Africa/El_Aaiun time zone

Africa/El_Aaiun is an IANA time zone used in Western Sahara. It stopped changing clocks on Sunday, September 20, 2026 and now stays on UTC+0.

Africa/El_Aaiun at a glance

UTC offset now	UTC+0
Standard time	UTC+0
Used in	Western Sahara

Rules of the Africa/El_Aaiun time zone

Africa/El_Aaiun last changed its clocks on Sunday, September 20, 2026 and now stays on UTC+0. Software with tz data older than version 2026e may still expect further changes.

Recent and upcoming changes in Africa/El_Aaiun

Date	Change	New offset
Sunday, April 6, 2025	Clocks go forward 1 hour: 2:00 AM becomes 3:00 AM	UTC+1
Sunday, February 15, 2026	Clocks go back 1 hour: 3:00 AM becomes 2:00 AM	UTC+0
Sunday, March 22, 2026	Clocks go forward 1 hour: 2:00 AM becomes 3:00 AM	UTC+1
Sunday, September 20, 2026	Clocks go back 1 hour for good: 2:00 AM becomes 1:00 AM	UTC+0

The base offset of this zone changed in 1976, from UTC−1 to UTC+0. Old timestamps should be converted with the rule that applied at the time.

Where Africa/El_Aaiun is used

Africa/El_Aaiun is used in Western Sahara. These are the largest cities in our list that follow it.

Laayoune

Africa/El_Aaiun compared with other time zones

Differences change during the year when one side moves to or from daylight saving time, so the table shows January and July separately.

City	Time now	Difference now	In January	In July
New York (United States)	--:--	5 h behind	5 h behind	4 h behind
Los Angeles (United States)	--:--	8 h behind	8 h behind	7 h behind
London (United Kingdom)	--:--	Same time	Same time	1 h ahead
Paris (France)	--:--	1 h ahead	1 h ahead	2 h ahead
Dubai (United Arab Emirates)	--:--	4 h ahead	4 h ahead	4 h ahead
Mumbai (India)	--:--	5 h 30 min ahead	5 h 30 min ahead	5 h 30 min ahead
Singapore	--:--	8 h ahead	8 h ahead	8 h ahead
Tokyo (Japan)	--:--	9 h ahead	9 h ahead	9 h ahead
Sydney (Australia)	--:--	11 h ahead	11 h ahead	10 h ahead
UTC	--:--	Same time	Same time	Same time

Other zones on UTC+0 right now

These IANA zones show the same time as Africa/El_Aaiun today. Their clock-change rules may differ.

Using Africa/El_Aaiun in software

Store and send the zone as its IANA name, Africa/El_Aaiun, not as a fixed offset. A fixed offset such as UTC+0 gives the wrong result after the next clock change.

Show the current time in Africa/El_Aaiun:

// JavaScript
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-GB', { timeZone: 'Africa/El_Aaiun', timeStyle: 'long' }).format(new Date());
# Python
from datetime import datetime
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
datetime.now(ZoneInfo('Africa/El_Aaiun'))
// PHP
(new DateTime('now', new DateTimeZone('Africa/El_Aaiun')))->format('c');
# Shell
TZ=Africa/El_Aaiun date

Tools for time in Africa/El_Aaiun

Convert a time to or from Africa/El_Aaiun: pick a date and time and see it in every city on your list.
Add Laayoune to your world clock to keep it next to your own time.
Find a meeting time that falls inside office hours in Africa/El_Aaiun and the other cities you work with.
Open a full-screen clock for your own time zone.

Frequently asked questions

What is the UTC offset of Africa/El_Aaiun?

UTC+0, all year.

Time zone rules: IANA tz database, version 2026e. Place names and coordinates: GeoNames. Sunrise and sunset are calculated from the coordinates and can differ by a minute or two from local almanacs.