Slavery in Niger

One of the more bizarre stories of the weekend came from the Sahel country of Niger. The country's government had organized a special ceremony during which 7000 slaves were to be granted freedom, only to cancel the event on the pretext that slavery did not exist in the country.

It begs the question: why would the government organize an event in the first place for something that allegedly did not exist? What about the 7000 slaves who were to be granted their freedom? Did they suddenly vanish from the Earth? Did their slave masters suddenly see the Abolitionist light? Did slavery suddenly disappear between the time the government decided to sponsor this event and the time it cancelled the event?

Some 43,000 people are slaves in Niger, according to most accounts.

Except, of course, according to the Niger government. They apparently believe that the number went from a significant amount (when they felt the need to sponsor the anti-slavery event) to zero in the course of a few months.

Slavery and the slave trade were officially banned by Niger's parliament only in May 2003.