U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1998 - Mauritania

  An estimated 55,000 Mauritanians were refugees at the end of 1997, including about 40,000 in Senegal and 15,000 in Mali. An estimated 5,000 or more Mauritanian refugees repatriated in 1997. Mauritania hosted an estimated 5,000 refugees from Western Sahara at year's end. Virtually all of the nearly 15,000 refugees from Mali who were living in Mauritania at the beginning of 1997 repatriated during the year. Refugees from Mauritania Inter-ethnic conflict in Mauritania during 1989-90 culminated in the government's expulsion of approximately 75,000 black Mauritanians from the country. An additional 15,000 or so nomadic Mauritanians who were in Mali during the upheaval were also barred from returning to Mauritania, as were children born outside Mauritania to those expelled. Mauritanian authorities claimed that the refugee populations were not Mauritanian citizens. Human rights organizations charged that Mauritanian leaders‹predominantly fair-skinned, Arabic-speaking "Moors"‹sought to purge their country's black population and confiscated vacant property the refugees left behind. Credible reports of slavery and harassment of black Mauritanians have surfaced and persisted in recent years. More than 25,000 Mauritanian refugees have returned to Mauritania since 1992, including more than 5,000 in 1997, according to UNHCR. UNHCR cautioned, however, that these estimates included only returnees in areas where a UNHCR reintegration program existed. Many Mauritanians in Senegal, however, have indicated that they would repatriate only if Mauritania guaranteed their citizenship, compensated for their losses, and allowed UNHCR to mount an organized repatriation program with safeguards to protect returnees. Mauritanian officials have refused to acknowledge blanket citizenship for the entire refugee population. The government insisted that it would evaluate citizenship on a case-by-case basis. In part because neither Mauritania nor Mali considers those expelled to be refugees, UNHCR has been unable to conclude a formal tripartite repatriation agreement. At least one Mauritanian refugee association in Senegal continued in 1997 to oppose any repatriation program conducted outside UNHCR's direct supervision. The government has gradually increased UNHCR's access to returnee areas since 1995. UNHCR's Special Rapid Insertion Program (PSIR), which began in 1996 in cooperation with the Mauritanian Red Crescent, funded community development projects in agriculture, health, water resources, animal husbandry, education, and small-enterprise sectors. The PSIR in 1997 benefitted 16,000 returnees at a cost of about $350,000, UNHCR said. Populations of entire villages have returned, in some cases. Although some villagers were able to recover the land that they cultivated before the 1989 conflict, "the attempts by many villages to recuperate all or even part of their land have been unsuccessful," UNHCR reported. "Cooperation by local authorities in addressing restitution and citizenship matters varies greatly, depending on individual officials and the returnee's region," the U.S. Department of State said. UNHCR said that Mauritanian administrative obstacles related to repatriation, reissue of identity documents, and restrictions on freedom of movement diminished the attractiveness of the reintegration program. UNHCR also noted, however, that improvements in Mauritania's response were visible in the last months of 1997. Refugees from Mali Tens of thousands of Malian refugees fled to Mauritania in 1991, seeking protection from violence linked to an insurgency in northern Mali. The refugees included ethnic Tuaregs and ethnic Moors. Most were traditionally nomadic peoples. Virtually all of the nearly 15,000 refugees from Mali living in Mauritania at the beginning of 1997 repatriated by year's end. UNHCR and the governments of Mauritania and Mali signed a tripartite repatriation agreement in mid-1994, laying the groundwork for the refugees' return to Mali. Renewed violence in Mali, however, produced an influx of 30,000 new refugees to Mauritania in 1994 and delayed large scale repatriation. Generally peaceful conditions in Mali permitted UNHCR to begin an organized repatriation program in late 1995. More than 20,000 refugees repatriated from Mauritania during 1995-96. Some 13,000 Malian refugees repatriated from Mauritania in the first half of 1997, including about 9,000 who returned in UNHCR-organized convoys and about 4,000 who repatriated spontaneously, UNHCR reported. All received a repatriation package prior to departure, the agency said. The M'Berra refugee camp, located in the remote southeast corner of Mauritania, closed on June 30. UNHCR then withdrew from the Hodh el Chargi region of Mauritania. An estimated 1,500 Malians remained at M'Berra after the camp's official closure. UNHCR reported that it carried out an individual status determination exercise in June for the Malians who remained, determining that none was of concern to the agency. More than 1,000 of those who remained returned to Mali later in the year, according to some reports. Mauritania reportedly said it would allow Malians who chose not to repatriate to remain legally in Mauritania. Refugees from Western Sahara Several thousand ethnic Sahrawi refugees from Western Sahara were believed to be in Mauritania in 1997. The Sahrawis fled to Mauritania in the mid-1970s because of a war for control over Western Sahara. The Mauritanian government did not consider them to be refugees. UNHCR's repatriation plan for Western Sahara estimated that as many as 10,000 Sahrawis might repatriate from Mauritania in 1998. The agency generally had little contact with the population, however.