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Amnesty
slams Mauritania for not enforcing law abolishing slavery
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By
Sayed Ahmed, IOL Mauritania correspondent
NOUAKCHOTT,
Mauritania, November 19 (IslamOnline) – Reactions of former slaves
in Mauritanian varied on the Amnesty International report that accused
the Mauritanian government of slowing down implementation of a new
legislation abolishing slavery.
Some
had reservations on the content of the report while others welcomed it
as a genuine reflection on their suffering.
Amrak
Ould Mahmoud, an engineer and ex-slave, said the report is neither
good nor bad.
It
contains positive elements such as calling for a neutral study on the
slavery phenomenon to count the number of people having difficulty
coping with society because of being ex-slaves, he stressed.
But,
the report, Ould Mahmoud added, was not fair when it held white Arabs
solely responsible for slavery.
He
asserted that black groups exercise more brutal forms of slavery on
each other, having a separate cemetery for masters and slaves.
“But
in our case, we the black Arabs, our former Arab masters educated us
about Islam, prayer and worship.
“This
does not mean that slavery has positive aspects.
“It
is an unjust and inhumane practice but we were better off compared to
black slaves,” Ould Mahmoud averred.
This
fact was overlooked by the Amnesty report which never for once spoke
about slavery among the black, giving readers the impression that it
(the report) only wanted to incriminate Mauritanian Arabs and harm
Arabs and Islam.
“We
suffer several psychological problems that prevent us from integrating
with society as equal citizens,” complained Khadiga bint Masoud, a
nurse and a former slave.
“Looks
of contempt and inferiority are always chasing us wherever we go.
“Our
white Arab brothers, although they did not enslave us any more, are
not treating us as equals,” she lamented.
The
state is to be blamed, Khadiga stressed, because it must work on
liquidating the class that ex-slaves are suffering from.
The
regime’s tendency to ignore the whole issue whenever it floats to
the surface is what made it more complicated, she said.
“The
regime banned the official media from addressing the issue of slavery,
although it does recognize the existence of its repercussions in
Mauritania,” Khadiga underlined.
For
its part, the Mauritanian government rejected the Amnesty report.
Speaking
at a press conference on Wednesday, November 13, government spokesman
Sheikh Ould Ali dismissed the report as baseless.
The
issue of slavery took news headlines once again after Amnesty issued a
report entitled “Mauritania: Future Without Slavery”.
The
report leveled harsh criticism at the Mauritanian government and
accused it of doing absolutely nothing to enforce a law abolishing
slavery in the country.
It
also condemned white Arabs and held them responsible for failure to
combat slavery.
According
to the Amnesty report, scores of people who were enslaved or were the
offspring of slaves are victims of stark social discrimination in
Mauritania.
Amnesty
did not conduct a field investigation but relied on reports issued by
Mauritanian NGOs, which, for the large party, group ex-slaves and
blacks who oppose the ruling regime in the country.
Although
the report admits that slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania
in 1981, it charges that no practical measures were taken to enforce
this law on the ground.
In
the past, the relation between the Mauritanian government and Amnesty
International was always characterized by the lack of confidence.
The
organization tried several times between 1998 and 2001 to send
missions to Mauritania to verify human rights violations and slavery
but the government remained adamant to allow any such mission in.
The
ruling regime in Mauritania accuses Amnesty International of being
biased in handling the issue of human rights in the country.
