Slavery in contemporary Africa

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Slavery in Africa continues today. This article discusses modern occurrences of slavery on the African continent. See also African slave trade, Atlantic slave trade and Maafa for further African related slavery topics.

Sudan

File:FrancisBok.jpg

Francis Bok, author and escaped former Sudanese slave. At the age of seven, he was captured and enslaved during a raid in Southern Sudan. For ten years he was slave to a family that called him "abeed" (black slave). In that time he states that he was neglected and abused, given an Arab name and forced to perform Islamic prayers.(Courtesy Unitarian Universalist Association/Jeanette Leardi)

Main article: Slavery in Sudan

There has been a recrudescence of jihad slavery since 1983 in the Sudan.

Slavery in the Sudan predates Islam, but continued under Islamic rulers and has never completely died out in Sudan. According to CBS news, slaves have been sold for $50 apiece. In 2001 CNN reported the Bush administration was under pressure from Congress, including conservative Christians concerned about religious oppression and slavery, to address issues involved in the Sudanese conflict. CNN has also quoted the U.S. State Department's allegations: "The government's support of slavery and its continued military action which has resulted in numerous deaths are due in part to the victims' religious beliefs."

In the Sudan, Christian captives in the ongoing civil war are often enslaved, and female prisoners are often used sexually, with their Muslim captors claiming that Islamic law grants them permission.

Chad

IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports children being sold to Arab herdsmen in Chad. As part of a new identity imposed on them the herdsman "...change their name, forbid them to speak in their native dialect, ban them from conversing with people from their own ethnic group and make them adopt Islam as their religion."

Mauritania

A system exists now by which Arab Muslims -- the bidanes -- own black slaves, the haratines. Malouma Messoud, a former muslim slave has explained her enslavement to a religious leader:

"We didn't learn this history in school; we simply grew up within this social hierarchy and lived it. Slaves believe that if they do not obey their masters, they will not go to paradise. They are raised in a social and religious system that everyday reinforces this idea."

In the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, despite slave ownership having been made punishable by law in 1981, hereditary slavery continues. Moreover, according to Amnesty International:

"Not only has the government denied the existence of slavery and failed to respond to cases brought to its attention, it has hampered the activities of organisations which are working on the issue, including by refusing to grant them official recognition".

Imam El Hassan Ould Benyamin of Tayarat in 1997 expressed his views about earlier proclamations ending slavery in his country as follows:

" is contrary to the teachings of the fundamental text of Islamic law, the Quran ... amounts to the expropriation from muslims of their goods; goods that were acquired legally. The state, if it is Islamic, does not have the right to seize my house, my wife or my slave."

An estimated 90,000 black Mauritanians remain essentially enslaved to Arab/Berber owners.

Niger

In Niger, slavery is a real and current phenomenon. A Nigerian study has found that almost 8% of the population are slaves. Slavery dates back for centuries in Niger and was finally criminalised in 2003, after five years of lobbying by Anti-Slavery International and Nigerian human-rights group, Timidria.

Descent-based slavery, where generations of the same family are born into bondage, is traditionally practised by at least four of Niger’s eight ethnic groups. The slave masters are mostly from the nomadic tribes — the Tuareg, Fulani, Toubou and Arabs.. It is especially rife among the warlike Tuareg, in the wild deserts of north and west Niger, who roam near the borders with Mali and Algeria. In the region of Say on the right bank of the river Niger, it is estimated that three-quarters of the population around 1904-1905 was composed of slaves.

Historically, the Tuareg swelled the ranks of their slaves during war raids into other peoples’ lands. War was then the main source of supply of slaves, although many were bought at slave markets, run mostly by indigenous peoples.

Mali

The Malian government denies that slavery exists, however, the slavery in Timbuktu is obvious. Slavery (sometimes called indentured servitude) still continues with some Tuaregs holding Bella people.