Mauritania stymies anti-slavery delegation

Mauritania has denied entry to US anti-slavery campaigners, saying their trip would have violated the law. A dozen campaigners landed at Nouakchott airport on Friday for a week-long visit but were refused visas, a local anti-slavery NGO confirmed. Although slavery was officially outlawed in 1981, it remains deeply entrenched in a hereditary system of servitude. Government spokesperson Mohamed Cheikh said the country's laws 'reject the communalism, ethnicism and work for the unity, the strength of relations between the national communities'. He added: 'This is why we have refused to receive the delegation.' A report on the Sherbrooke Times site notes that the delegation was due to meet with representatives of civil society and representative of the US embassy in Nouakchott.