Spanning three countries, the vast W-Arly-Pendjari Complex is being used to facilitate organised crime, terrorism and local conflicts. The W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex is a vast wildlife sanctuary spanning the intersecting borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. With one of the most diverse ecosystems in West Africa's savanna belt, it is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site and shelters threatened species such as cheetah, giraffe, wild dog, elephant, lion and leopard. But the WAP's million hectares of remote landscape is also a hub for organised transnational crimes, including the trafficking of weapons, drugs and people. Weapons smuggling is the most prolific illegal activity in the WAP, says Dr Juliana Abena Appiah from the University of Ghana's Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy. Carried out mainly by armed groups who exploit the park's rugged terrain and porous borders, the flow of weapons and ammunition facilitates terrorism, poaching, banditry and communal violence.