VZCZCXRO3130
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0702/01 2172140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 042140Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9500
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0475

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BAMAKO 000702 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/RSA LINDA MUNCY 
DEPT FOR G/TIP VERONICA ZEITLIN 
DEPT FOR AF/W JANE DENNISON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOI ELAB ML
SUBJECT: JUSTICE SLOW FOR VICTIMS OFSLAVERY IN NORTHERN 
MALI 
 
REF: A. 06 BAMAKO 0136 
     ¶B. 07 BAMAKO 00145 
 
1.(SBU)  Summary:  wo cases involving allegations of slavery 
are curently pending before Malian courts in the norther 
region of Gao. Both cases were brought by slavery victims 
supported by the black Tamachek association Temedt.  Founded 
in 2006, Temedt received a Democracy and Human Rights grant 
in 2007 from the U.S. Embassy as well as support from the 
Canadian government, the European Union and the British NGO 
Anti-Slavery International (Ref. A).  In March 2008 Temedt's 
president Mohamed ag Akeratane traveled to the U.S. as part 
of an International Visitor's program focused on NGO 
management.  Upon his return to Mali, ag Akeratane met with 
the Embassy to discuss the pending legal cases and the Malian 
judicial system's apparent disinterest in the sensitive 
issues of slavery.  Unlike neighboring Mauritania and Niger, 
Mali has no law criminalizing slavery and human rights 
activists have, until recently, generally overlooked 
allegations of slave-related practices within the country. 
Temedt is trying to correct this oversight by publicizing 
selected cases, lobbying the Malian government to criminalize 
slavery, and pressing judicial authorities to award damages 
to slavery victims and prison time to slave holders.  A July 
29 meeting with the vice-president of the Malian National 
Assembly, who is a Tuareg leader from Gao, demonstrated many 
of the challenges and misconceptions confronting Temedt and 
anti-slavery activists in Mali.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
Slavery and Murder in Menaka 
---------------------------- 
 
2.(U)  Temedt has helped two victims of slavery file 
complaints with judicial authorities in the northern region 
of Gao.  According to ag Akeratane, these are the first 
lawsuits involving allegations of slavery in Mali since at 
least the 1970s if not since Malian independence.  Both 
victims are receiving support from a lawyer, based in Mopti, 
hired with funds from Temedt and the NGO Anti-Slavery 
International.  Each victim also belongs to Mali's community 
of black Tamacheks, also known as "Bellahs".  Black Tamacheks 
speak the same Tamachek language as Tuaregs - who are 
sometimes labeled as "white" Tamacheks - and are 
differentiated largely by familial lineage. 
 
3.(U)  The first case accuses Ahmed Iknane ag Bakka of 
slave-holding and the 2005 murder of a black Tamachek named 
Ekadaye ag Abdoulaye.  The case, which was filed by ag 
Abdoulaye's sister Tatche, first came to Temedt's attention 
in January 2007 when ag Akeratane and other Temedt founders 
traveled with the Embassy to the north-eastern town of Menaka 
to document cases of slavery and forced labor (Ref. B).  Both 
Tatche and ag Abdoulaye had previously "escaped" from their 
traditional master ag Bakka but, like many former slaves, 
frequently returned to work for him in order to avoid 
retribution or worse. 
 
4.(U)  According to the complaint, ag Bakka abducted five 
children from Tatche's family at gun point in August 2003. 
The abducted children included Tatche's son Tamtchi ag 
Allasane, ag Abdoulaye's son Almoustapha ag Akadaye and a 
girl named Alimata Wallet Tamou.  Several months after Tatche 
and ag Abdoulaye notified authorities of the kidnappings, a 
tip led the police in Menaka to ag Bakka and the five missing 
children.  Malian officials succeeded in rescuing only three 
of the five children: Alimata, Allassane and Almoustapha.  On 
December 28, 2004, ag Bakka tried to recover Tatche and the 
three children but ended up shooting ag Abdoulaye in the leg. 
 Ag Abdoulaye was transported to the local clinic in Menaka, 
and then to the regional hospital in Gao where doctors 
amputated his leg.  The wound later turned septic and ag 
Abdoulaye died on January 21, 2005. 
 
