ABSTRACT
The trans-Saharan region of Africa forms an important strategic arc cutting across the bulk of West Africa—including the northern portion of Nigeria and southern Algeria—and stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. It is a place where Arab and African cultures begin to merge, of powerful and competing beliefs, and where tradition often clashes with modernity, making it one of the most contentious and conflict-prone areas of the world. Vast, ungoverned spaces; unsecured frontiers; large, uncontrolled population movements; extreme poverty; drought and the resulting famine; and persistent political and socioeconomic conflict are some of the defining characteristics of this region.
