Sakaraha is a town and municipality in Atsimo-Andrefana Region, south-western

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It has a population of 31,183 in 2018.

Geography

Sakaraha is situated along route nationale No. 7 ( Tuléar-

Fianarantsoa Fianarantsoa is a city (commune urbaine) in south central Madagascar, and is the capital of Haute Matsiatra Region. History It was built in the early 19th century by the Merina as the administrative capital for the newly conquered Betsileo kin ...

) at 134 km from Tuléar, 64 km from Andranovory and 84 km from Ilakaka. It is situated at the Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park.

Economy

Mining: there are

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sap ...

s found in the town of Sakaraha. Natural gas was discovered near Sakaraha by Madagascar Southern Petroleum Company (MSCP) in 2011. There are also some oil deposits near Sakaraha but there is no commercial exploration. On 31 January 2007, Saudi terrorist Mohammed Jamal Khalifa was murdered by 25 to 30 armed men while visiting a gemstone mine he owned in Sakamilko, near the town of Sakaraha. He had recently called in local police to evict people who had been working the gem mine in his absence. Though all his belongings had been stolen there is some conjecture that the death was politically motivated. Khalifa's family came to believe that he was assassinated by operators from the Joint Special Operations Command."Gems, al-Qaida and Murder: Mystery over killing of Osama Bin Laden's friend" ''The Guardian'' World news section
accessed on 31 January 2007

References

Populated places in Atsimo-Andrefana Sapphire mines in Madagascar {{AtsimoAndrefana-geo-stub