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ARAB COUNTRIES MUST IMMEDIATELY END THE PRACTICE OF MODERN DAY SLAVERY IN THEIR TERRITORIES

Gulf Arab oligarchies are defaming Muslims and Islam at a time when the Fifa World Cup has drawn favourable public interest and admiration for the religion’s noble values. These countries must clamp down on the scourge of modern day slavery that is raising its ugly face in the territories once and for all.

The international community must unite and fight this tooth and nail and ensure that it is brought down once and for all. The United Nations Agencies (UN) must pass new resolutions that will ensure that any country found on the wrong side of the law, will punished and isolated from the community of nations as a punishment. At the receiving end once again is the black race (Africans and those from the Indo/Pak subcontinent).

We have heard of cries coming out from many African countries now. From Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, have all been affected by this scourge. Just like it was in the olden days, the main culprits are our own brothers who work as agents acting on behalf of these evil doers in Arab countries.

In the olden days, the white man could not beat the African at knowing their terrain to catch the slaves, so they enlisted the services of fellow blacks who would act on their behalf to catch fellow Africans and deliver them to the slave masters in exchange for a pittance like mirrors and sugar for their satisfaction.

Unfortunately we are seeing a repeat of this nowadays. What makes us wonder is that, many of these so-called agents are registered in African countries as legal entities and actually advertise for their catch inside these countries. Year in and year out our governments are having to deal with this problem and yet no permanent solution can be found to this.

Recently the government of Zimbabwe announced that they had to bell out Zimbabwean slaves from Arab countries by actually paying money to their masters in order to have them released. This is unacceptable, it should never happen in the 21st century. At the same time, many of these Arab countries do have relations with many of these African countries affected.

The culprits are well known and yet they are left to roam scot free by these countries. Historically the Arab slave trade in Africa had aroused great anger though the practice of such abomination is outlawed in Islam.

Arabs already have a history from the past when it comes to Africa, they together with the westerners, have been involved in buying African slaves. Our people have not forgotten this part of history and this surge now only adds to creating tension between the two people.

Furthermore, our Arab brothers should know that since the great religion of Islam traces its roots from Arabia, they are not doing it a favour by behaving the way they are behaving. The enemies of Islam will always attack the religion of Islam as if it were the one sanctioning slavery. Islam has got nothing to do with this nonsense whatsoever. Anyway, Arabs are notoriously complicit when it comes to acting exactly as they are caricatured by their enemies. When they are told that they are savages, they like acting out like savages.

Just see the way they have been doing the killings in their so-called ISIS, Al-Qaeda outfits etc, exactly to the script written by the enemies of Islam.

We call upon the UN, AU, all relevant anti-slavery humanitarian agencies and the international community to pile up pressure on Arab countries that allow these kinds of activities to flourish in their territories. They should make sure that they are told in no uncertain terms they should continue doing this as they will not get away with it.

Islamophobia is generally driven by those who have an axe to grind against Muslims and Islam. The evidence for it is abundant in the horrible terrorism by Israel against Palestinians and by US/NATO in the devastation caused in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. To have unelected Arab despots engaged in modern day slavery is thus no different to known Islamophobes fuelling hate, prejudice and injustice.

By:

Dr. Mustafa Mheta

Senior researcher/Head of Africa Desk

Media Review Network SA

Dean: School of Languages at Somali

National University (SNU) Mogadishu

Federal Republic of Somalia

 

 

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