The Mauritania-Senegal Border War was a conflict in West Africa. It began around Mauritania and Senegal's River Senegal border, over grazing rights. The Mauritanian Government had a recent history of discriminating against Tukulor and Soninké people within its borders, in 1987 imprisoning some of these southerners and throwing others out the Senegalese Army .
In April 1989, the continuing dispute over grazing led to Mauritanian Moorish border guards firing at Soninké bystanders, people in Senegal on the south bank rioted. This was the trigger for an explosion of ill-feeling between the two nations.
In Senegal, many shopkeepers were Mauritanian. Many of their shops were looted and most 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.
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.
External link
OnWar.com
