Andéramboukane is a rural, isolated, and largely desert area, crisscrossed by seasonal wadis, part of an ancient dry river system of the Azawagh region (the Iullemmeden Basin).

This festival, named Tamadacht, has become a showcase of traditional and contemporary Tuareg and Wodaabe music, dance, sport, performance, and arts.

Since the 1990s, there have been conflicts between Nigerien Fula and Malian Tuareg cattle herders in the area, and the theft of animals has been a regular occurrence.

In addition, the vast empty border region is used as a route to smuggle drugs, alcohol, weapons and illegal migrants from tropical Africa to the Mediterranean.

[10][11][12][13] On 1 June, an Al-Qaeda website claimed that the Briton, Edwin Dyer, had been killed following demands for the release of the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada from a British jail.