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6 African Countries That Are Hostile Toward Black People

Posted byBy A Moore | Published on: CommentsComments (165)

Mauritanian human rights protestersMauritania

Since it gained its independence from France in 1960, Mauritania has struggled with ethnic tension between the Afro-Mauritanians and so-called Arab-Mauritanians.

In 1989, thousands of Black Mauritanians were forced to flee to neighboring Senegal and Mali. They were reportedly forcibly deported by the Mauritanian military, according to an interview given to NPR by Souleymane Sagna, an aid worker in the country.

“The situation of those Black Mauritania was quite particular, in that very often people are moving during a conflict, but in the case of the Negro Mauritanians, there have been many militarily deported through military trucks to Senegal and Mali,” she said.

Today, although Mauritania officially abolished slavery for a third time in 2007, making it punishable by up to ten years in prison, the practice still exists.

In the northwestern African country,  Arab Muslims—called the Bidanes, still hold Haratine (enslaved Africans) as property. An estimated 90,000 Mauritanians remain essentially enslaved, as previously reported by Atlanta Blackstar.

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