Out of Africa

In the many instances when I've heard about slavery in Africa - possibly the continent's most-studied historical subject - there's always been something that leaves me flabbergasted: it still exists.

No, I'm not stuck in the bad old days of pre-Emancipation Africa or talking about the figurative slavery of having to work hard for next to no reward. In Mauritania, there's still a racially-ordered caste system whereby people are treated as indentured chattals. The institution has been passed down from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and it's lesser known predecessor, the Trans-Saharan trade.

Everything from religious tradition to racial income gaps to judicial indifference (laws were only passed against slavery in 1981, and are roundly ignored) have ensured the practice continues. Since Mauritania is relatively umimportant - mostly desert and with a small population of three million - not too many people talk about it. I needed this reminder from an anti-slavery activist to refresh my memory.

While this may just seem like an odious vestige of a bygone era, it speaks to most people's utter ignorance of the vastness of the Sahel region and what goes on in its expanses. Western Morocco is still unsettled after decades of fighting for independence. Niger, Chad and Sudan are fighting themselves and each other all at once. It's no secret that the US is looking for allies in the region to help it track down al-Qaeda members that are suspected of trying to disappear amongst its more Islamic-oriented regimes.

While probably a case of mistaken identity, it was a popular urban myth at the JHR holiday retreat that Osama bin Laden was in Mali on New Years' Eve 2006. When friends of friends because lost near the Mauritanian border late that night, they swear they saw him travelling amongst a covert military convoy that had stopped to question their presence in such a remote region.

Creepy if true, even though it's probably not. Problem is: does anybody know any better to refute it?