5.(U)  The statute of limitations for murder in Mali is 10 
years.  Tatche maintains that she filed murder charges with 
authorities in Menaka following ag Abdoulaye's death in 2005. 
 Officials in Menaka contend that no complaint was ever 
received.  As a result, no charges were leveled against ag 
Bakka until late 2007 when Temedt intervened.  The complaint 
currently before the court in Menaka accuses ag Bakka of 
murdering ag Abdoulaye and demands the release of the two 
children ag Bakka abducted in 2003 and continues to hold. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Compensation and Slave Holding in Gao 
 
BAMAKO 00000702  002 OF 004 
 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
6.(U)  A second case, filed in March 2008 also with Temedt 
and Anti-Slavery's support, concerns a black Tamachek named 
Iddar ag Ogazide who escaped from his master in the Ansongo 
area, between Gao and Menaka, in February 2008.  The 
complaint demands compensation for damages inflicted over the 
space of 35 years by Ogazide's alleged master, Erzaghi ag 
Bayes.  In addition to compensation, ag Ogazide is demanding 
the release of his 13 year old sister and 15 year old brother 
still apparently held by ag Bayes. 
 
7.(U)  According to Temedt, ag Ogazide escaped with his wife, 
Takwelet, after spending his entire life in the servitude of 
the ag Bayes family.  Several of ag Ogazide's brothers 
previously escaped to Niger and Algeria.  After fleeing first 
to Ansongo, ag Ogazide traveled to Gao where Temedt helped 
him obtain, for the first time in his life, a national 
identity card.  Ag Bayes quickly tracked ag Ogazide down in 
Gao and tried to force ag Ogazide to return by using ag 
Ogazide's three year old son, Mohamed ag Iddar, who was still 
in Ag Bayes' custody as an enticement.  Ag Bayes also asked 
Malian authorities in Gao to arrest ag Ogazide.  According to 
Temedt president ag Akeratane, in March ag Bayes gave the 
three year old Mohamed to another noble as a wedding present. 
 Temedt succeeding in winning Mohamed's release from this new 
master, and reuniting him with his parents, a few weeks later. 
 
8.(U)  Ag Ogazide's case has received a fair amount of 
coverage from Malian newspapers.  In June 2008 ag Ogazide 
told one Malian journalist that he had "never been to school 
nor studied the Koran.  All I know is how to herd animals to 
pasture.  I have always wanted to escape but people tell us 
that if a slave does not respect his master, the slave will 
not go to paradise after death." 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Two Additional Cases in Menaka and Kidal 
---------------------------------------- 
 
9.(U)  Temedt is currently reviewing two additional cases, 
one involving a women named Agiachatou in Menaka.  According 
to ag Akeratane, Agiachatou fled with her two children after 
been passed off as a wedding present and is now under the 
protection of Temedt members in Menaka.  Another case 
involves the abduction of a three year old boy named Moumou 
ag Tamou who was taken from his mother, Talkit Wallet Malick, 
in Kidal on September 4, 2007.  Moumou's family and Temedt 
allege that the boy was abducted by Hamed Lamine ag Alwafi, a 
Tuareg living in the area of Menaka.  Moumou's uncle notified 
Kidal authorities of the abduction on September 6, 2007, but 
was reportedly instructed by both the Kidal police and 
gendarmes to conduct his own investigation and return only 
when more information was available. 
 
10.(SBU) Ag Akeratane said Temedt is convinced that Moumou is 
another victim of slavery in northern Mali.  Although the 
significance of particular names may be less important now 
than several decades ago, Moumou's name means "slave" in 
Daoussahak, which is a mixture of Tamachek and Songhrai 
spoken by members of the Daoussahak group of Malian Tuaregs. 
His mother's name "Talkit" means "slave" in Tamachek.  Ag 
Akeratane said Temedt was hesitant about pressing charges in 
Moumou's case because of current unrest between Tuaregs and 
the Malian government in Kidal.  "With the rebellion," said 
ag Akeratane on July 22, "the government doesn't want us to 
talk about slavery in Kidal." 
 
11.(SBU)  The July 8 carjacking of Temedt's coordinator in 
Kidal, Koyna ag Ahmed, has also given Temedt pause as far as 
Moumou's case is concerned.  Ag Ahmed is the Ministry of 
Education's top official in Kidal and was carjacked on the 
road between Gao and Kidal after delivering all of Kidal's 
high school baccalaureate exams to officials in Gao for 
grading.  Ag Akeratane said Temedt had no indication that ag 
Ahmed was targeted due to his association with Temedt, but 
that he could not yet rule this out as a possibility. 
 
