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Momodou
Denmark
11828 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 00:57:13
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“There Cannot Be Peace Without Justice”
Says Cissokho Aldioma, President of the Mauritanian Refugees’ Movement for the Defence of Human Rights
By Ousman Sillah
In this exclusive interview with FOROYAA’s Ousman Sillah, the President of the Mouvement de Refugee Mauritaniene au Senegal pour la Defence de Droit des I’ Homme, Mr. Cissokho Aldioma, passionately talks about their movement, the state orchestrated diabolical persecution and pogram of the black Mauritanians, the forced deportations, the legitimate demands of the Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, Slavery, Human Rights and Democracy in Mauritania, African Unity and the Way Forward. Excerpts.
Foroyaa: Mr. Cissokho, how did your Movement come about? What are your objectives?
Mr. Cissokho: Well, the Movement de Refugee Mauretaniene au Senegal pour la Defence de Droit des I’ Homme (Movement of Mauritanian Refugees in Senegal for the Defence of Human Rights) was established in October 1994 to enable people, the World over, to know about the hardships and persecution meted on us (the black Mauritanian population) when we were leaving Mauritania at the height of the crisis and to fight for our legitimate rights to return to our homeland.
As you know, a refugee is invariably a very poor person, because when you are leaving your country you move out with virtually nothing. As refugees, we left our homes, belongings, community, occupations and everything behind to seek refuge elsewhere.
During the crisis, bona-fide Mauritanian citizens were painfully deported. The cruelty inflicted on black Mauritanians, the torture and summary executions are horrendous and despicable.
Those Mauritanians who became the victims of forced deportation included state functionaries (civil servants), cadres, military officials, farmers, herders, fishermen, students, who are all of black African origin. Infact, it is this rich combination of experiences that gave us the exemplary resilience and conviction needed to support and sustain our struggle during our 18 years in exile, that is from 1989 to date.
Foroyaa: How is your life as refugees?
Mr. Cisokho: To tell you the truth, the struggle was arduous and tough. Although it is not yet over, however, we are pleased to note that the full support and solidarity from civil society, human rights organisations and the local population have helped in giving us the necessary courage and strength that enabled us to confront and over come some of the challenges that one contends with when living in exile and fighting for a just cause.
The former regime of Ould Taya had done everything within its powers to deny us, bribe us, coerce and terrorize us. Our lives were really at risk. However, our strong conviction to stick to the truth is what had made us to survive to this day.
Foroyaa: What is the response of the International Community to your legitimate concerns?
Mr. Cissokho: We have been coming to The Gambia to attend sessions of the African Commission for Democracy and Human Rights (ACDHR), as we have observer status since April 1995. These visits have enabled us the opportunity to meet with and present our case to African and International Human Rights Organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Federation Internationale de Droit des I’ Homme (FIDH), based in France, and many others.
We have enriching, inspiring and educative exchanges.
At the continental level, the Union Inter African de Droit des I’ Homme, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, has also been very supportive to our cause We have done everything possible to ensure that the world know all what happened to us in Mauritanian and the mistreatment and discrimination that exist there.
We have drawn the attention of the world to the fact that all the refugees are black Africans, which is not normal in a country of diverse peoples and cultures. The black African peoples are bona fide Mauritanian nationals and who are without any mix, whatsoever, as Mauritania is their country of origin.
The undue hardships and suffering being experienced by the black Mauritanian refugees need to be exposed and made known. A lot of refugees died in Senegal because of poverty and the lack of means for medical care, etc. As long as we live, we will never forget those refugee compatriots who died whilst struggling in hardship and yearning for the day when they will return to their homeland. We will never forget these fallen heroes and heroines until the day when we, their surviving refugee compatriots, have regained our rights to return and freely live in our own country as equals citizens.
Foroyaa: What warranted your visit to The Gambia?
Mr. Cissokho: It is the new situation in Mauritania now that has warranted my visit to The Gambia. There is a new situation there following the change of government that toppled the regime of Ould Taya who had always denied the existence of refugees from Mauritania. It was this Ould Taya who had created and was responsible for the refugee problem. It was his government that had orchestrated and participated in the persecution, deportation and all the cruelty inflicted on black Mauritanians. Ould Taya had always insisted that the
refugees are Senegalese and that if they want to return they should do so without any demands for reparation.
