ABSTRACT

Magistro’s article and that of Bonte, which follows, deal with the region in Africa known as the Sahel. This an immense, arid, poor area immediately south of the Sahara that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to Chad. The Sahel has since Independence known its share of ethnic violence. Magistro deals with fighting between Maures and peoples of sub-Saharan ethnic groups that broke out in the west along the Senegal River, which divides Senegal from Mauritania. His analysis concentrates upon the way in which this river valley is being integrated into advanced capitalist economies through the construction of irrigation development schemes. In this instance development is, indeed, deadly because it provokes ethnic conflict.