ولاية تندوف
After the Madrid Accords which transferred administration of the Spanish Sahara to Mauritania and Morocco in 1976, an exodus of refugees fled the violence that ensued, with substantial numbers ending up in the Polisario Front movement's base areas in the Algerian Sahara, where refugee camps were set up in the Tindouf Province, and a smaller number in camps in Mauritania. The camps in Tindouf were named after towns in the Western Sahara (Awserd, Laayoune, Smara and Dakhla).