Aleg

Aleg (Arabic ألاك, Alak DMG ) is the capital of the administrative region in south-western Mauritania Brakna. The situation created by rural-urban migration since the 1970s small town is a stopover on the route de l' Espoir, the only paved road that crosses the country from west to east.

Location

Aleg is located 262 km southeast of the provincial capital Nouakchott on the southern edge of the Mauritanian Sahara and the transition to the dry savannah. The 1100 km long road from the Atlantic coast to Néma, the last town before the Mali border leads, in an arc through the town. Five kilometers west of the center branches off the 70 km long road south to the Senegal River Basin from Bogue.

From southeast to northwest, the Qued Katchi, a broad shallow dry valley at 100 meters above sea level, bounded on the lateral edges of isolated rocky hills extends. The slope of the subsequent level rises about 40 meters above the valley. Aleg benefits in the middle of this basin from groundwater sources, which accumulates in a catchment area of ​​170 km length. A few kilometers northwest ends the Oued in Lac d' Aleg, a year-round water-bearing freshwater lake. Wide bands of transverse, fixed and hardly raised sand surfaces limit the lake to the north and cut through the Oued south of the city. The Oued Katchi was formerly a tributary of the Senegal, from which it is now separated by the two sand barriers.

Lac d' Aleg

The annual precipitation was in Aleg on average 203 millimeters 1961-1990, an average for the dry Sahel zone value. Since the turn of the millennium to take the falling mostly as rain storms from June to October rainfall. In January, the lake at a depth of one to two meters an area of ​​about 2500 acres, at the end of the wet season, it forms a maximum of three to four meters deep up to 5,000 acre flood area, which can expand up to the outskirts of the village. Where withdraws the water, the dry-in edges with vegetation for grazing animals and used for agricultural purposes are. The natural vegetation around the lake in its immediate vicinity is characterized by water spinach, Tiger Lotus, Echinochloa stagnina (a kind of millet ), further from Sesbania and dog tooth grass. Smaller trees and Capparis decidua the Wüstendattel (family caper family) occur.

The lake plays a potentially important role as a habitat for migratory birds as the delta of the Senegal River to the Diawling National Park. The local major wetlands have been artificially altered by dams and canals for field cultivation, while the birds seem to prefer the natural surroundings of Lac d' Aleg. In January 1996, there were 75,000 water birds, including glossy ibis, black-tailed godwits, teals, geese spur and purple chickens. In January 2001, there were 46 species, the total number of birds was just under 65,000. Since that is also the Lac d' Aleg as bird-nesting in danger and threatens to pollute by agriculture in its environment.

History

The Lac d' Aleg is an old storage place for trade caravans on their way to Sudan. Up to 1900, the French colonial territory of West Africa extended on its northern border to the Senegal river. After signing a peace treaty with the Sheikh of Boutilimit 1902 started in the following years, the initially peaceful penetration Südmauretaniens. Aleg was founded by French troops in 1903 /04 as a small military station with some permanent housing. During the first half of the 20th century, the village remained unchanged small because the Mauritanian population mostly lived until around 1960 as nomads in tents.

In May 1958, Congress took place in Aleg, which aimed to reconcile the differences of the various tribal leaders and to unite all political groups in the country. The guided by the future President Moktar Ould Daddah party Union progressiste Mauritanienne ( UPM ) was to be a gathering point for other parties to form a national unity during the independence process. The new, educated in Aleg collecting party called Parti du Regroupement Mauritania ( PRM). Its general secretary Mukhtar Ould Daddah led the country in November 1960 in Independence.

In the 1970s it came through years of drought and connected to the Western Sahara conflict economic crisis to the impoverishment of the population, who fled from the desert and sat down on the edge of settlements. The population of Aleg now began to grow steadily, the uncontrolled urban expansion without adequate infrastructure is a common problem in Mauritania.

In 2000, the census showed 12,898 residents. After computing the number should be increased in 2010 to 25 915 inhabitants.

Cityscape

The approximately one kilometer site is to develop to be considered a village street. Along the main street, the building is a little denser, otherwise are the residential buildings in larger distance between them within walled courtyards, which are arranged in a rectangular grid. The one-story, flat-roofed houses are mostly built of simple cement hollow blocks. The latest urban expansion occurs the north and east, where the road network is irregular.

The economic fundamentals are livestock ( goats and cattle ) and some irrigated agriculture in the area. On moist lakeshore, which emerged with decreasing water level, mainly sorghum is planted on an area of ​​2250 hectares. The city itself has a certain function as a trading. On the market the usual assortment has trade in handicrafts almost displaced of imported household goods. There are several craft shops; from transit traffic are the numerous food stalls, where grilled meat is offered, used to stop for lunch.

In the early 1970s an elevated water tank for the central supply was built with drinking water. Its capacity is too low to town magnification, in many parts of the city, the houses have no running water. Older houses of mud walls keep the washout during heavy rains and the floods of the lake was not sufficient. While the settlement of nomads was mainly a consequence of the drought, the increased rainfall is a problem for the sedentary population has become since the turn of the millennium.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Cheikh Abdallahi Ould Sidi Mohamed, Mauritanian President from 2007 to 2008