Refugee Relocation

Here they are called "the 1989 events", when thousands of black african mauritanians were forced across the Senegal River by the arab mauritanians (and vice versa with the arab senegalese). They were forced to flee without their possessions and their property was taken in their absence. Its a very complicated situation (i suggest going on wikipedia and reading about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Events_in_Mauritania) and the effects of which are still being felt, especially in the south of Mauritania. For nearly 20 years black mauritanians have been living in UN refugee camps in senegal and recently the UN has begun to bring them back to Mauritania. Since Boghe is one of the largest border towns with Senegal, they have been using it to bring in the refugees and creating new villages for the refugees to live in. Below are some pics of their efforts this week...

These are classic "maurtanian style tents" set up in on of the open areas near the center of Boghe for the refugees to wait in between their river crossing and placement in their new homes.

The refugees being loaded into UN issue white canoes (very different from the traditional wooden ones ive been in!) with orange life vests (also a new concept for me!) on the other side of the Senegal River on a Senegalese island seperating the two countries.

On the far right is the UN canoes leaving Senegal and on the left is the UN tracks waiting to load the refugees and bring them to the Boghe town center.

Close up of UN trucks along the Senegal River.

On a side note, my host family in pk7 were returned refugees as well, who came back during an earlier attemp to return the refugees in 1997. The village was called pk7 (literal translation milemarker 7) because it was created at the whim of the UN in an effort to return the refugees (since their properties and previous homes/villages had been taken in their absence).