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FM AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2852
INFO RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0313
RUEHNJ/AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA 1471
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 4767

C O N F I D E N T I A L NIAMEY 000922 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR G/TIP, ZEITLIN; DRL FOR HARPOLE; AF/W FOR BACHMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KWMN NG
SUBJECT: EXPLORING STRATEGIES FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST 
TRADITIONAL CASTE-BASED SERVITUDE 
 
REF: HARKENRIDER / ZEITLIN E-MAIL OF 7/28 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY BERNADETTE M. ALLEN, AMBASSADOR, REASONS: 
1.4 (D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU) The Ambassador hosted a lunch on Wednesday 
August 23rd for key anti-slavery contacts: Ilguilas Weila 
of Timidria, Niger's preeminent anti-slavery NGO; 
Moustapha Kadi, a civil society activist and author of a 
recent and comprehensive book on Nigerien caste-based 
servitude; Aichatou Bety of Catholic Relief Services 
(CRS), coordinator for the US Department of Labor funded 
child worker education initiative, which incidentally 
touches many slave-caste children; and, Khalid Ikhiri, 
President of Niger's leading human rights NGO, ANDDH. 
Poloff and A/DCM rounded out the American side. 
Participants discussed both short and long term tactics 
in the fight against traditional caste-based servitude in 
Niger, and suggested points for a Post action plan on the 
issue. Participants represented diverse viewpoints but 
united around a few key themes: slavery in all of its 
forms is susceptible to eradication, but it will take 
time and an ongoing commitment by the Government of Niger 
(GON), international partners, and civil society 
organizations to reach that goal; practical training in 
literacy, microfinance utilization, legal rights, and 
marketable job skills are essential components of any 
response; finally, in the short term, these advocates 
agreed that the USG can most help the situation by 
convincing Niger President Tandja and others to 
acknowledge the problem and adopt a more realistic and 
forthcoming position with respect to it. END SUMMARY 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
AN ANCIENT PROBLEM REQUIRES LONG TERM COMMITMENTS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. (U) Poloff noted that the system of caste-based 
servitude, in its various forms, had developed over 
centuries, and that its eradication would necessarily be 
a long-term affair. The contacts agreed, noting that a 
successful strategy would involve the GON, the civil 
society, and international partners in a multifaceted 
effort to sensitize both servile and master-caste 
populations, and to provide the former with viable 
economic alternatives appropriate to their situation. 
Noting that the problems faced by servile caste persons 
differed considerably from the nomadic, pastoral zone of 
northern Niger to the sedentary agricultural lands of the 
southwest, Ilguilas Weila argued that different 
fundamentals needed to be addressed in each instance. In 
the northern pastoral zone, servile caste nomadic herders 
would most profit from a decentralized and relatively 
informal training program centered on flexible community 
schools. The schools would impart literacy training, and 
could also serve as a venue for sensitization on legal 
rights. In this region, economic independence derives 
from the ability to obtain flocks of animals and have 
access to supplementary food stocks. NOTE: Weila's 
arguments in this regard mirrored those of GON Spokesman 
Mohammed Ben-Omar, who noted in a recent meeting with the 
Ambassador and Poloff that many servile-caste Nigeriens 
had been driven closer to their erstwhile masters during 
the droughts of the 1980s, when many of their animals 
died, reducing them to economic dependence (reftel). END 
NOTE. 
 
¶3. (U) In the south, Weila argued that land reform is the 
desideratum. Servile caste Nigeriens in that region would 
never realize their rights as long as the dominant system 
of land tenure continued to favor nobles. Weila cited the 
cases of servile-caste families who had worked their land 
for 120 years, but were still forced to rent it from a 
"master," and could never hope to purchase or own it. 
Returning to the north, he noted that Timidria had 
enjoyed some successes with microcredit programs that 
aimed to provide servile-caste persons with small animal 
herds, credit, job training, and access to food stocks. 
Participants agreed that former slaves could also benefit 
from cooperative production and marketing of certain 
craft items like the shoes, leather and metal goods 
traditionally produced by members of their caste. 
 
