[USA Today] The insurgents who have fled from invading French troops in Mali have been taking with them some of their most important possessions -- slaves.
The Tuareg tribes that overran Mali's military with the help of Arab extremist groups aligned with al-Qaeda have long held slaves and many of the captives are from families that have been enslaved for generations.
Though slavery was outlawed in 1960, Mali is one of the countries in the world where the practice of human servitude flourishes, with as many as 200,000 Bella ("slave" in the Tuareg language) living a life of hereditary enslavement. |