The geopolitics of water in Africa

        On September 13, 1922 a heat record of 57.8 degrees is recorded at El-Azizia located only 55km south-west of Tripoli in full Djeffara (plain covering the northwest of the country). This figure denoting an extreme temperature clearly shows the hostile environment in which Libyan hydraulic governance must be optimal. Libya is a vast country of 90% desert, a transitional territory between the Maghreb and the Mashreq, but also between the Mediterranean and Africa. It is a sparsely populated country currently notably by the effect of the conflicts (6,375 million in 2017 according to the world bank). A narrow coastal strip in the North, along the coasts concentrates all the major cities of the country: Tripoli, Homs, Sirte, Benghazi. In addition, the absence of mountain range allows the Sahara to extend to the littoral. In 1953, during oil exploration drilling in southern Libya, a gigantic sheet of fossil freshwater was discovered in the Nubian desert. This groundwater is un