When Elly Ould Vaal came in August 2005, he promised to bring about Democracy, Press Freedom, Liberty of Citizens to freely express themselves without let or hindrance. But he said he will not touch or discuss about the Refugee problem.
Following the coming into office of the democratically elected government of President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallah, he promised Mauritanians that he has two priorities to address. One is the refugee problem and the other, the slavery issue.
Foroyaa: How far has the new democratically elected government responded to your legitimate concerns?
Mr. Cissokho: To Speak the truth, the new government is, so far, really going by its promises. President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallah had paid an official visit to Senegal and has told the Senegalese regime that the purpose of his mission was to pave the way for a safe return of the Mauritanian Refugees based in Senegal.
He also sent a ministerial delegation to Senegal and which held discussions with President Abdoulaye Wade and his government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the delegation of the Refugees. They visited all the Refugees camps in Senegal, such as Dagana, Ndione, Dodel, Ourossogue, Bakel and Bokediawe and have discussed with the refugees.
The common position of the Refugees is that we want to return to our homeland but with certain conditions.
Hence, the purpose of my mission to The Gambia now is to hold discussion with concern institutions and officials and to present the demands being made by the Mauritanian Refugees for their return.
Foroyaa: What are these demands that your Movement and Refugees are asking from the Mauritanian government?
Mr. Cissokho: Our demands are these: Firstly, we are asking the Mauritanian government to apologize to the Mauritanian people and seek for the forgiveness of, particularly, the refugees for the crime they have committed against them.
Secondly, the citizenship that was stripped from the black Mauritanian Refugees must be returned to them to demonstrate that they too are bona-fide citizens of Mauritania. After meeting these demands, the government needs to establish and create conditions for the engagement of returnees in meaningful and sustainable
vocations.
The government has to institute reparations for civil servants, military and paramilitary personnel, e.g the custom officials (douanes), etc, by re-instating and paying them drawbacks. As for the peasant farmers, they have to be given back their land and assisted with implements and means to enable them to work on the fields again. The shepherds to be assisted to get their flocks back inorder to continue earning a living. Fishermen, too, needed to be returned their boats and fishing gear and to help create the enabling conditions for them to market their catch. The students should be enabled to return to school and be given scholarships by the state.
These are some of the demands that basically constitute our platform and issues of which to discuss with the Mauritanian government inorder to ensure and facilitate a safe and dignified return of all the Mauritanian Refugees currently based in Senegal.
Let us not also forget that these people were living in homes which they are entitled to get back or be provided with new and permanent decent houses for residence.
However, for all these to be possible, there must be some guarantees. The talks between the Refugees and the Mauritanian government should be held in Senegal to ensure that everything is done above board. These talks also require Observerswho should serve as witness and the moral guarantors of any final agreement and
who should also ensure that the agreements are respected. These Observers cum Guarantors should include the UNHCR, the government of the republic of Senegal as country of exile, Human Rights Organisations, AU, etc.
The agreement, in other words, should be written in black and white and made known to everybody. The national and independent press should be involved to disseminate the outcome of the talks through all the national languages spoken in Mauritanian to enable all Mauritanians to know all what the agreement entails.
Foroyaa: What is the position of the other Mauritanian political parties regarding your plight and cause?
Mr. Cissokho: We, as a movement, do not have any links with any of the political parties in Mauritanian. What we do not want is to make the Refugee problem a partisan issue. However, some political parties have made the Refugee issue an agenda on their platforms, now that an enabling environment is created for discussions to be held. It was not even long ago that some political party representatives visited and pleaded with the Refugees to return home. But what we told these political party delegations was that, before we return to our
homeland, there should be clear conditions and concrete agreements. Our position is that “There cannot be Peace without Justice.” We told them that you cannot have peace in nation on bitterness and resentment. What the situation demands now is that those who had inflicted cruelty and crimes of fratricide should be identified and tried. And the opposition parties agreed with us on this score.
However, we all acknowledged that if Justice is not done, resentment and bitterness will pave the wave for vengeance and this is what leads to civil strife, which we do not want.
