Mauritania-Senegal Border War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mauritania-Senegal Border War was a conflict fought between the West African countries of Mauritania and Senegal during 1989-1991. The conflict began around the two countries' River Senegal border, over grazing rights. The Mauritanian Government had a recent history of discriminating against Tukulor and Soninké people within its borders. One such example occurred in 1987 when the government imprisoned southerners and threw others out of the army.
In April 1989, the dispute over grazing rights led Mauritanian Moorish border guards to fire at Soninké bystanders. As a result, people on the Senegalese southern bank rioted. In Senegal, where many shopkeepers were Mauritanian, shops were looted and most Mauritanians were expelled to Mauritania. In Mauritania, lynch mobs and police brutality ended in the forced exile of about 70,000 southerners to Senegal, despite most of them having no links to the country. About 250,000 people fled their homes as both sides engaged in cross-border raids.
With the departure of most Mauritanians from Senegal, the riots ended, but Mauritania's government under Ould Taya continued racist campaigns against southerners he described as black Africans (as opposed to Arab Moors). The Organisation of African Unity tried to negotiate a settlement to reopen the border, but it was ultimately an initiative of Senegalese President Abdou Diouf which led to a treaty being signed on July 18, 1991.