¶4. (U) Offering lessons learned from CRS's experience 
with servile-caste and other marginalized children in the 
central region of Maradi, Aichatou Bety noted that 
literacy training through community schools was not only 
useful in and of itself, it provided an opening to 
sensitize communities on their legal rights. Noting that 
both master and slave caste children seek the literacy 
training, Bety stated that their integration in the 
classroom provided a great opportunity to break down the 
tradition of discrimination and introduce subjects like 
legal equality and the anti-slavery law. She stressed 
that a sufficiently adroit NGO partner could do this in 
ways that avoided conflict or negative community 
reaction; the key was to offer something valuable to both 
master and slave-caste persons. NOTE: While not primarily 
oriented toward slave-caste populations, the USDOL child 
laborer education project touches a large number, 
especially in CRS's zone of intervention - the nomadic 
region north of the central city of Maradi. END NOTE 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
EXISTING MODELS FOR ANTI-SLAVERY INTERVENTIONS 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5. (U) Building on Mrs. Bety's comments, Poloff noted 
that other existing donor programs provided workable 
models for action on slavery. Veterinarians Without 
Borders had responded to the 2005 Niger food crisis with 
a pilot program to provide pairs of goats and other 
livestock to nomadic herders, who then bred them to re- 
establish stocks diminished by drought. The World Food 
Program (WFP) and the NGO consortium that runs the DOL 
project have explored the idea of using WFP resources to 
support the canteens in the project's community schools. 
The canteens not only feed the children, they create jobs 
and incomes for some 800 parents, who staff them. The 
CARE Maradi Youth Center, supported by Embassy ESF funds 
and the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Initiative, brings 
marginalized youth together in an association that 
imparts job and life-skills training and microcredit, 
while also teaching youth about issues such as HIV/AIDS, 
conflict resolution, democracy, and political 
participation. The concept has recently been extended to 
Agadez. CRS's literacy and schooling efforts have already 
brought master and servile caste children together under 
the same roof for basic education. The same venues could 
slowly introduce content related to social discrimination 
and equality. Each of these ongoing projects has proven 
itself in the Nigerien context. Each could serve as a 
component of a long-term program leading to the eventual 
eradication of caste-based servitude and its vestiges. 
Yet, for any of these solutions to be workable, post 
would have to be able to provide local NGO and IO 
partners with sustained financial support. 
 
------------------------------- 
COMMENT: OUR LONG TERM APPROACH 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Whether targeting 10,000 or 43,000 slaves - and 
the target numbers become increasingly elastic when one 
considers victims of caste-based social discrimination as 
well as victims of outright slavery - such a program 
would be considerably larger in scope than either the DOL 
project (which involves 3,200 children) or the current 
Maradi and Agadez youth centers (which involve between 
300 and 1,000). Post wholeheartedly supports G/TIP's 
proposed RFA on caste-based servitude. Such a commitment 
would be a powerful first step that would help us to 
achieve both our short and long term objectives. However, 
if the USG wishes to embark on projects designed to put 
an end to slavery and related practices, we must first 
understand that this is a very long road, requiring 
sustained attention. A multi-year commitment will be 
necessary to ensure that slave-caste persons find the 
economic means to escape from this age-old social 
structure once and for all. END COMMENT 
 
--------------------------------------- 
OUR SHORT TERM PRIORITY: MOVING THE GON 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Moving from long term solutions to short-term 
action plan items, Poloff asked the contacts how the 
Embassy could best address caste-based servitude over the 
next six to nine months. The invitees argued that Embassy 
advocacy on the issue was the most important short-term 
 
tactic. They argued that we should raise the level of 
discussion from the working level to the Presidency. 
Poloff noted that many working level contacts and even 
some GON ministers had adopted realistic and forthcoming 
positions on the slavery issue in our discussions with 
them. Their receptivity, however, had not always been 
matched by that of senior leaders, including President 
Tandja. Ilguilas Weila argued that the GON is a 
hierarchical entity, and whatever the positions of lower 
level officials, it would never really move on the issue 
until Tandja himself publicly acknowledged it. Weila 
argued that Tandja's reluctance to acknowledge slavery 
was due to his political obligations to the businessmen 
and traditional chiefs who together comprise most of the 
"master class." All participants agreed that Tandja would 
be a hard sell, but Moustapha Kadi argued that if anyone 
could succeed, it would be the US Ambassador. High level 
attention from the diplomatic corps, he argued, might 
well provide the GON with the incentive it needs to 
confront the issue. 
 
