Slavery abolished, but bonds remain

Press, 6 September 1980, Page 9

Slavery abolished, but bonds remain

NZPA Nouakchott, Mauritania

Slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania in July, but thousands of blacks remain in bond, held more by tradition and religion than by chains. Moussa, aged 15. is the black slave of a family of Moors, Islamic people of mixed Berber- and Arab blood. His father and most of his. immediate ancestors were ■ also slaves, 'Or “Abid,” as they are known in this largely feudal, Arab-dominated country on Africa’s west coast.

In ' spite of the anti* slavery decree, Moussa still 'works in a poor household in sand-blown Nouakchott, - faithfully obeying his master’s, every command. Senior sources..in Mauritania’s two-year-old military Government said the decree was aimed at bringing Mauritania up to date and preventing racial tension arising between the majority ' blacks and the Moors who comprise its 1.5 million population.

. Moussa’s ancestors came from the valley of the Senegal River, which marks the. border between Mauritania and the f west African country of Senegal 'They were brought north after being captured by raiding Arab tribes—' a common fate in the Area then. Even today, according to religious sources in Nouakchott, black mothers will not take their babies ; xyith them to the fields' during “gueta” (harvest) in case they are captured, as slaves-by Moor, tribes-, men. .?•■.' After their conquest of Mauritania in tire seventeenth century, i the ■ Moors claimed the . land down to the Senegal River and used their ~' black slaves to work.it Blacks subsequently released from slavery became known -as “Harratin,” freemen who owed their former masters part of their crops or salary as: tribute ' • f

A senior Government official said thousands of Harratin still paid these dues, mainly were convinced the y[ would not get .to heaven unless' they did, a belief; instilled in slave minds over the centuries by the; Moors’ powerful religious leaders.

(Because of „their isolated, mainly.'?-;-momadlc lives,-the-Moors.'have;re-mained untouchetfriby the West’s anti-slavery: move-/ merit. . i _ , But the,. Government'

otncial said, the repeated severe droughts of the last decade, which have forced many Moors to flee south from their Sahara desert camps', have; brought a change in.attitudes.

As a < result ot ; the droughts, 'a move, towards urbanisation is under way in Mauritania Which,, al-though-twice the size of France, has few cities. Nouakchott, the capital, built less than 20 years ago at the time of independence from France, was planned as a centre for 35.000 people. The population has since grown to 150,000 with resulting sanitation and housing problems.

Behind an ornate new mosque, a huge slum city has been built up by nomads pouring into the city - in search of nonexistent work; /

Their herds killed by drought, the nomads, come to Nouakchott hoping to preserve their ' masterslave social structure, ■ The official said that city life and the increasing political awareness it fostered among the slaves was bringing changes that could herald the - death of Mauritania’s feudal system; l :[

But the changes would take a long time to reach the desert where more than 70 per cent of Mauritanians still lived: many, noble Moors were too proud to perform any kind of labour. : “There are noble families with-dozens of slaves looking after? herds" of camels and goats, toiling on the land, doing all the work in the camp, while the masters sit under their high tents dreaming of a world revolving round, the land of the Moors.” .

Traditional masters say their slaves are treated as full members !of the family, and that no slave would willingly leave his owner.

But Church leaders in Nouakchott asserted that slaves’ lives were pure hell.

“When they are old and useless, they are left to die like dogs,” they said. In the Senegal River basin. Harratin still' work the land belonging by Islamic right to the Moors. Landlords visited them once a year for their share of the harvest, which varied from onetenth to one-fifth, the official said. , . • ' • “Even in the Civil Service. there are cases of Harratin paying part of their meagre Civil Service salaries to their master, himself a high official who has won them a job in the administration,” he said.

Wealthy Harratin’ who fled to. neighbouring countries years ago remained’ subject to payment demands from their masters, other sources said, citing the case of a man doing regular rounds of several west African capitals to .collect his' ;, dues.’’ An estimated. J 200,000 -I Mauritanians live .in neighbouring countries.

Church . leaders believed .. the slaves were - beginning / to emerge from - the dark ages, guided ~by a black political movement which sought social and political equality; with the Moors. “But do not: be too hopeful. If will take at least two . generations to rid this country of slavery and bring equality — and God knows what will become of Mauritanian society,” they said.