Freedom from Slavery: Ending Slavery in Mauritania!

The idea of writing about slavery in Mauritania came to me, after I was unable to attend an event on Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 3: 00pm hosted by Trinity United Church of Christ in partnership with Masjid Al-Taqwa and the Abolition Institute. Panelists John Sutter (CNN, Slavery’s Last Strong Hold), Dr Babacar MBengue (DePaul University Islamic World Studies), Sarah Mathewson (Anti-Slavery International), Bakary Tandia (Abolition Institute), and Rashidat Ololade Sanya, (Trinity United Church of Christ) gathered on that day on the Southside of Chicago to discuss and champion “Freedom for Victims of Slavery in Mauritania Africa.” In this topic, I will talk about the Mauritanian community in Senegal in the 1980’s and analyze the status of slavery as it exists in Mauritania, today.

Senegal, in the 1980s had a large Mauritanian community. They were called Moors. There were “White moors” (Beidane) and “Blacks moors” (Haratin). The Beidanes worked at the local retail businesses as shopkeepers, selling goods to the Senegalese population. The Haratins, lacking financial means, found their salvation with Senegal neighborhood water fountains, where they sold barrels of water for 25 Cfa each to people who didn’t have access to clean running water, or didn’t have the time or desire to stand in line for it. If you had the chance to befriend them, they would tell you that they came to Senegal to make a fortune, and that they eventually would go back to their country; but, isn’t that what all new immigrants say when they come to a new country? Yet, when you talked to the Haratins, they would share with you that they came to earn money, and to pay back their owner, so they could free them-selves from slavery.

There are different accounts on the etymology of the word slavery, but we could acknowledge that it originated from the English term slave that has its origins in the word Slavs, people who inhabited a large part of Eastern Europe, and were captured and enslaved during early medieval wars. Slavery could be legally defined as “A civil relationship in which one person has absolute power over the life, fortune, and liberty of another.” Slavery has taken different forms through out history, including chattel slavery (personal property), bonded labor (debt bondage), and forced labor.

The Australian based organization Walk Free Foundation estimates that 35.8 million people are living as slaves right now. Despite the fact that the world came together on December 10, 1948 to condemn the practice of slavery under Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude, slavery in all its forms should be eliminated.” The last country to abolish slavery was Mauritania.

Mauritania, covered by a large blanket of sand dunes, was born in November 28, 1960, after obtaining its independence from France. The country is situated at the northern border of the Senegal River, and its population is composed of different ethnic groups: the Moors (African-Haratins or Arab-Beidane,) and other Africans, such as the Wolof,the Soninke, the Serer and the Hal-pulaar. Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981, but only criminalized it in August 2007. Nevertheless, a 2012 CNN report, “Slavery’s Last Stronghold” by John D. Sutter, revealed that slavery is still a reality, and up to 600,000 Mauritanians, or 20% of the population, are still enslaved.

Despite the facts, the Mauritanian government is still in denial and is doing little to stop the practice of slavery. According to a BBC report from January 17, 2011, the only person persecuted for owning slaves was Oumoulmounine Mint Baker Vail, who was sentenced to six months in jail.

For many Mauritanians living in Senegal in the 1980’s, the dream of making a fortune and returning home would come to an end after April 9^th, 1989. Diawara, located in the Bakel region near the northeastern Senegalese-Mauritanian border, would witness an incident that emblazed both countries and affected the lives of thousand of Senegalese and Mauritanians, who had lived together in peace for centuries. On April 9^th, 1989, Senegalese Fulani herdsmen clashed with Mauritanian Soninke Farmers over grazing rights. Mauritanian border guards intervened, killing two Senegalese peasants and injuring several others. As a result, shops owned by Mauritanians were looted and burned on the Senegalese side. At the end of the conflict, known as the “Mauritania-Senegal Border War”, hundreds had died, thousands were displaced, and hundreds became amputees; many were victims of mob attacks and police brutality. Both Beidanes and Haratins were forced to leave Senegal. The Beidanes left their shops behind; the Haratins gave up their dream of freedom and headed north to their homeland with an uncertain future. The Senegal neighborhood water fountain, which gave them the hope of freedom, was closed years later under the Diktat of the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund experts called privatization.

As history has taught us, great leaders emerged through great crises. We would not talk about Martin Luther King Jr. if African-Americans weren’t denied their civil rights in America. We would not talk about Gandhi if the British hadn’t colonized India, and we would not talk about Nelson Mandela if the system of Apartheid in South Africa never existed. The fight to abolish slavery in Mauritania is led by Biram Dah Abeid, a Mauritanian politician and founder of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA). On November 11, 2014, he and 16 IRA-anti-slavery activists were detained for protesting the repeal of charges against a slave master who raped a 15-year-old girl that worked as his slave. He is still in jail waiting a pending appeal trial.

Slavery in Mauritania is a reality, and anti-slavery organizations, activists and ordinary citizens are coming together to show solidarity to the estimated 600,000 enslaved Mauritanians. In Chicago, the event of “Championing freedom for Victims of Slavery in Mauritania” resulted in a fatwa written in Arabic that was delivered by clerics in the surrounding West African countries denouncing the practice of slavery and those who attribute slavery as a call from the Holy Qur’an.

On February 27, 2016, I responded to an invite and attended an event at the Lindblom Math and Science Academy in the Englewood neighborhood celebrating Black History Month. People were welcoming. I had the chance to listen to Noura Mint Seymali from Mauritania, the Lindblom Math and Science Academy’s Acapella choir, Abraham, a musician from Liberia, and Pittsburgh activist rapper Jasiri X. Despite the stigma of gangs, shootings and dilapidated houses, the night was peaceful, beautiful, and the energy was pleasant. Just as any other community, they came together to rise to the occasion and share their best. The Englewood community deserves the “Right to a Better Image”.

At the end of a beautiful evening, I carried with me Noura’s traditional Moorish music, knowing that in Mauritania, there is a secret hiding behind the beautiful image of Moors with their camels and tents; there is a secret hiding behind the splendid scenery of sand dunes and oasis, and that secret is slavery. We should condemn it, because as people of the United Nations, we believe as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states under Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Sincerely,

Alpha

You also could learn more by visiting:

www.championingfreedom.org

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/

ld/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/