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INSIDE AFRICA
UN Security Council Discusses Zimbabwe; Former Niger Slave Sues Government
Aired April 19, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. Welcome to INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly window to the continent. On the show this week we focus on slavery. We'll have the story of an alleged former slave from Niger who's filed a landmark lawsuit against her government. We'll meet a nine year old boy who managed to escape from a master who forced him to beg on the streets in Dakar and we'll talk to human rights activists about the fight to eliminate all forms of slavery.
But first UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon says the credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be damaged if Zimbabwe's political crisis is not resolved in a transparent way. He issued the warning at a special Security Council meeting on African issues. Richard Roth has details.
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RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was supposed to be a meeting about relations between Africa and the UN. But Western countries were determined to interject on Zimbabwe. Even though the troubled African nation is not even on the Security Council's official list of global worries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The Zimbabwean people must not be deprived of its victory which is the victory of democracy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Zimbabwe electoral commission needs to immediately release the presidential election results. And insure their veracity in a transparent manner.
ROTH: But the most biting comments came from Zimbabwe's former colonial ruling nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one thinks having seen the results at polling stations, that President Mugabe has won this election. A stolen election would not be a democratic election at all.
ROTH: Even the normally low key UN secretary-general jumped in.
BAN KI-MOON, UN SECRETARY GENERAL: Absent a transparent solution to this impasse, the situation could deteriorate further with serious implications for the people of Zimbabwe.
ROTH: Taking all of this in was the moderator of the African debate, South African President Thabo Mbeki who has favored a more cautious approach with neighboring Zimbabwe. Mbeki got the message in the Council and in skies near the UN. Activists flew a banker urging Mbeki to put more pressure on Robert Mugabe. The South African president denies saying Zimbabwe was not a crisis and was asked if quiet diplomacy was what he favors.
THABO MBEKI, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: I don't know whatever is meant by quiet diplomacy. I will ask this question, is what is loud diplomacy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gordon Brown.
MBEKI: Well, if it's not (ph) diplomacy (ph) it can't be.
ROTH: The secretary-general offered to send international observers to Zimbabwe in the event of a second round of elections. Zimbabwe didn't seem interested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It depends who is calling for that. If it is the UK or Washington or Ban Ki-Moon, then they can forget it.
ROTH: South Africa's president says he knows there is something wrong in Zimbabwe but he remains at odds with major powers on the Security Council as to how to fix it. Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: A woman from Niger is blaming her government for failing to protect her from slavery.
When INSIDE AFRICA returns, the landmark case of Hattie Mesujame (ph). And still ahead, a young boy escapes a life of servitude on the streets of Senegal.
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SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. Many people think of slavery as a problem of the past but for millions of victims it's very much a modern reality. Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest monitor of forced labor, defines a slave as anyone who is forced to work through mental or physical threat, owned or controlled by an employer, dehumanized, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as property or constrained in terms of freedom of movement.
Well, in Niger a 24 year old alleged former slave is shining a spotlight on modern-day slavery. In a historic first, Hadijatou Mani has filed a landmark lawsuit accusing her government of failing to protect her from slavery. Judges form the Court of Economic Communities of West Africa heard both sides of the case in Niger earlier this month.
Helen Duffy, a lawyer with the International Center for Legal Protection of Human Rights is acting as co-counsel. She joined us by phone from The Hague.
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HELEN DUFFY, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: Hadijatou Mani has brought a series of cases in Niger to no effect and is now bringing a case before the ECOWAS court. And the courts of the Economic Communities of West Africa alleging that the state is responsible for the slavery.
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SESAY: Well, slavery is illegal in Niger. In 2003, Parliament passed a bill making a criminal offense. The government of Niger did not return our phone calls for this report but a lawyer for the government asked the ECOWAS court to dismiss the case on grounds it had not yet worked its way through the Niger judicial system. Reuters News Agency quotes Mossi Bubaka (ph) as saying, quote, "This matter is pending before our own jurisdictions and under international law it is necessary to have exhausted internal legal routes before appealing to an international jurisdiction."
Mani says she was born into slavery in Niger and sold for $500 for a new master at the age of 12. Her lawyer says she was actually freed in 2005 but when she tried to leave her master refused to let her go, claiming she was in fact his wife.
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DUFFY: She says she was treated like a goat. She was beaten, she was raped at the age of 13 then consistently raped and sexually abused thereafter.
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SESAY: Duffy says her client simply wants what every human being wants, to be free and to get on with her life.
A judgment in the case is expected in October.
