MAURITANIA: Refugees hope to end 16 years of exile

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 22 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of black Mauritanians forced to flee into exile more than a decade ago are urging the country's newly-installed military government to bring them home as part of its policy of national reconciliation.

"We are asking for a dignified return under the aegis of the UN and other international organisations," Sadikh Niasse, whose human rights group is part of the refugee campaign for a homecoming, told IRIN.

Gathered together in a collective of refugees and rights groups, the exiles this week addressed a three-page appeal to the government that was named the Dodel Declaration after the refugee camp in Senegal where it was signed.

An estimated 65,000 black Mauritanians fled south into Senegal and Mali between 1989 and 1991 to escape ethnic violence in which hundreds died. Although many later returned on an individual basis, they often found it difficult to regain old jobs and property.

The signatories to the plea are hoping now for a more structured end to 16 years of exile for 20,000 people remaining in Senegal, and up to 7,000 in Mali, according to UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates.

Hopes are pinned on the openness of Mauritania's new military rulers, who after toppling long-time President Maaouya Ould Taya on August 3, announced they would shore up democratic processes, release prisoners and allow political exiles to come home.

The Dodel Declaration, sent both to the Mauritanian government in Nouakchott and its embassy in Dakar, praises the coup leaders and accuses the old regime of a "heavy responsibility" for human rights violations carried out at the time of the exodus.

Mauritania straddles Arab North Africa and black West Africa, and the issue of relations between the country’s blacks and its light-skinned Arab population, which has dominated political life since independence, is a touchy one.

In 1989, a seemingly minor incident over land rights ignited a border dispute between Mauritania and Senegal and a round of ethnic violence that caused tens of thousands to flee or be expelled.

"People here are nervous about discussing such a potentially divisive issue," a government official in Nouakchott told IRIN on condition of anonymity.

Seydou Kane, president of the opposition Mauritanian Patriotic Alliance who himself recently returned from 13 years of voluntary exile, believes that it's still too soon after the coup to judge the government's handling of this matter.

"We are expecting a lot from this regime," he told IRIN. "But it can't take on everything in such a short period."

Given the difficult living conditions of the refugees, however, Niasse says the need to act now is great. Food aid dried up a decade ago and 2005 has been an exceptionally lean year across the Sahel following poor rains and the worst locust invasion in decades.

The refugee groups, realising an organised return is unlikely in the immediate future, are asking for food aid to start up again while they wait for their return to be negotiated.

But international donor fatigue stands in the way, according to Mahoua Bamba-Parums, the Dakar-based senior regional legal adviser for the UNHCR. By 1995, when the relief agency cut off food aid after years of assistance, other humanitarian crises had come along and donor money had moved elsewhere.

"If we launch a call for repatriation, I assure you that there will be money," she told IRIN. "But first, there needs to be guarantees."

In addition to international supervision, the declaration calls for citizenship for the returnees and financial compensation for lost property.

UNHCR's Bamba-Parums said the government would also have to officially guarantee the returnees’ personal safety and freedom from harassment before the agency could help supervise a return.

"When all that is agreed, we'll enter the dance," said Bamba-Parums.

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