroccan<br/>
defense line to the Mauritanian border post &quot;PK55&quot; , a set of tents in the<br/>
middle of nowhere. From PK55, there are several tracks to the railway track<br/>
of the iron ore railway. You need to cross the track , follow it on the<br/>
south-eastern side to the mauritanian military post of &quot;Bouchon des mines&quot;<br/>
and further to Nouadhibou. .Alternatively, you can directly go from the<br/>
railway crossings  through the desert (no road, GPS-based orientation) to<br/>
Nouakchott (but it´s better to stock up with water and gas in Nouadhibou).<br/>
On Cap Blanc, Nouadhibou (cca 100000 inhabitants) is on the eastern side,<br/>
the western side is called &quot;La Gouira&quot;. It is possible to reach it from<br/>
Nouadhibou, but not advisable , there are mine fields along the whole<br/>
border. In La Gouira , there´s an old spanish fort, but the whole place is<br/>
not inhabited and there´s no moroccan military presence .<br/>
Probably, I can find some photos of the border posts and the area.<br/>
<br/>
Regards,<br/>
Martin</div>