STRUGGLE OF MAURITANIA’S EX SLAVES
Jan 15th, 2009 by admin
Over 100 former slave families in Mauritania are struggling to adapt to independent life, two years after setting up their own community. The families moved away from the southern Mauritanian village in which their ancestors had been slaves for generations to begin new lives on their own. But they say life has been tough in the desert. They were rejected by other communities who did not want former slaves in their midst. They only managed to settle when the government intervened. But with no hospitals and schools or any other support services, the former slaves say life is a constant struggle. Human rights experts say although slavery has been criminalised in the country, support for former slaves remains woefully inadequate.