The stronghold in Mali was to be the centerpiece of a larger Qaeda emirate across the Sahel from Mauretania to Nigeria.
The Sahel has been degraded by human use, not natural desertification; the natural process has been the reverse.
The coast plain west of Algiers, the Sahel properly called, is in strong contrast with the cultivated plain of the Mitidja.
From 1861 onward, Fromentin deserted the Sahara in favour of Sahel, exchanged the consuming heat of summer for a milder sunshine.
The valley of the river Sahel is full of boars, and panthers and monkeys abound in the neighboring spurs of the Zouaouas.
In the Sahel, the prevailing east winds drive the sand-ocean with a progressive westward motion.
The children of the Sahel do not injure their guests; I have travelled since morning fasting; hunger will make the fawn brave.
