Defence district (Arab Union)

Not to be confused with the military districts of the Arab Union.

In the Union of Arab Republics (UAR; informally known as the Arab Union), a majority of civilian-operated defence facilities and related infrastructure as well as all active military bases of the Union Defence Forces are located in a defence district (Arabic: منطقة الدفاع minṭaqat ad-difā‘), which is considered a local government entity like the civilian municipalities which form the administrative divisions of individual republics and territories of the Arab Union. Like its civilian counterpart, the defence district is a local government area and thus also counted as an administrative division of the republic or territory in which it is located. Defence districts are responsible for the provision of all local government services to all residents, employees and visitors of the district, military or civilian.

Each defence district has its own council which acts as the municipal government for the district; defence district councils exclusively use the mayor-council form of government, the only difference from civilian mayor-council governments being that the mayor is not popularly elected but rather appointed by the installation commander.

Many defence districts include not only the entirety of the military base(s) and related installation(s), but also one or more unincorporated communities which typically base their economies on providing services for the military personnel and/or Ministry of Defence employees working and/or living in the district. In such cases, these unincorporated communities, being within the boundaries of a defence district, receive all public services from the defence district's council; this is in contrast to unincorporated communities elsewhere, which must either rely on republican/territorial governments for the provision of public services or contract public services from the council of a nearby incorporated municipality.