NIAMEY, Niger — When Ilguilas Weila left his village at age 7 to go to school in a distant town in southern Niger, other children's parents asked a question that burned his ears: "Who owns that boy?"
They were surprised to hear that he belonged to no one. The casual, indifferent way in which people talked about slavery was almost as shocking to him as the fact that it was practiced in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.
"I was horrified to hear that somebody could own a human being. I never lost that memory. It changed my life completely," said Weila, 47, who went on to found the anti-slavery organization Timidria in 1991.
Authorities in this country south of the Sahara deny that slavery exists, although opposition lawmakers say that about 10% of the members of parliament keep slaves or are from slave-owning families.
Niger made slavery a criminal offense in April 2004, but the government has done little to enforce the law. Critics say government efforts to suppress or downplay reports of slavery have made it difficult for activists to expose the practice or win the release of slaves.
Niger's slave caste, known as the \o7bellah\f7, is made up of descendants of villagers seized as slaves by victorious chiefs in tribal wars centuries ago. They aren't locked up, but they're held captive by bonds that are just as strong: fear and tradition.
No guards watch over the slaves as they fetch water, shop in the market or do other chores, but Weila says they keep returning to their owners not only because they are afraid to run, but also because they cannot imagine themselves as anything else.
"They always come back. They were born in the family of the master. They know nothing else," Weila said. After generations in servitude to one family, he said, a typical female slave could not imagine freedom nor her right to it.
"Psychologically for her, it is her duty to serve her master up until death," he said. "She thinks that even in paradise she is going to serve this master."
In Niger, pale- and dark-skinned tribes alike keep slaves; what sets masters apart from slaves is often the quality of their dress and ornaments. Slaves wear the roughest clothing, and their children are often naked.
Some slaves endure beatings and humiliation. But others live almost as low-caste extensions of the master's family. Their food and living conditions are inferior, but it is the only existence they know.
