What Time Is It in Western Sahara Right Now?

Western Sahara follows Moroccan practice. The territory holds UTC+1 with a one-month reversion to GMT for Ramadan - and that ends on 20 September 2026, when Morocco moves to permanent GMT and both features disappear together.

• Before 20 September 2026: UTC+1, reverting to UTC+0 for Ramadan

• From 20 September 2026: UTC+0 (GMT), with no seasonal or lunar change

• IANA identifier: Africa/El_Aaiun

• Zones nationwide: One

Quick Reference: Before and After the Change

Africa/El_Aaiun is a distinct entry that has never diverged from Africa/Casablanca. The territory holds its own string rather than a link to the Moroccan one - but every transition recorded in it is a Moroccan decision, including the Ramadan reversions and the September 2026 change. The entry is separate because the territory's status is distinct; the contents match because the administration setting the clock is the same.

A link would erase that distinction. Storing Africa/El_Aaiun records which territory a timestamp belongs to, and the database keeps the two apart precisely so the rules can diverge if practice ever differs on one side.

Daylight Saving Time on a Lunar Month, and Why It Ends

Ramadan advances through the calendar, so the transition dates moved. The month shifts by roughly eleven days each cycle against the Gregorian year, which meant the two annual changes here could fall in any season and never repeated on the same dates. The direction was inverted too - clocks went back to shorten the fasting day rather than forward for summer evenings. Western Sahara and Morocco were the only places anywhere whose civil clock moved on a lunar schedule, and the September 2026 change removes it.

Border Time Differences: Two Frontiers That Behaved in Opposite Ways

Mauritania matched only during Ramadan; Algeria matched for the rest of the year. The southern neighbour holds a permanent UTC+0, so that border cost an hour for eleven months and nothing for one. Algeria, on a fixed UTC+1, reversed the pattern exactly. Neither had a constant relationship to the clock here - and from September 2026 the Mauritanian border becomes conversion-free in every month while the Algerian one moves an hour permanently.

Las Palmas is closer than most inland routes. The Spanish archipelago runs on WET - level with GMT in winter, an hour ahead in summer - so the fishing fleets and air links working across that stretch face a gap that changes twice a year from the Spanish side. Under the old arrangement two independent schedules could overlap: the European changeover on fixed dates and the Ramadan reversion on lunar ones, briefly widening the difference by two hours rather than one. From September 2026 only the European side moves.

What time zone does Western Sahara use?
UTC+1 before 20 September 2026, and UTC+0 permanently from that date.

Does it follow Moroccan time?
Yes, in every period. The two entries have never carried different values.

Which identifier should software store?
Africa/El_Aaiun, which is separate from the Moroccan entry despite holding identical rules.

Is Western Sahara the same time as Mauritania?
From September 2026, permanently. Before that, only during the Ramadan month.

Why did the clock change on lunar dates?
Because the reversion was tied to Ramadan rather than to a season, so the dates moved about eleven days earlier each year.

Does Laayoune keep a different hour from Dakhla?
No. The whole territory reads one figure.

Why does my calendar app get this wrong?
Its data predates the current rules. Lunar transitions had to be listed individually rather than computed, and the September change needs a fresh update too.

Related Guides

• Time in Morocco

• Time in Mauritania

• Time in Algeria

• Time in Spain