Mauritania-Senegal Border War

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Date	April 1989-July 18, 1991
Location	West Africa
Result	Mauritania and Senegal agree to reopen the border and end skirmishes

Belligerents

Republic of Senegal

Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Strength

Senegal unknown

Mauritania unknown

Casualties and losses

Senegal dead: hundreds

Mauritania dead: hundreds

The Mauritania-Senegal Border War was a conflict fought between the West African countries of Mauritania and Senegal during 1989-1991. The conflict began around the two countries' River Senegal border, over grazing rights.

1 Background
2 Conflict
3 Refugee repatriation
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Background

The Mauritanian Government had a recent history of discriminating against Toucouleurs and Soninke people within its borders. One such example occurred in 1987, when the government imprisoned southerners and threw others out of the army.

[edit] Conflict

In April 1989, the dispute over grazing rights led Mauritanian Moorish border guards to fire at and kill two Senegalese peasants.^[1] As a result, people on the Senegalese southern bank rioted. In Senegal, where many shopkeepers were Mauritanian, shops were looted and most Mauritanians were expelled to Mauritania. In Mauritania, lynch mobs and police brutality ended in the forced exile of about 70,000 southerners to Senegal, despite most of them having no links to the country. About 250,000 people fled their homes as both sides engaged in cross-border raids.^[1] Hundreds of people died in both countries.^[2]

With the departure of most Mauritanians from Senegal, the riots ended, but Mauritania's government under Ould Taya continued racist campaigns against southerners he described as black Africans (as opposed to Arab Moors). The Organisation of African Unity tried to negotiate a settlement to reopen the border, but it was ultimately an initiative of Senegalese President Abdou Diouf which led to a treaty being signed on July 18, 1991.

[edit] Refugee repatriation

In June 2007, the Mauritanian government under President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help it repatriate black Mauritanians who had been forced out in the war and were living in refugee camps in Mali and Senegal. According to UNHRC estimates, there were 20000 refugees in Senegal and 6000 in Mali as of July 2007.^[3]