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| Africa Subsaharan |
| 150,000 Arabs To Be Expelled From Niger |
| 2006-10-26 |
| Leaders of around 150,000 Arabs in Niger say they will fight in court moves to expel them to Chad. They told reporters in Niamey they would defend themselves against attack. Niger's government has ordered the Arabs, known as Mahamid, to leave the country accusing them of wrongdoing, including theft and rape. But they insist they are citizens of Niger and "have no other country to go to", after being given five days to leave the country. The Mahamid also say they will take their case to the United Nations Security Council. But the BBC's Idy Baraou says the decision to challenge the government's order through the courts may have come too late, as reports from the east of Niger confirm that the authorities had begun rounding Arabs up around Diffa, located some 1,500km from Niamey. Many of the Arabs came to Niger from neighbouring Chad following the 1974 drought in Chad. Others who were fleeing fighting in Chad arrived in the 1980s. Many have since risen to senior positions in the military, local administration and in business. The governor of Diffa State, where most of the Mahamid live, told them it was "high time" to pack and return to Chad. "We have decided, starting today, to expel these nomadic Arab 'Mohamides' to their home countries," Niger's Interior Minister Mounkaila Modi told national television. "These foreigners have shown no respect to the rights of the natives and they're putting pressure on pastures in this region. We can no longer accept seeing our ecosystem degraded by foreigners." Mr Modi said the Mahamid possessed illegal firearms and were a serious threat to the security of local communities and that their camels were draining local oases, Reuters news agency reports. Like the rest of the country, the east of Niger is extremely arid. It is populated by nomadic cattle herders, whilst the Arabs also own camels. Not surprisingly, one source of the tension between the communities is water. With the Sahara desert expanding quite quickly there are growing fears that the scarcity of water could spark future problems in many African countries in the region. The BBC's West Africa correspondent Will Ross says that with the spread of Islam to Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries, Arabs greatly expanded their presence and influence and there are many examples of how the African and Arab cultures have mixed. For example, some 20% of East Africa's Swahili language comes from Arabic. Arab and non-Arab Africans both had the common goal of opposing European colonialists. But there have also been areas where the cultures have clashed, one example being Sudan, which has been plagued by conflict between the Arab dominated government in the north and the black African south. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #17 99% muslim ? Where did you get that stat ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-10-26 21:48 |
| #16 IE, like "All men are created equal..." Only in the eyes of the law or the church. Otherwise, complete and total hogwash if applied anywhere else. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-26 20:52 |
| #15 "Created equal" doesn't mean that all men end up equal as adults. Potential is one thing. Outcome is another. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2006-10-26 19:42 |
| #14 Can we assist them with some |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-26 18:39 |
| #13 The Mahamid also say they will take their case to the United Nations Security Council. Good plan. They'll get right on it, have you all fixed up in no time. These guys are screwed. |
| Posted by: Baba Tutu 2006-10-26 13:38 |
| #12 "If we get rid of PC fuzzy headed liberal approaches, maybe progress can occur." IE, like "All men are created equal..." |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-10-26 13:26 |
| #11 You envision the govt of a country that 99% muslim expelling all muslims? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-10-26 13:25 |
| #10 Today the leaders, tomorrow all other Arabs, the day after that, all muzzies. Great plan. I hope they have enough rounds of bullet for this undertaking. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-10-26 12:45 |
| #9 It's a start. |
| Posted by: GK 2006-10-26 12:10 |
| #8 as info The black majority in Niger is also muslim. this isnt an expulsion based on religion, but on race/ethnicity. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-10-26 11:33 |
| #7 Niger, then France and Britain? Nah. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-10-26 11:10 |
| #6 Interesting approach. Ship out the trouble-makers. If we get rid of PC fuzzy headed liberal approaches, maybe progress can occur. Yeh, watch and learn. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-10-26 08:55 |
| #5 Since Swahili is east African, those slaves were sold into Arabia. It is ironic in the same sense some US blacks are turning to islam when it was the muslim Arab slave raiders who sold their ancestors to the white slave traders. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-10-26 07:50 |
| #4 We can no longer accept seeing our ecosystem degraded by foreigners." Ah, nice move contra potential UN / Euro criticism. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-10-26 07:46 |
| #3 Sounds like they have the right idea. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2006-10-26 07:09 |
| #2 20% of East Africa's Swahili language comes from Arabic I'm probably wrong, but I had the definite impression swahili was the pidgin used by slave traders (said slaves being the black africans, of course, which would make the use of swahili by "afrocentric" black americans even more ironical). |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-10-26 03:38 |
| #1 Watch & learn. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-10-26 00:19 |