Anti-Slavery International and a Nigeran organization are also assisting local lawyers in the lawsuit. Aidan McQuade is the director of Anti- Slavery International. I asked him about the significance of Mani's case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AIDAN MCQUADE, ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL: This is very much a historic case. It's the first time when any individual has called to kind (ph) of state for failing to give her adequate protection, offer her rights and for failing to recognize the fullness of her freedom. So it's important not just for that person but also for all the other slaves in West Africa. But also for all the other slaves across the world because this is something that - the fact that it is a lot more cases, I think (ph) a bit worrying in this day and age because it's something which should be happening across the world with individuals having access to courts in order to advance their rights but also with other states holding each other to a kind (ph) in order to say we've signed up to international treaties, to international law which guarantees the protection of individuals rights and it's about time that we see people implementing those laws and making real the promise of those laws to their citizens.
SESAY: Are we still talking about physical bondage? Are we still talking about chains? Those images that we have associated with historical slavery.
MCQUADE: Particularly for example in West Africa sometimes there's physical symbols that are attached to people like ankle bracelets to identify that they are slaves but another place in slavery and restrictions of freedom are imposed by things like restriction of travel documents by threat of violence, threat of violence both to the person who is enslaved or to their family if they try and escape from slavery. And various sort of means like this which are used in order to control people's movement and to force them to work for little or no pay.
SESAY: You talk about living in institutions in terms of modern-day slavery. One such place from my reading is Sudan and they're chattel slavery where it seemed to be almost commonplace and an acceptable part of society for people from the north to go down and raid the animist south.
Tell us a little bit more about that practice there in Sudan.
MCQUADE: I think what you see here is two things which are typical when it comes to slavery across the world. You're seeing the conjunction of poverty and prejudice so on one level you're seeing people who are having prejudice against another group of people, whether they're women, whether they're people from another ethnic group, whether they're people from another nationality.
On the other hand, you see those people who are poor or weaker in relation to those folk who have prejudice against them and that conjunction of poverty and prejudice is where slavery tends to emerge.
In the sub-Saharan West African countries you tend to see a caste type system in play there where there will be people who have been enslaved for generations, who are regarded as part of the slave caste. There are some aspects of those countries where there is a clear ethnic or a more clear ethnic division there where, say, white Moors are enslaving black Africans. But oftentimes you will see black folk enslaving black folk in different parts of Africa as you see white people enslaving other white people and black people in Europe today.
So the basis upon which prejudice occurs is very diverse. We live under this comforting myth that slavery is something which was eradicated in the 19th century when in actual fact it's a very much living institution destroying the lives and hopes of millions of people across the world to this day.
And until we start to recognize that, we will never properly have the sufficient level of action, governmental or otherwise in order to eradicate slavery from the world.
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SESAY: In addition to its efforts to eliminate slavery around the world, Anti-Slavery International sets up programs to help rehabilitate former slaves.
As we've mentioned, slavery takes many forms. After a short break, we'll meet a young boy who was forced to beg on the streets of Senegal.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Making business news in Africa this week. The head of the World Bank called on donor countries to put, quote, "our money where our mouth is in dealing with soaring food prices." Robert Zoellick announced emergency measures that include food at work places, seeds for the new planting season and additional cash transfers to some countries.
Food riots recently erupted in several countries including Egypt, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ethiopia.
And Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company says its operations in Nigeria will remain open despite the strike by contract workers. The strikers are all members of Nigeria's National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers. Chevron's facilities in Warre (ph), Port Harkour (ph) and Lagos have all been affected.
SESAY: You're watching INSIDE AFRICA. Welcome back.
Child beggars are a common site in Senegal's capital. Many of them have been trafficked from neighboring countries and face abuse at the hands of masters who force them to meet daily quotas. Thomas Nigo (ph) met a young boy who managed to escape that terrible plight.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mohammed Baldei (ph) has not been home for many months. He is one of tens of thousands of child beggars working the streets in Senegal. The nine year old boy is from Guinea-Bissau and he is not exactly sure how long he has been away from home.
Like many families, his was approached by a man who promised to provide their child a free Koranic education in Senegal. But once Mohammed arrived in Dakar, he was forced to beg on the streets every day and give the money to his marabou, or religious teacher. He says his only education has been about how to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They beat me all the time. If I don't bring back a certain amount of money, the teacher will beat me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ran away and soon other kids told him about Enpir des Enfants (ph), a nonprofit emergency shelter for children. Since 2003, it has provided a safe haven for kids living on the street or those seeking refuge from an abusive marabou. For up to six months they are given medical treatment, a warm place to sleep, and a basic education as well as vocational training.
