The Committee to Nuke Elysium

If desertification is not tackled soon it will render Africa a desolate continent. Its effects will lead to water shortages, low food production, forced migration, the spread of disease and armed conflicts. Desertification is equally, if not more, lethal than the melting of the ice caps and the disappearance of the rainforests.

..I believe there are petroleum, gas, gold and possibly diamond deposits in the Sahara.