Nouâdhibou

Brief information about the Nouâdhibou

Nouadhibou Nouadhibou (Arabic: نواذيبو‎, Berber: Nwadibu, formerly in French: Port-Étienne) is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial center. The city itself has about 118,000 inhabitants expanding to over 140,000 in the larger metropolitan area.

It is situated on a 65-kilometer peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou (Berber: Ighef Nwadibu), Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco, of which the western side, with the Moroccan city of La Güera, is part of Western Sahara. Nouadhibou is consequently located merely a couple of kilometres from the border between Mauritania and Morocco de facto, Western Sahara de jure.

Its current mayor is Elghassem Ould Bellali, who was installed on 15 October 2018.