The Iklan ( Sg . : Akli ), also: Éklan / Iklan in Tamascheq , Bouzou in Hausa , Bella in Songhai , are a social class within the Tuareg people that dates back to the time of slavery . These are blacks who were hired out by the Tuareg or who provided unions subject to them. Their descendants live in communities that are spread across the states of Niger , Mali , southern Algeria and Libya . They are also occasionally found in parts of northern Burkina Faso and Nigeria . In the 1910s, the French colonial administration made efforts to free the Tuareg slaves, as slavery had been deemed incompatible with the basic principles prevailing in French West Africa since 1906 . As far as these measures were effective in large parts, Iklan descendants in parts of West Africa still live in slavery or similar relationships with Tuareg families to this day.

The situation of the Iklan is comparable to that of the Haratin , the descendants of slaves in the oases of the western Sahara , Mauritania , southern Morocco , Senegal , Algeria and Malis . Like the Haratin, the Iklan did not give themselves their designation as Iklan , which has a negative connotation.

The class system

The Tuareg had a very sophisticated and socially stratified social system in the past. Up until the French colonial times, the Tuareg tribes were preceded by the king . The highest social category was taken by the Imajars (also: Imajeghen / Imuhagh / Imushagh (aristocratic class)), who were responsible for the craft of war and the assaults associated with it. The Ineslemen (Koran scholars) formed the core of the Tuareg society. Behind them, in turn, were the Imrad (vassals) who held functions as cattle breeders and soldiers and were under the command of the Imajars .

The Iklan / Bella / Bouzou were the slaves or dependents. They played an important economic role within the complex hierarchical social model of the Tuareg. Although they were the property of a family, they were integrated into the households like family members. Iklan were often released and given names such as Iderafan , Ikawaren or Izzegharen . Although they speak the same language as their authorities and largely maintain the same cultural customs, the Iklan mostly live isolated from other communities and have different customs.

History and function of the Iklan

French Sudan (1936)

As early as the 11th century, the Tuareg moved southward from the areas of the Mediterranean coast . As belligerent, nomadic Berber people, they subjugated their opponents on their raids and made them prisoners of war and slaves. Most of the slaves were taken among the sub-Saharan Africans, the Songhai , Zarma , Kanuri, and Hausa , but also among competing Tuareg confederations. These formed the Iklan communities. The subjects had to come to terms with their masters in two ways. Either they were "house slaves" and lived as domestic servants like family members with their owners, or they were assigned to shepherds, farmers or to extract salt. The latter were therefore only active outside the home. Both groups were thus, according to general legal principles, the belongings of the Tuareg authorities. The captured Tuareg competitors could still find themselves placed under the Iklan in dignity, but also as slaves with privileges.

Imajars (nobles) and Imrad (vassals) were allowed to marry enslaved women, with their children being legally “free”. Pure Iklan families retained serfdom status .

With the French colonial period, the legal status of the Iklan broke fundamentally, because slavery was abolished under the new authorities. Nonetheless, the French (according to different views) did not seek vehement enforcement, because they were far more interested in breaking the traditional political and economic way of life, which the slaves, for example, through pastoralism, only supported. On the other hand, historians assume that the French made large-scale attempts to free the slaves, especially during the Kaosen Rebellion. Even so, French officials reported that after World War II, up to 50,000 Bella were under direct control of their Tuareg authorities in the Gao and Timbuktu regions . This enabled slavery in these areas to last for more than 40 years after its official abolition. From 1946 onwards, mass deportations of Tuareg slaves to Nioro du Sahel and later to Menaka began , and from there they spread rapidly along the Niger Valley. As recently as the 1910s, officials in the colonial administration estimated that the ratio of freer to serf people in French Sudan was 1: 8, if not 1: 9. At the same time, the enslaved Rimaibe population of the Masina - Fulbe is said to have made up around 70-80% of the Fulbe population. The relationship is similar with the Songhai. Historian Martin A. Klein concludes that nearly 50% of the total population of French Sudan was enslaved.

