More from Disposable People by Kevin Bales.

Poverty in Mauritania
Mauritania has foreign debt five times higher than its annual export earnings. They have only two resources: iron ore and fish. As a result of poverty and conflict, Mauritania has little infrastructure. The country has two roads. Foreign countries paved these two-lane highways in an attempt at aid. (Mauritania’s second largest city, Nouadhibou, is not connected by roads to anywhere.)

Half the population is under 14, and most people have few possessions, perhaps 2-3 bits of clothing, a jug, pot, or basket, a few iron tools, a blanket to use as a carpet, bed, or tent. Only 1 in 5 people can read. All of this makes creates a climate where people are intensely vulnerable.

The overarching poverty and culture of slavery gives slaves no viable alternatives. Any sort of freedom they face starvation. They have no clothes, no money, no shelter, and no family. “Immediately identifiable by color, clothing, and speech an escaped slave would be asked, ‘Who do you belong to?’ by any potential employer.” Because of this masters don’t need to coerce slaves to stay.

Daily Life and Profit
The cost of maintaining slaves is the cost of rice, which ends up being about $15 per month. A master who has 4 slaves who sell water in the capital makes a profit of $371 a month. That may not sound like much but it’s a 256% profit rate and is more than the average Mauritanian earns in a year. Plus, water hauling slaves are often just part of a master’s workforce. In a country so desperately dry and poor, these profits are vital.

Bilal (a common slave name, since Mohammed’s slave was named Bilal), a water-hauling slave in the capital, says this, “What I really want is a salary—a fixed amount of money for the work I do. But when I asked my master about a salary, he hold me it was better this way… what can I do?”

Freedom can be a dismal prospect. With no education, to skills, no money, total responsibility for yourself and your family is terrifying. As a result slaves settle the relatively stable life of dawn to dusk labor, no money, very little food, and no property or home of their own.

The Role of the Outside World
Building on its colonial past, Mauritania imports European goods once they’ve passed their sell-by date. To keep up this export market France supports the corrupt regime and sends funds for satellite communication, even though most people don’t even have running water and only 3% have phones.

America and France want to maintain an alliance with Mauritania to help stop the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in northern Africa. “The [current Mauritanian] government is a regime that the Americans and the French can do business with, even if it means winking at some of the local customs. This is a disgrace. Slavery in Mauritania is very different form the new slavery that grips the rest of the world and it needs more, not less, attention and intervention. It is more deeply rooted in history and custom than the new slavery and thus more intractable. For this reason it is less likely to give way before economic pressure. Here we find not businessmen who have decided to invest in slavery and who could also choose to disinvest, but rather the entire ruling class of a country united to defend its way of life.”