Travel Guide Reggane

In the very south of Touat, 135 km south of Adrar and on the Messaoud river, Reggane is the last town on the Mali track that crosses the Tanezrouft. From its past, an old ksar and a palm grove remain. The French conducted their nuclear tests there until after Independence, before moving the laboratories and the deadly fallout to the Pacific Islands in 1967, in accordance with the Evian Accords. The first French nuclear bomb exploded on 13 February 1960 and many veterans, both in France and Algeria, suffering from cancers typical of contamination, had to regroup in defence associations.Since then, the former city of Toub Rouge, surrounded by palm groves and green gardens, has grown considerably and been enriched by agri-food factories.