MAURITANIA: The arrival of World Vision's Caravane de l'Espoir bringing the battle against Aids to Chinguetti, Mauritania's ancient holy oasis city in the Sahara desert, was a welcome distraction from the searing summer heat.
"I don't think there is a real need for a 'safe sex' message for the people of Chinguetti - the people here are very conservative," said Yaya Mohamed Ould Vall, of one of the leading families of the area.
It was good that the message was brought to Chinguetti but, he believed, there was a greater need for the message among the countless people who work or hang out at the beach of the artisanal fishing port outside the capital, Nouakchott.
Here hundreds of young men and women from Mauritania's neighbours Senegal, Mali and, farther away, from the Gambia and Guinea-Conakry, congregate in search of work and to find a fishing canoe to try to make the hazardous journey by sea to the Spanish Canary Islands, the gateway to Europe.
The Spanish authorities estimate that this year already, 20,000 illegal emigrants from west Africa have reached the Canaries and has asked the EU for assistance to stem the flow.
The number of people who have perished at sea on the 900- km journey is estimated at 3,000.
The other day, Mauritanian police recovered eight bodies on the north Mauritanian coast.
Because no fishermen were reported missing, it was assumed that these were illegal emigrants whose identity would remain unknown forever.
In its turn, the EU is putting pressure on Mauritania to seal its land and sea borders which - because most of it is desert that stretches from the east and south to the Atlantic coast on the west - poses an enormous challenge for a poor country with barely three million people.
"We are very aware of the problem and we consider the existence of at least 0.5 million illegals a threat to our own security," said a senior security source.
He pointed to the fact that southern neighbour Senegal was a much smaller country but one with a population of 12 million and lacking the resources of ores, oil and fish that Mauritania was developing.
Indeed these natural resources make Mauritania the envy of its neighbours.
After decades of corruption and repression, as well as natural disasters such as droughts and plagues of locusts, the new regime of acting president Col Ely Ould Mohamed Vall took power in a bloodless coup a year ago offering fundamental change.
In a break with tradition, the new president announced that the military would return to its barracks within two years after overseeing a transition period to democracy.
International observers have been very impressed with the speed and intent of the interim government so far.
"The EU does not need to put pressure on us - Mauritania will do what it has to do," the soft- spoken president told The Irish Times.
President Vall stressed that as the main problem was poverty and lack of development, the EU had a role in tackling these if it was concerned about its security.
Talking to the fishermen on Nouakchott beach confirms the official assertion that the vast majority of illegal emigrants are not Mauritanians.
"There are not many Mauritanians here - they are the fish merchants we work for," said 15 years old "Smilie" Vall, who had travelled in search of work from his little village of Barra in the Gambia to help his widowed mother.
Smilie is paid by the day, if he is lucky, but he dreams of going to Germany, England or even the United States and he is prepared to risk his life on the journey to the Canaries.
The Spanish authorities claim that the wave of African emigrants is a threat to its economic and political security.
A thousand years ago, Spain faced the threat of the veiled men of the western Sahara when they launched their jihad from Chinguetti, the seventh holiest city of Islam.
They established an imamate from the Ebro in Spain in the north - after defeating El Cid - to the river Senegal in the south, conquering the pagan African kingdom of Ghana.
Today Mauritanians welcome Europeans, either as business partners in the fishing and oil industries or as tourists to Chinguetti.
In the more agreeable climate of winter, the thousand-strong population of the town more than doubles with visitors from Europe.
Listening to the music played by the band of the Caravane de l'Espoir in the balmy night under a wide starry night on the roof of his house, Yaya Vall explained that the Mauritanians were hopeful and happy again.
Hopeful because they believe the president is serious about establishing democracy and combating corruption and happy because the seasonal rains were better than previous years, providing plenty of grass and water for the camels.