¶8. (U) Participants also united behind another idea - 
that of a national tripartite study on slavery. Such a 
study would involve the U.S. Embassy, the GON, and the 
Nigerien civil society, and would produce a document 
acceptable to all. Moustapha Kadi noted that GON Labor 
Minister Kanda Siptey had stated that her agency was 
ready to participate in such a study, were funding 
available. Weila and Kadi noted that, while both of their 
organizations had produced studies on slavery before, 
neither had been officially accepted by the GON. Weila 
cautioned that such a study, if undertaken, should focus 
only on slavery lest the GON attempt to shift its focus 
to connected issues like child labor. He also argued that 
President Tandja must first be induced to adopt a more 
candid position on the question, otherwise the GON would 
fail to be a truly effective partner. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
COMMENT: OUR SHORT TERM APPROACH: ADVOCACY AND 
PARTNERSHIP BUILDING 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Post would ordinarily dismiss the idea of 
another slavery study as redundant, however, the idea is 
intriguing for a couple of reasons. A tripartite study 
could help us to arrive at a clearer estimate of the 
number of persons involved in traditional caste-based 
servitude. Current estimates range from 10,000 (Moustapha 
Kadi), to 43,000 (Anti-Slavery International), to 780,000 
(Timidria). In order to properly calibrate our long term 
interventions, a more exact estimate that all of these 
actors - and the GON - can agree on would be useful. 
Secondly, a tripartite study would enable us to test the 
GON's willingness to engage on this issue. If we could 
provide the resources for a project the GON has stated 
that it is willing to pursue, all excuses for inaction 
would be off. Finally, a cooperative endeavor bringing 
the GON and civil society activists together to work on a 
controversial issue under USG auspices could go a long 
way toward building confidence between two groups that 
rarely see eye to eye. Eventually, meaningful efforts to 
eradicate slavery would have to be based on that sort of 
relationship. If post could facilitate its creation, the 
effects would be lasting. Based on previous experience, 
we anticipate that a national study on slavery could be 
accomplished for less than $200,000. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ilguilas Weila is right. In order for the GON 
to be an effective partner in the sort of high-profile, 
large-scale anti-slavery efforts that we contemplate, 
President Tandja must adopt a clearer and more realistic 
view of the problem. A clear statement from the highest 
levels of the GON should precede any collaborative 
effort, even the tripartite study. 
 
¶11. (C) The Ambassador agrees with Embassy's anti-slavery 
contacts that President Tandja will be a hard sell, as his 
pride will not allow him to accept easily any discussion 
about slavery (caste-based or otherwise) existing in 
Niger.  Embassy team was given the impression that none of 
Tandja's cabinet members, even those who have a realistic 
view of caste-based servitude, would dare risk raising the 
subject with him (and Embassy tends to agree with that 
assessment).  Our contacts believe that Tandja may more 
easily engage on the subject with someone he respects. 
They have suggested that Tandja respects the U.S. 
 
Ambassador, not only the position itself, but also her 
active engagement with Nigeriens at both the governmental 
and community levels.  The same type of engagement may 
also be possible with a few other foreign ambassadors 
accredited here.  The Ambassador intends to test, over the 
long term, what sway she has over Tandja as it relates to 
a number of matters, including caste-based slavery.  Given 
the Ambassador's brief tenure of four months at post, the 
strategy she expects to take is to engage Tandja on 
programs that he fully supports (i.e., such as programs 
that focus on increasing scholarity and literacy for all 
Nigeriens).  Ambassador would then like to pursue with 
Tandja the proposal of a tripartite study (funds 
permitting), one from which recommendations would be 
developed for use as stepping stones to real engagement on 
this serious subject. 
ALLEN