Today IRA – USA announces a new direction for its organization.
IRA – USA has long worked in alliance with Biram Dah Abeid’s organization, IRA – Mauritanie. Together we have worked to free those held in slavery in Mauritania, to empower ex-slaves, to counter the state-racism in Mauritania, and to promote gender equality.
The recent decision of Biram Dah Abeid to create an alliance with Sawab, a Baathist political party in Mauritania, now compels IRA – USA to make clear that IRA – USA is a separate and independent organization without official ties to Mr. Abeid and IRA – Mauritanie.
Mr. Abeid has created the Sawab alliance in order to qualify IRA – Mauritanie adherents as candidates in local elections. Mr. Abeid himself plans to run for the office of president of Mauritania in the 2019 election. IRA – Mauritanie and its political arm, known as RAG, cannot appear on ballots because they are not officially recognized organizations in Mauritania. Sawab has official standing, but does not have enough popularity to draw a significant proportion of the vote. Both Sawab and Mr. Abeid expect advantages to flow from the alliance.
Established in 2004 and run by Abdessalam Ould Horma, Sawab has championed the Arabization of Mauritania and has challenged the nationality of the refugees from 1989 who fled ethnic violence to live in Senegal and Mali.
IRA – USA opposes state racism in Mauritania. The bias of the national government against the sub-Saharan African Mauritanian communities has long stigmatized Black Mauritanians and subjected them to significant hardships. For example, a significant percentage of Black Mauritanians have found it impossible to get national identity cards. Without a national identity card a child cannot enroll in school, and an adult cannot get a job, register to vote, nor obtain a passport. The ethnic violence of 1989 and the purging of Black Mauritanian military officers are human rights crimes that continue to haunt the nation.
Sawab, an Arab-nationalist political party, has directly challenged the nationality of the 1989 refugees. Sawab is publicly identified with promoting the fear that Mauritania might turn into a Black African state. This overtly racist politics cannot be condoned. Soninke, Fulani, Wolof and Bambara Africans have lived on these lands for centuries. Mauritania has become identified as an Arab state through the systematic exclusion of Black Mauritanians, an exclusion rooted in the violence of 1989, from positions of authority in the state and the military. Forced Arabization is part of this politics of racial exclusion.
IRA – USA will consider future partnerships to advance our mission in Mauritania.
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