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RACE, STEREOTYPES AND POLITICS 101by the White Fathers from Dakar, was the first to track down Awad el Djouh inhis lodgings in Bamako’s Bagadadji neighbourhood to interview him. Theinterview is presented with a seldom given insight in the setting of the conversationand its pursuit, which leads to believe that the quotes are verbatimwithin the limits of translation as Awad’s French was not very good.“Awad el Djoud?- Yes” (…)- I have heard saying that you filed a complaint with the authorities against acertain Mohamed Ali who has sold you as a slave. Is this true?- Yes, that is true (…)- Would you like to tell me your story yourself?- Oh, yes! You know, I am …- Sorry. Do you allow me to write this down?- Oh, yes! (…)“You know, I was born in Gourma Rharous around 1933. At the age of 9,Mohamed Ali ag Attakher took me in his service. I was not paid, but onlyprovided for. In 1949 my boss decided to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. I was toaccompany him with four other servants. (…) After our arrival in Mecca, westayed there for a year. After a journey to Medina, we returned to Mecca for the1950 pilgrimage.- Were you well treated?- Yes, we ate with Mohamed Ali from the same dish. (…) After the pilgrimageMohamed Ali has send me to work for prince Abdallah Faysal, telling me thatthe money I would earn would serve to pay my return journey to Soudan.- Did the prince pay you well?- I have never received any pay.- Where was your master at that moment?- I understood that he had left Saudi Arabia. Only then did I understand that I hadbeen sold to Abdallah Faysal as a slave. As a matter of fact, the prince himselftold me so. 76In the meantime, Mohamed Ali had returned from Soudan Français toMecca. Many suspected he had fled there, which seems not unlikely. However,no French politician or administrator wanted such an embarrassing case to goout of hand. It was reasoned that as slavery formally did no longer exist, thecase could not be sustained. In the end the case was judged at the BamakoTribunal de Travail as a work dispute, in which Awad el Djouh claimed 13years of back pay between 1939 and 1952 from Mohamed Ali, to the sum of76D. Traoré, “La route des esclaves noirs commence à Villa Cisneros et aboutit à laMecque”, Afrique nouvelle 04/09/1954.