"Unbroken Yokes" Niger decides not to free its slaves

[Akyeame Kwame]

i've heard about sudan and mauritania...this is the first i'm hearing about niger since kanem borno...

AK

"Unbroken Yokes"
Niger decides not to free its slaves

UNTIL recently, slavery was illegal in Niger, but there was no penalty
for owning slaves. In other words, it was considered a less serious
crime than say, parking on a double yellow line in London. Last May, a
law threatening slave-owners with up to 30 years in jail came into
force. Even this did not free many of the 43,000 or more slaves that
Anti-Slavery International (ASI), a pressure group, estimates live in
Niger. But one slave-master, a Tuareg chief called Arissal Ag Amdague,
said last year that he would free all 7,000 of the human chattels that
he and his clansmen owned. The release was to take place amid great
fanfare in the desert region of Tillaberi on March 5th.

The ceremony was supposed to set an example, not only to slave-owners
in Niger, but also to the governments of other Saharan nations where
slavery is widespread, such as Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Sudan. But
it did not go as planned. No slaves were freed. Chief Ag Amdague and
the slave-masters under his jurisdiction stood up one after another
and publicly denied owning any slaves at all, despite their earlier
written statements to the contrary. "We are pretty depressed," said
David Ould, deputy director of ASI.

It seems that the government of Niger had a change of heart. A week
before the planned release, according to ASI, its representatives
toured the region warning slave-owners that they would be punished not
for owning slaves, but for publicly releasing them. Officials appear
to be stupid enough to imagine that if they deny a problem they had
previously acknowledged, they will avoid bad publicity.

Niger has a long tradition of slavery. Among some nomadic tribes, a
majority of people are slaves. They are born into servitude and can be
bought, sold, given away or inherited. They are forced to toil without
pay for as many years as they are physically able, while their masters
do nothing, except perhaps stand up while slaves move their tent into
the shade.

Some escape. Azara, a 25-year-old woman, managed to slip away and,
after 24 hours running through the desert, hitched a lift with a
passing car. "It was my first time to see such a vehicle," she
says, "It was wonderful." Her parents and grandparents were slaves,
and two of her sisters still are. But her son and daughter, both born
after her master tied her legs to a bed and raped her, are now free.

Source: http://www.economist.com/displaystor...ory_id=3747193