The Tripoli–Cape Town Highway or TAH 3 is Trans-African Highway 3 in the transcontinental road network being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the African Union. The route has a length of and has the longest missing links and requires the most new road construction. South Africa was not originally included in the route which was first planned in the Apartheid era, but it is now recognized that it would continue to Cape Town. It may still be referred to in documents as the Tripoli-Windhoek Highway because of this fact. It is meant to be the second link between North and Southern Africa, with the Cairo-Cape Town Highway being the other route, passing through East Africa. Route The route passes through Libya, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of the Congo (ROC), the western tip of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola, Namibia and South Africa. Only national paved roads in Libya, Cameroon, Angola, Namibia and South Africa can be used to any extent. Currently only desert tracks run from southern Libya to the vicinity of Ndjamena, a distance of more than 2000 km, and no track of any kind exists between Salo, CAR and Ouésso, ROC. Northern section The Tripoli–Cape Town Highway is not a high priority in its northern section across the Sahara between Tripoli and Ndjamena, for which the Trans-Sahara Highway further west would probably find more usage and which provides an alternative north-south route. Libya is said to be more interested in road links to Niger which would connect with the Trans-Sahara Highway. Coupled with lawlessness and the potential for instability in the Libya-Chad border regions, the northern section is likely to be the last to be developed and may be a couple of decades away from completion. Central section It is the central section between northern Angola and Cameroon which is most needed because it would provide the first paved link between the West African and Southern African regions, and it would do the most to stimulate trade which currently has to go by air or sea. The central section is however a 'missing link', and the planned alignment between CAR and ROC would pass through some of the most remote and difficult terrain and rainforests of the Sangha River basin. This alignment has the potential for an enormous environmental impact on