Mauritania’s Hidden Secret: A Nation Menaced by Slavery

On the outskirts of Nouakchott, Mauritania, on a one-lane dirt road, a prominent Arab noble operates a truck maniacally, swerving from one side of the road to another. In the back seat of the car lay Selek’ha Mint Hamane, a sixteen year old ethnic African girl of the Fula tribe, who was raped by her master nine months prior. Now, as she goes into labor, hands tied behind her back, her childbirth is forcefully aborted as the car jerks back and forth. Hamane writhes in agony while her near lifeless body is thrown carelessly against the unforgiving floor of the truck. As the car passes through Nouakchott, an army general stops the truck operator for driving recklessly, who, after seeing Hamane’s mutilated child, simply ignores the sight, and allows the car to pass into the central business district with a simple traffic violation.

According to CNN Documentary, brutal events like the forced abortion of Hamane’s child, although inhumane, are commonplace in rural Mauritania. As wealthy Arabs enslave their black African counterparts and put them through hardships such as that of Hamane, the government ignores these occurrences completely.

The Mauritanian government, dominated by Muslim Arabs, has continued to deny these cruel practices that affect “40 percent of Mauritania's population,” according to EFE World News (Otazu). Every day, as black Africans are marginalized, the government ignores these cases in order to perpetuate the power inequality between ethnic groups. The system of slavery in Mauritania by wealthy Arabs unto the black Africans is continually perpetuated by the government in order to create a system of hierarchy that puts Muslim Arabs at the top of the social ladder.

The vast majority of Mauritania are of the Maliki faith of Islam, in contrast to the minority black Africans who are of tribal religions. As the government’s goal is to create homogeneity with Islam as the state religion, Muslim Sharia Law takes precedent. According to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, “Many still postulate the legality of slavery due to the dominance of the Maliki interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence, or Sharia Law” (Biram). Under Islamic faith, slavery is not overtly stated as illegal. As the Muslim-dominated government strives to continue to have Islam as the dominant religion by a large margin, they completely ignore and deny the harsh effects that slavery has upon the non-Muslims of the nation.

In addition to the implementation of Islam as the state religion, many scholars have argued that the Mauritanian government has tried to consolidate the power in hands of the wealthy Arab elite. As evidence, an NPR article cites that “they point to the decision to declare Arabic the country's official language” (Watson). With Arabic as the lingua franca, the wealth of the nation is held among the Arab people, who are historically more wealthy than the black Africans. Creating a national language other than that of the enslaved peoples, it details the government’s desires to have more power than the tribal Africans.  

Although numerous groups have arose to combat this, such as SOS Slavery and IRA Mauritania, the government’s superiority over these tribal groups continues to affect millions of rural workers every day. According to an article by Al Jazeera News, IRA Mauritania carried out a peaceful rally, of which “Mauritanian officials attacked and wounded 30” (Mauritania). As the fight for greater rights continues, the government is steadfast to continue slavery in hopes of perpetuating Mauritania’s political structure.

Selek’ha Mint Hamane, now twenty-one years old, has been freed from her slave owner, but still lives in fear of wealthy Arab nobles to this day. She will forever be scarred after being raped, tortured, and eventually having a miscarriage as she went into labor. The government’s inability to fathom the cruelty that the tribal Africans of Mauritania experience directly leads to the decline in human rights throughout the nation. But as Hamane looks to the future, she feels a change brewing from the darkest depths of the nation.

Works Cited

Mauritania: Slavery's Last Stronghold. CNN, 2012. Youtube. 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.

Otazu, Javier. "In Mauritania, Children Are Still Born into Slavery." EFE World News Service (2015): n. pag. Global Issues in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.

"Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization." UNPO: Biram Dah Abeid Still

Imprisoned: Latest Developments. IBIS Services, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.

Watson, Ivan. "Slavery Lives on in Mauritania." NPR. NPR, 28 Aug. 2011. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

"Mauritania Anti-slavery Verdict Sparks Riot." Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera Media Network, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.