Foroyaa: What is the situation with slavery?
Mr. Cissokho: Mauritanian is a very complex place. It is called an Islamic republic. The majority are Berbers and not Arabs, great religious leaders were born there or have been based there. These are the considerations that make the existence of slavery in Mauritania a strange thing and an irony. This phenomenon compels one to ask the question: Why is slavery still existing in Mauritania?
The answer is that the reason why there is still slavery in Mauritanian is because of the lack of conviction. Slavery should have been completely eradicated in Mauritanian a long time ago.
For your information, slavery has been abolished in Mauritania on three different occasions. The first was in 1905. This was followed by the ones in 1961 and 1980. Now there is a new draft law in 2007 which is about slavery and is more comprehensive than the previous ones.
However, we are still waiting to see what and how this piece of legislation is going to fare. There are very strong anti-slavery organisations in Mauritania that are working day and night to make sure that this anti-human practice is stopped. Such organisations include, the Association Mauritaniene de Droit des I’ Homme (AMDH) of Madam Aminata Mbye, the SoS Esclavage (SoS Slavery) of Messaoud, as well as others.
Slavery has been a long tradition in Mauritania, but with the incessant struggle being waged, the movement will eventually succeed. Just as the Refugee problem, this slavery problem also needs the full support of the international community, since Mauritania alone cannot solve it. The support can take legal, financial and economic forms.
Foroyaa: Now that there is a democratically elected government in place, what is the present state of Democracy in Mauritania?
Mr. Cissokho: Well the new regime has so far shown encouraging signs that are promising for Democracy. If the promises are fulfilled, then Mauritania is on the right track and will surely succeed in the area of building a Democratic society and state. Although there are still some outstanding issues to be addressed.
Everybody knows that Democracy is not decreed. It is something practiced through constant actions inorder to get it entrenched. For Democracy to triumph in Mauritania, apart from the return of the Refugees and the Abolishing of slavery, there should also be an independent and vibrant press that exists to portray divergence. The Television and Radio Stations as well as Newspapers need to operate independently.
On the economic front, the government needs to implement policies and programmes that ensure a fair distribution of the wealth of the nation to end poverty.
Educational institutions or schools should be increased to make education accessible and affordable to every Mauritanian national as a matter of Right and not a Privilege. Medical care should be made accessible to the population.
Every Mauritanian should be made to have a sense of national identity and be proud of ones nationality, whether you are a Berber, Wollof, Soninke (Serahule), Pulaar or Bambara so that we all can benefit from the richness of our diverse cultures in the form of languages, dress code, etc. This Democratic dispensation will also make visitors to feel at home in Mauritania and will further help the country to develop and strengthen the relationship of good neighbourliness with its neighbouring countries.
I am hopeful that with conviction and determination we can create a Mauritania that is democratic, tolerant, multi-cultural and prosperous enough to benefit all her citizens.
Foroyaa: Are there any prospects for African Unity?
Mr. Cissokho: My brother, don’t bother yourself. Mauritania or any other African country, for that matter cannot be anything if Africa is not united. Since the days of the Founding Fathers, like Kwame Nkrumah who have done their part, nothing much has been achieved yet. There is too much talking and little deeds.
Individualism must give way to what serves the collective interests of the entire African peoples. African Unity is the only way forward for Africa and Africans.
Foroyaa: On a final note what else do you want to share with the readers?
Mr. Cissokho: I cannot end this interview without thanking the loving people of The Gambia who have always been steadfast in their solidarity and support for our legitimate cause, since at the time I was here working on the issue of Human Rights and Mauritanian Refugees. I want to thank the Press, Gamcem, Gambia Youth Federation, Schools, Mosques, Churches and the local population. I also thanked you for giving me the opportunity through your medium to explain our cause and position to your readership, both at home and abroad. We would also want The Gambian people to pray for us so that the Refugees will return home and realize their legitimate demands.
Foroyaa: Thank you very Monsieur Cissokho for sharing with us and we wish your movement, the Mauritanian Refugees success in all your strivings.
Mr. Cissokho: Ameen. Thank you too Monsieur Sillah.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 111/2007, 21 – 23 September 2007
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