A STORY TOLD BY A MODERN DAY SLAVE IN AFRICA

Pascale Harter writing for the BBC news states, "It seems the government has little interest in really wiping out slavery. Meanwhile slavery remains Mauritania's best kept open secret."

Interviewing Mohamed, a former slave, "Everyone knew we were slaves. It's a normal thing, to have slaves in Mauritania."

Skyra is a runaway Mauritanian slave. Her earliest childhood memories are of fetching water, tending animals and cooking and cleaning.

Skyra was born into slavery - but her children are now free.
"I was tied up all night and all day. They only untied me so I could do my chores. In the end I could barely move my limbs."

She never earnt a single penny. "All those years," she told me, "and I don't even own a goat".

Mohamed was another slave. "He could not tell me his surname or his age," writes Harter in his BBC article. "As a slave he didn't own the right to either."

But in a candlelit shack in the sandy outskirts of the capital, Nouakchott, he told Harter the story of his life.

"I don't know how I became a slave," he told Harter.

"I was just born one. My family were slaves. We did all the hard work for our master and all we received in return was beatings."

Proof, Rape, Count The Slaves - READ THE FULL STORY AT BBC NEWS

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Central mosque in Nouakchott the capital of Mauritania -