Sahara

A vast, sparsely populated desert straddles the southern and eastern borders of Morocco.

The Sahara region is home to an indigenous nomadic people ruled by Spain until 1975. In that year Moroccan King Hassan II rallied hundreds of thousands of his subjects to a peaceful march into the Sahara claiming the region as a historical part of Morocco. What has now become known and celebrated as the "Green March" began a process that has ended in the region being ruled by Morocco today.

For more than a decade, political and military factions fought a sporadic war with Morocco for sovereignty in the region. Tens of thousands became refugees and more than a generation later, remain in makeshift camps in Algeria. The United Nations has sought to mediate but with little success. The international diplomatic struggle waged over this fisheries and phosphate-rich region for more than a quarter century continues. In the meantime, Morocco has invested billions of dollars in developing the Sahara region.

The local people today are now less likely to roam the desert than to congregate in small towns and oases. Some do still herd goats and camels, but they have an extremely high literacy rate. Education is a high value and many young people are in universities in Morocco and abroad.

In the past there have been few opportunities for these people to hear the good news, but they have recently begun to attract the attention of the Christian world. The drought, high temperatures and difficult living conditions of the Sahara are not very welcoming but the people there are hospitable and warm.

"He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle." Psalm 107:35-36

• Pray God's peace will cover the land.
• Pray many would find their security in the Lord.
• Pray for blessing on the land, an end to the drought, and a return of the refugees to their homelands.