Niger’s leading anti-slavery activists, Ilguilas Weila and Alassane Biga (whose imprisonment was reported in Combating Caste, NI 380) have been released on bail. The charges against them of ‘propagating false information on slavery and attempting to raise funds illegally’ have not been dropped. This is not surprising from a regime which denies there is a famine taking place in the country. Anti-Slavery International estimates there are at least 43,000 people in slavery across Niger.

This article is from the October 2005 issue of New Internationalist.

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