Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form:
Western Sahara
former:
Rio de Oro, Saguia el Hamra, Spanish Sahara
Government type:
legal status of territory and issue of sovereignty unresolved; territory contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which in February 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), based out of refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria, led by President Mohamed ABDELAZIZ
Capital:
Laayoune (administrative center)
time difference:
UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
daylight saving time:
+1hr, begins last Sunday in April; ends last Sunday in September
Administrative divisions:
none (territory west of the berm under de facto Moroccan control)
Suffrage:
none; (residents of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara participate in Moroccan elections)
[see also: Suffrage country ranks ]
Executive branch:
none
Political pressure groups and leaders: none
International organization participation:
AU, CAN (observer), WFTU (NGOs)