Opinion ID: 171191
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ethnic Violence in Mauritania

Text: Mauritania is a highly-centralized Islamic republic with a long history of ethnic and racial tensions. The country's population is essentially divided into three ethnic groups: the politically-dominant White Moors of Arab and Berber ancestry; the indigenous African Black Moors, historically enslaved by the White Moors; and Sub-Saharan Africans belonging to a variety of ethnic groups including the Halpulaar/Fulani, Tukulor, Soninke, and Wolof groups. Mr. Ba is a black African associated with the Halpulaar/Fulani group. Mauritania's Sub-Saharan African population has historically been centered in the south of the country, in the Senegal River region. In 1989, tensions among Mauritania's various ethnic groups erupted in a violent crisis associated, externally, with deteriorated relations between Mauritania and its neighbor Senegal, and internally, with increasing demands for greater recognition by the country's Sub-Saharan African population. The White Moors, working in alliance with the Black Moors, attempted to cleanse Mauritania of its Sub-Saharan African population. In the ensuing years, Mauritania expelled some 75,000 people of African ancestry, forcing many across the river into Senegal. Many Mauritanians of black African descent were also killed, assaulted, stripped of their property, and/or imprisoned.