HUMAN RIGHTS-MAURITANIA: Slavery Rampant in North African State

By Lahai J. Samboma Reprint | | Print |

LONDON, Nov 28 1994 (IPS) - As the end of the twentieth century approaches the nineteenth century curse of slavery is very much alive and well in the North African state of Mauritania.

The continued existence of the degrading practice in the sparsely populated mainly desert nation is a damning indictment of the Mauritanian government and the international community.

Human rights campaigners say a great deal more pressure would have to has to be placed on the government of President Maawiya Sid’Ahmed Taya to ensure its eventual eradication.

“Slavery never really disappeared in Mauritania, even though it has been officially abolished three times before,” says Salem Mezhoud, programme officer at the London-based human rights group ‘Anti-Slavery International’.

Aside from slavery, campaigners charge that the country’s African population is being subjected to the shocking human rights violations — such as massacre, torture, expulsions, and arbitrary imprisonment — by their white Moor rulers.

“Long before ‘ethnic cleansing’ entered popular international parlance, its effects were painfully apparent in Mautitania,” said British-based organisation Human Rights/ Africa.

Slavery has been in existence in Mauritania for centuries. Traditionally, Africans were brought north into slavery after capture by raiding Arab/Berber tribes. Today slaves are either bought secretly or presented as gifts from one Arab to another.

Not only is their possession considered a status symbol, but they also perform vital economic tasks for their masters. Industries such as agriculture and animal husbandry are still largely dependent on slave labour.

Africans account for two-thirds of the country’s population, about half of whom are known as the Haritan. They are former slaves who either bought their freedom or were granted it after induction into the former French colonial army.

Haritans remain tied poltically and culturally to their former masters, honorary Arabs to all extents and purposes. It is the other African groups, the Halpulaar, Soninke, Bambara and Wolof, who are being systematically persecuted in this arid country.

Tens of thousands of them are considered their masters property, totally subjected to their will, campaigners say.