It lies on the edge of the sweeping Alawite stronghold known as al-Sahel, Arabic for coast.
An estimated 18 million people were affected during the Sahel crisis last year, he added.
Plainly, fighting terrorism or hostage-taking in the Sahel is a different sort of intervention.
Santos joined Etoile du Sahel in 1998, after a two-season spell with Belgian side Standard Liege.
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The importance of sound water management for sustainable development was highlighted, especially in the Sahel region.
Enyimba defeated Etoile Sahel of Tunisia 5-3 on penalties after the teams finished 3-3 on aggregate.
One area of concern is the Sahel, a vast semi-arid area south of the Sahara desert.
Mali's difficulties are equally part of a wider regional crisis extending across the Sahel.
The Sahel states' two biggest neighbours, Nigeria and Sudan, already have them the armed kind.
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Huge swathes of the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert have been rendered off-limits to foreigners.
Even so, while borders in the Sahel may appear on maps, they have little bearing on reality.
The most obvious impact of the north African uprising will be felt in the neighbouring Sahel states.
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It says that more than one million children in the Sahel region are at risk of severe malnutrition.
Most are of African origin, particularly from Muslim parts of the Maghreb and Sahel, where polygamy is accepted.
From the late 1940s through the late 1970s, when global temperatures cooled, rainfall in the Sahel declined dramatically.
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In the Indian state of Maharashtra, in the early 1970s more food was available than in the Sahel.
What the Sahel really needs is to make itself able to cope with the recurrent threat of famine.
Lake Chad, like Darfur Lake, is in the Sahel region where rainfall has been increasing since the 1980s.
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Comparative hydrological drought-flood risk modelling at Northern Mexico and West African Sahel region.
Armed groups have only become more active in Algeria's vast southern desert and neighbouring Sahel states in recent years.
Since the 1980s, as global temperatures warmed again, Sahel rainfall increased dramatically again.
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Atmane Tazaghart, author of a book on AQIM, says there are an estimated 1, 200-1, 500 Islamist fighters currently in the Sahel.
And Mali, another country in the Sahel, is coping with thousands of refugees after a military coup there last month.
Throughout West Africa and the Sahel, Westerners have become targets for both militant groups and criminal gangs, which are sometimes indistinguishable.
In September 2011 the Sahel Working Group, a coalition of development and aid outfits, published an influential report on the subject.
Drought-related emergencies, particularly in the Horn of Africa and Sahel regions, were unlikely to go away in the future, projected scenarios showed.
Mr Hollande acknowledged that one goal, the release of six French hostages being held in the Sahel, had still not been achieved.
And Abbas Argon was chief executive officer of Negin Sahel Royal Co.
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This reflects the strategic vision to maintain stability in the Grand Sahara and in the Sahel region and to enhance Maghreb integration.
Furthermore, the departure of tens of thousands of migrant Sahel workers from Libya means an end of the remittances they send home.
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