able for crimes they commit against their own marks the primary reason why the continent lags the rest of the world, morally and economically.
It is an embarrassing disgrace that the last country on earth to outlaw slavery was Mauritania – in 2007, more than a century after most colonial powers came to their senses; to this day, 10 to 20 % of Mauritania’ s black population remain enslaved by other blacks and anti-slavery activists are detained and tortured for their humanitarian efforts. In August 2016, 13 anti-slavery activists were sentenced to between three and 15 years imprisonment for trying to stand up for the enslaved. What sayeth the African Union? Nothing.
It took Niger until 2003 to finally declare slavery illegal – after“ abolishing” it in 1960 but keeping it legal.
Perspective: Africa- September 2016
Eritrea is the world’ s third biggest source of refugees after Syria and Afghanistan primarily because of another form of slavery – indefinite national service. The Eritrean regime is so paranoid about its hostile neighbour, Ethiopia, that compulsory conscription sometimes lasts decades and constitutes endless forced labour on low pay with leave frequently denied for years. Rule breakers are held in cells or shipping containers. No wonder Eritrean men flee the continent in droves.
One of the worst post-colonial examples of the cheapness of African lives and the passivity of the continent’ s leaders was the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The predecessor to the AU, the Organisation of African Unity, refused to call it a genocide and the world sat by while a million Tutsis were slaughtered over the course of 100 days. Who did the OAU ultimately blame? The West – particularly France and the United States – because it was apparently their responsibility to intervene and stop the carnage! And yet when Western nations do
Photo: Martha Rial, 1997. From‘ Trek of Tears’, Rwanda 30