-------------------- 
Trials Going Nowhere 
-------------------- 
 
12.(SBU)  Judicial authorities in Gao and Menaka have shown 
little interest in pursuing slavery cases.  The homicide 
portion of the charges leveled against ag Bakka in Menaka, 
for instance, can legally only be handled by a separate court 
 
BAMAKO 00000702  003 OF 004 
 
 
in Mopti.  Officials in Menaka, however, have yet to forward 
the relevant court documents to their judicial colleagues in 
Mopti.  Neither Temedt nor the Embassy have been able to 
acquire details on the status of the cases in Menaka and Gao. 
 Ag Akeratane complained that officials in Menaka routinely 
claim that the relevant judge is either busy with other 
cases, out of town, or on vacation.  Temedt has also 
encountered problems convincing local human rights groups and 
lawyers to lend support to slavery victims.  Ag Akeratane 
told the Embassy in June that Temedt had appealed in vain to 
several local NGOs, including the Malian Association for 
Human Rights, for legal assistance. 
 
13.(SBU)  On July 29 the 2nd vice president of the Malian 
National Assembly, Assarid ag Imbarcaouane, told the Embassy 
that Temedt's slavery claims were "false" and that slavery 
was not a problem in Mali.  Ag Imbarcaouane is an important 
Tuareg leader from the region of Gao and said one of those 
accused by Temedt of slave-holding, Erzaghi ag Bayes, was a 
relative.  After the ag Ogazide case hit the Malian media, ag 
Imbarcaouane telephoned ag Bayes to tell him to release ag 
Ogazide's son because continuing to, in ag Imbarcaouane's 
words, "care" for the boy was no longer worth the trouble. 
Ag Imbarcaouane said that black Tamacheks like ag Ogazide 
were not slaves because they were free to leave their 
"masters" at any point.  He said black Tamacheks chose not to 
leave because they were unable to support themselves on their 
own. 
 
14.(SBU)  Like many other Malian officials, whether Tuareg or 
non-Tuareg, ag Imbarcaouane argued that slavery was already 
illegal in Mali and that there was therefore no reason to 
criminalize the practice.  He said Temedt was simply trying 
to stir up passions in the north for political reasons.  When 
the Embassy pointed out that murder is also illegal but still 
carries criminal penalties under the law, ag Imbarcaouane 
said he thought that Mali had, in fact, passed a law in 1960 
or 1961 criminalizing slave holding.  He also said he would 
be interested in seeing the texts of laws criminalizing 
slavery passed by neighboring National Assemblies in 
Mauritania and Niger.  We agreed to provide ag Imbarcaouane 
with copies of the relevant documents. 
 
------------------------ 
Comment: Slavery in Mali 
------------------------ 
 
15.(SBU)  No one is more aware of the sensitivities of the 
slavery issue in Mali than Temedt president Mohamed ag 
Akeratane.  Renewed unrest in northern Mali's primarily 
Tuareg region of Kidal has only compounded these 
sensitivities, prompting some to peddle conspiracy theories 
accusing Temedt of playing the slavery card simply to grab a 
portion of any eventual settlement between Tuareg rebels and 
the Malian government.  Despite the evident hostility of some 
Malian Tuaregs toward Temedt, their viewpoints on the issue 
of slavery in Mali are actually not so far apart.  Tuaregs 
like ag Imbarcaouane and Temedt leaders like ag Akeratane 
both stress that slavery in Mali has nothing to do with skin 
color or ethnicity.  Despite the labels of "black" and 
"white" Tamachek that are sometimes used to differentiate 
members of the Bellah community from Tuaregs respectively, 
lineage seems to be the main factor separating those 
belonging to slave castes from those regarded as nobles. 
Both the Tuareg and Temedt leaders also quick to dispel 
perceptions that Tuaregs are the primary or only offenders 
when it comes to slave-related practices in Mali.  Similar 
practices can be found within the Peuhl, Songhrai, Arab, 
Bambara and other groups in Mali. 
 
16.(SBU)  Both ag Imbarcaouane and ag Akeratane also agree 
that many victims of slavery in Mali are either unable or 
unwilling to strike out on their own due to poor education, 
poverty and a deep-seated fear of the unknown.  Ag Akeratane 
notes, for instance, that passing a law immediately "freeing" 
individuals who are victims of slavery would could serious 
social dislocations because neither Temedt, local communities 
nor the Malian government have the capacity to care for those 
who currently depend on the families to which they are 
attached for survival. 
 
17.(SBU)  Tuareg uneasiness about the question of slavery 
should not prevent a discussion of the issue, especially 
since there are clear points of common ground between Temedt 
and the Tuareg.  Convincing Mali to criminalize slavery, 
however, could prove difficult.  This is due in part to the 
 
BAMAKO 00000702  004 OF 004 
 
 
sensitivity of any issue involving Tuaregs.  It is also due 
to Mali's traditional respect for consensus, which can at 
times slow the passage of important social legislation (such 
as laws outlawing female genital cutting or criminalizing 
slavery) that has already been enacted by neighboring west 
African nations but does not enjoy the support of key 
domestic constituencies within Mali. 
LEONARD