Current conditions

While African states have always tried to get slavery out of their legal statutes after their declaration of independence , the Tuareg have a mixed bag. In some places they continued the traditional community of free and unfree and did not create any freedom outside of slavery. In some areas where the Bella are resident (Songhai), the descendants are still enslaved. In Niger, slavery was abolished as a legal institution in 2003; However, studies show that around 8% of the local population are still subjugated.

Situation in Mali

In Mali, Iklan reported that they were not being given equal educational opportunities and that they were still deprived of their rights of freedom. Cases of targeted discrimination by local administrations have become known from Gao and Menaka; This particularly affects the search for housing, obtaining identification documents, protection against animal theft and access to development aid measures.

In 2008, the Malian human rights movement "Temedt" reported together with the international Anti-Slavery International that "several thousand Bella Tuareg" were still enslaved. Although legal action is open and legal remedies flank the existing legal provisions, a case is seldom resolved satisfactorily before the Malian courts.

Situation in Niger

The practice of slavery was banned in Niger in 2003. However, one study found that more than 800,000 people are still slaves, nearly 8% of the population. Slavery had a centuries-old tradition in Niger and could only be criminalized through the longstanding lobbying work of Anti-Slavery International in cooperation with the Nigerian human rights group Timidria .

Ancestral slavery exists in at least four of the eight ethnic groups in Niger. It is about the fair-skinned groups of the Tuareg, Fulbe, Tubu and Arabs. It is believed that three quarters of the population along the right bank of the Niger were made up of slaves around 1904–1905.

literature

Jeremy Keenan, The Tuareg. People of Ahaggar. Allan Lane, London 1977. ISBN 978-0-312-82200-2
Salak Kira, The Cruelest Journey: Six Hundred Miles To Timbuktu, ISBN 0-7922-7457-1 , National Geographic, 2004
Thomas Krings , Sahel countries. WBG-Länderkunden, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-11860-X
Samuel Decalo, Historical Dictionary of Niger. Scarecrow Press, London and New Jersey (1979). ISBN 0-8108-1229-0
Jolijn Geels, Niger. Bradt London and Globe Pequot New York (2006). ISBN 1-84162-152-8
Martin A. Klein. Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa. (African Studies, number 94.) New York: Cambridge University Press. (1998) ISBN 978-0-521-59678-7

Individual evidence

↑ Abdourahmane Idrissa and Samuel Decalo, Historical Dictionary of Niger , p 266

^ Afrique occidentale française (AOF)

↑ cf. Salak Kira, (see lit.)

↑ Arthur Köhler, Constitution, social structure, law and economy of the Tuareg: Third chapter: Social structure , p. 20 ff.

↑ ^a ^b cf. Thomas Krings, p. 33

↑ cf. Jeremy Keenan, (see Ref.)

↑ cf. Samuel Decalo, (see Ref.)

↑ cf. Jolijn Geels, (see Ref.)

↑ ^a ^b ^c NIGER: Slavery - an unbroken chain

^ Reuben Lévy, The Social Structure of Islam: Being the Second Edition of The Sociology of Islam, p. 87

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Martin A. Klein (see Ref.), Pp. 234–263

↑ Frederick Brusberg, "Production and Exchange in the Saharan Air," Current Anthropology , Vol. 26, No. 3. (June 1985), page 394 f. Field research on the economics of the Aouderas valley, 1984.

^ ^A ^b Hilary Andersson, Born to be a slave in Niger

^ Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News, Dec. 5, 2002, Kayaking to Timbuktu, Writer Sees Slave Trade, More

↑ ^a ^b Mike Pflanz, Contributors to The Christian Science Monitor, Georgina Cranston, Contributors to The Christian Science Monitor / March 10, 2005, On the way to freedom, Niger's slaves stuck in limbo - 7,000 slaves in Niger were set to be freed last Saturday - until the government denied slavery even existed there.

↑ ^a ^b The Shackles of Slavery in Niger

↑ www.state.gov, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor: Mali 2006

^ MALI: Thousands still live in slavery in north