Other children are taken as far away as Bangui in the Central Africa Republic, which itself is a poor country. Children from there are said to be in high demand in Cameroon. In one instance the Benin authorities found 400 children aboard a boat anchored in Cotonou harbour, itself an historic slaving market. In July 1997 Benin police arrested five West Africans preparing to ship them to Gabon. This time, the child slaves were intended for other West African capitals and not America.
Facts are difficult to come by.
In Togo diplomatic sources stress that hundreds of girls are transported across the country's borders each year and 1,000 Togolese girls are estimated to be employed in Gabon. A Togolese diplomat based in Libreville has urged his own government to take action to stem the flow of children being trafficked out of Togo. According to investigators, more than 30 children are crossing the Benin-Nigeria border every two months. A children's market was tracked down in a five storey building in Lagos, where residents used to go to choose the children they wanted for domestic work. In 1996 this illegal market was discovered full of malnourished children, aged between seven and 17 years old, waiting for buyers.