Gourma-Rharous

   A town located on the right bank of the Niger River, it has seven arrondissements. It is a cercle of the Timbuktu region. It covers an area of 50,000 square kilometers and is situated in the eastern part of Timbuktu region. Since 1999, the cercle of Gourma-Rharous is composed of 37 villages and 147 settlements and has been divided into nine rural communes. Its population is about 100,000 and consists primarily of Tuareg and Maure nomads and Songhay farmers. The chef lieu is Gourma-Rharous, which has a population of about 3,000. The cercle is suitable for grazing goats, sheep, and camels. A few cattle are also raised. Gossi, located in the center of Gourma, is a water hole used by Tuareg nomads. In the late 1970s, refugees from the drought were settled in Gossi so they could farm and practice flood agriculture around the seasonal lake.