Assamakka is a small desert town in northern

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAlgeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. It is the only official crossing point between the two nations. Assamakka shares the border with the larger town of

In Guezzam In Guezzam (Arabic: عين قزام, ''lit.'' springs of Guezzam; Berber spelling: Gezzam) is a town and commune that is the capital of In Guezzam Province, Algeria, on the border with Niger. Till 26 November 2019 it was part of the Tamanrasse ...

10 km on the Algerian side. A main road extends north in Algeria to

Tamanrasset Tamanrasset (; ar, تامنراست), also known as Tamanghasset or Tamenghest, is an oasis city and capital of Tamanrasset Province in southern Algeria, in the Ahaggar Mountains. It is the chief city of the Algerian Tuareg. It is located an alt ...

, 400 km away. Assamakka is connected to the town of

Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with ...

, 200 km to the south by a road which remains in largely a sand "

Piste A ''piste'' () is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. This European term is French

". From Arlit, the "Uranium Highway", a tarred road built in the 1970s for mining trucks, travels south to

Agadez Agadez ( Air Tamajeq: ⴰⴶⴰⴷⴰⵣ, ''Agadaz''), formerly spelled Agadès, is the fifth largest city in Niger, with a population of 110,497 based on the 2012 census. The capital of Agadez Region, it lies in the Sahara desert, and is also ...

and

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital di ...

Border regulation

While the military on either side of the border have frequently closed this border post to traffic due to Tuareg insurgencies of the 1990s and 2000s, the border area in this region has no effective controls or even marking.

Geography

The area around Assamakka is flat and absolutely desert: the rocky plains of the Toussasset region begin just to the east, and are punctuated by

Ergs The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100 nJ). It originated in the Centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It has the symbol ''erg''. The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' o ...

, or "dune seas". To the south the

Azawagh The Azawagh (alias ''Azaouagh'' or ''Azawak'') is a dry basin covering what is today the northwestern Niger, as well as parts of northeastern Mali and southern Algeria. The Azawagh is mainly made up of Sahelian and Saharan flatlands and ha ...

region is characterised by dry plains and ancient dry river valleys arcing to the southwest from the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif ( tmh, Ayăr; Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion, they r ...

. Assamakka has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWh'') with extreme heat and a great lack of rainfall. From late April to late October, the mercury rises almost every day above 40 °C in the shade; in June, the average high temperature even exceeds 45 °C in the shade. All year long, days are very hot and sunny. The cloud cover and precipitation are absent except during the short irregular "rainy" season in July and August, then the weather clears up again.

Population

The town itself has long been a Tuareg encampment at a strategic desert well. What small population which is found here are nomadic or semi nomadic

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...

, many of whom engage in cross border trade with Tuareg communities to the north and south, or pass through this area around the brief rainy season of the

plains to the far southwest. The area is dominated by Tuareg

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

populations, as well as

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic minorities, including Hassaniyya-speaking

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

(also called

Azawagh Arabs The Azawagh Arabs ( ar, عرب أزواغ) (also known as nomadic Moors) are nomadic ethnic Arab-ancestry tribes who are settling mainly in the area of Azawagh which is a dry basin covering what is today northwestern Niger, as well as parts of ...

, not to be confused with Niger's

Diffa Arabs Diffa Arabs ( ar, عرب الديفا) (also known as Mahamid Arabs) is the Nigerien name given to Arabicized nomadic tribespeople living in eastern Niger, mostly in the Diffa Region. In 2006, approximately 150,000 and accounting for less than 1.5% ...

) in the northwest border regions of Niger. The Azawagh area is the centre for the Iwellemeden Kel Denneg federation. The town itself has grown as a transit point for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

. Trucks from the south drop off migrants here, who must then arrange trips over the border. Consequently, the small population is ethnically diverse and fluctuates. Illegal migrants deported south from Algeria are also returned here, sometimes in large numbers.Franklin Graham
Clandestine, Controls and Crossing the Sahara: Pastoral Food Security in the Sahara/Sahel
National Science Foundation DDRI grant no. 0622892 on Food Security (2007) Accessed 27 March 2009

Tuareg insurgency

Several disputed killings of rebels and civilians are alleged to have taken place in the Assamakka area during the 2007 Tuareg Insurgency against the Nigerien government.Niger says bandits slain, rebels say civilians shot
Abdoulaye Massalatchi, Reuters. 2 October 2007

References

{{Reflist, 33em

Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. 1996–2004. Accessed 2009-03-27. Populated places in Niger Algeria–Niger border crossings