Aminata Kamara (ph) is a social worker who interviews the children when they arrive. Many have tales of violent marabous. Some who have as many as 200 children collecting money for them on the street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have some kids which are saying to us in the interview that they are hanging them by the leg with a rope which is a physical abuse and also we have the mental part like threatening them that they're going to kill them or they're going to have a problem with their family anyway and they're not good Muslims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem of childhood beggars in Senegal is staggering. In 2004, the United Nations Children's Fund estimated as many as 100,000 children were begging in Senegal.
Many of the children are illegally trafficked from neighboring countries. These 53 children were rescued by police who say they caught a smuggler trying to sneak them across the border into Senegal in November. Islam has a proud history of Koranic schools where parents send their children to work in the fields in exchange for a religious education. Many of these reputable schools still exist.
But add to the equation the people of Senegal who have a generous history of giving to those on the street and you have the perfect environment for opportunists to prey on the trust of poor parents looking to provide a better life for their children.
One ongoing concern is what happens when a child beggar becomes an adult, no longer able to play on the sympathy of strangers willing to help out a child by giving them a few coins. One day the child finds himself being treated like an adult, an adult with no marketable skills. No education and no family support. Desperate, and alone. They're prime candidates for a life of crime.
Amina Takama (ph) says that many child beggars become so desperate that they turn to prostitution, thinking the money they earn might help them return home.
Luckily for Mohammed, the staff at En Pire des Enfants (ph) reached out to other organizations that were able to locate his family. He is going home today, along with eight other boys who aid workers say were trafficked from Guinea-Bissau.
Theresa Plana (ph) works for the International Organization for Migration which has been instrumental in planning Mohammed's return home after he spent some time adjusting in a halfway house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An essential part of the process of our program is to provide the children with options in their communities of origin so whenever they return their villages without a reintegration program, it's a socioeconomic reintegration program so that they can get a sense of their own worth in the community, that there's things that they can bring back to the community and so that the people in the community don't see their stories as failures, so they can come back and actually have something to do and do well for themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally, the moment of departure arrives. Mohammed and the other boys gather their belongings and prepare to board an airplane for the first time in their lives. Home is just a few hours away. Thomas Nibo (ph), CNN, Dakar.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: The problem of slavery spans the globe and dates back to ancient times. When we come back, a documentary filmmaker provides some historical perspective.
You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
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SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. Now, many people automatically associate the word "slavery" with the transatlantic slave trade but the practice dates back to ancient times and spans a vast geography.
Nigerian author and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka recently lent his voice to a documentary that focuses on the enslavement of East Africans dating back to the ninth century. It's called "The African Slave Trades: Across the Indian Ocean." I asked filmmaker Diane Seligsohn what is different about this film series?
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DIANE SELIGSOHN, FILMMAKER: What our approach is and I think it differs from the approach of most other documentaries is that we're looking at the global story of the African slave trades so not just the transatlantic slave trade but the commerce in enslaved Africans going in any direction, that is, to the Arab World, to Asia, as well as to the Americas.
SESAY: It's a very ambitious project. Tell me how you got Wole Soyinka involved.
SELIGSOHN: I had met Wole Soyinka a number of times previously and decided that he was really the ideal person and it just turned out that through serendipity that he was actually working on his own research project related to the trans-Saharan slave trade so he was delighted to get involved in our project.
I think he brings that moral authority of someone who has been involved in the fight for human rights and democracy for his whole life. He's also obviously somebody who is extremely well known. He was the first African to win the Nobel Prize and he has a lot of personal charisma, has a lot of a personal way of talking about the story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What matters is that the gaps in a people's history be filled. That the fate of the deported indigenes of the African continent in no matter what direction we record it.
SELIGSOHN: I learned through doing this program that there was an Arab component to the story that again, I had never heard of.
I think that will come as a surprise will be the extent of the story, the scope of the story, both in terms of time and space, the very long period historically in which Africans have been enslaved and deported to different parts of the world. For example, that this is not something that just concerned the United States or even the Americas and Britain but that if you delve into the story you find out that all continents and almost all countries and peoples were involved in this story in one way or another.
In this first pilot episode we focused on the route going from East Africa to the Persian Gulf. And I think in light of what's going on in Iraq today, it's very interesting to see that there were many, many slaves brought to the Basra region of southern Iraq to be used for agricultural purposes. But I think that many people when they see this film will say that they really learned something that they didn't know before and in a way, it brings all of us in this world that's getting smaller and smaller, closer together to realize that there was this global trade, global economy that started many, many, many hundreds of years ago.
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SESAY: And there we must leave this week's show. Be sure to tune in next week for a brand new edition of INSIDE AFRICA.
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