Little evidence is required to prove that the summit in Chad for the countries of the Sahel and the Sahara would not see its voice carry beyond the countries that suffer from the wrath of nature and various types of armed, ethnic and sectarian conflict, and economic oppression. Nonetheless, there is an insistence on holding meetings on a nearly regular basis, in the hope that the world will perhaps notice the tragedies of these countries, whose marginalization has made matters there even more complicated. However, there is one issue that is placing the region under the microscope, namely, the security chaos and terrorism that turned the Sahel triangle of death into a hotspot. In order to control this region, the Americans put forward a military project under the guise of AFRICOM, which has been preparing armies in the region to undertake presumed wars on terror. The Europeans have done the same, in the wake of the successive kidnappings of their citizens in the desert regions, while neighboring North African countries have either retreated to a spectator's or improvised positions based on narrower calculations. Until a short while ago, the African countries that are part of the Sahel and Sahara group believed that their Arab partners in this regional grouping are the locomotive that would take them to a promising future, through the flow of aid, expertise, and comprehensive cooperation under the stumbling South-South Dialogue. However, these dreams vanished amid the drop in [Arab] support and the narrowing horizon of Arab-African dialogue. While some Arab countries indeed spent considerable money on providing aid for African countries, it is also true that the source of the suffering lies in these countries' inability to organize their resources and control their development, as they have fallen victim to conflicts, wars and the domination of non-democratic regimes. Otherwise, what does it mean that African oil-producing countries are joining the ranks of the hungry, the refugees and the dispossessed? And what does it mean that the logic of begging is still being invoked in relations that should have otherwise been promoted to the level of true partnership between Arab countries in Africa and their counterparts, over the strategic space required to buttress security and political existence? The Arab-African dialogue did not stop merely because Israel has enshrined its policy of penetrating Africa, from which it took the Falasha, as well as gained recognition, and the normalization of relations. Instead, this dialogue has been affected by the regression in Arab conditions, and because of fragmented efforts. It is thus ironic that leading founders of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have been busy attracting African countries, as well as Asian ones, to the support of important battles, while the Arab League has been unsuccessful in saving Arab-African dialogue from paralysis. Certainly, the Arab countries closest to African neighbors are more concerned with this role. This is the situation of Egypt and Sudan, and North African countries on the front lines with the African Union. However, these groups' relations, with their African extensions, have entered a tunnel with little light to show the way forward. It is also incomprehensible that these Arab countries are seeking to project their disputes with each other to the African scene, instead of offering an example of resorting to accord, solidarity and good neighbor relations. A previous experience exists for Arab countries within the Organization of African Unity, which was established at an Arab initiative put forward by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser and King Mohammed V, along with African leaders like Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. This organization suffered many crises under the weight of inter-Arab disputes, and its enhanced version, the African Union, still suffers from the repercussions of these disputes. This requires, at least, that the Sahel and Sahara group avoid these same pitfalls. It is unlikely that this grouping of countries will find magical solutions to the growing crises like the conditions in Somalia, the impasse in Sudan, the turbulence in Niger, and the disasters in other African countries. However, it can use the international efforts being made as part of the so-called war on terror as a prelude to a resumption of Arab-African relations, at least in the North African arena. There is an opportunity to attract international attention to what goes beyond waging wars with actual weapons and replacing them with “development wars” in the countries of the Sahel and the Sahara. The Europeans have tried the recipe of African-European dialogue, while the Americans have shown more preoccupation with the conditions in Africa. All the matter requires is that the group's Arab member states display a similar level of attention, without preconditions, just a resumption of discussions over the stakes for the joint future and destiny.
