African Liberation Forces of Mauritania
| African Liberation Forces of Mauritania Forces de Libération Africaines de Mauritanie |
|
|---|---|
| Participant in Mauritania–Senegal Border War | |
Flag of FLAM.
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|
| Active | November 1983 - present |
| Ideology |
Black African rights Federalism |
| Leaders |
Ibrahima Moctar Sarr November 1983 - 1989 |
| Headquarters |
Dakar European section HQ |
| Area of operations | Mauritania, Senegal, Mali |
| Allies | Senegal |
| Opponents | Mauritania |
| Website | flamnet.info |
Dakar
Main HQ
The African Liberation Forces of Mauritania (French: Forces de Libération Africaines de Mauritanie, or FLAM) is an exiled paramilitary organization for West Africans living in Mauritania.
FLAM was founded in 1983 (co-founded by Ibrahima Moctar Sarr) as tensions had increased between the two ethnicities following severe political instability and a controversial land reform enacted under Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Heidalla's military government. The group endorsed, but did not initiate, a violent overthrow of the regime, and was quickly outlawed. In 1986, it published the Manifesto of the oppressed black Mauritanian, which detailed government discrimination, and demanded the overthrow of the "Beidane System" (Beidane is an Arabic language-appellation for the Arabophone Moorish elite). Acting as an underground movement in Mauritania, with its main areas of strength in the southern areas of the country (bordering Senegal and Mauritania), and especially among the halpulaar population, FLAM's leadership was headquartered in Dakar and Paris. It remained committed to destroying the "Beidane System", accusing Mauritania's Moorish-dominated governments of instituting a form of "apartheid", and engaged in sporadic, small-scale guerrilla operations in the south of the country.
Tensions between the group and Heidalla's successor Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya increased to a peak in April 1989, when a border dispute with southern neighbor Senegal led to widespread ethnic violence in the racially mixed border areas, as well as a collapse in bilateral relations and intermittent military skirmishing between the two countries. In these so-called "1989 events", tens of thousands of Black Mauritanians (mostly of the halpulaar minority) were forced across the Senegal River; Moors in Senegal fled the opposite way. FLAM received and organized the Mauritanian refugees in Senegal, which bolstered the strength of the movement. With Senegalese backing, the movement intensified its armed struggle with continuous cross-border raids in the Senegal river valley. Violence would not dissipate until 1991-92. Most of the refugees subsequently returned, but over 25,000 Black Mauritanian refugees remained in Senegal, and the events made a lasting mark not only on Mauritanian-Senegalese relations, but also on race relations within Mauritania.
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Wikipedia