Messaoud Ould Boulkheir

Messaoud Ould Boulkheir was born around 1943; the date is unclear because at that time the birth registration service was unknown. Messaoud’s parents were slaves, but were living independently because they were not directly dependent on their masters. Like most Haratine at that time, his family was subsisted on agriculture, cattle farm and picking fruits. His father also hunted.

Messaoud family was not as large as like other Haratine families. It was composed of his father, mother, elder sister and three brothers of whom Messaoud was the second. Messaoud also lived with his two grandmothers, one maternal uncle who was older than his mother and one paternal aunt who was younger than his father. The Messaoud Family lived under a black tent with some domestic animals (sheep and goats). The family of Messaoud ould Boulkheir could be considered rebellious, since they were not submissive as other Haratine were to their master. The masters of Messaoud’s family were called “Ahel Taleb Ethmane community”.

Messaoud’s mother had taken care of the family until the older sister of her master got married by the Chief of the Ahel Taleb Community. Messaoud’s mother thought that the queen of the community would help her. In contrast to what she thought, the queen of the community was jealous of her and was helping her cousins who ignored her when her family was in a difficult situation. One night, the queen of the community sent her cousin to the Messaoud ould Boulkheir family tent to destroy it and to beat her mother. The queen’s cousins had burned the Messaoud ould Boulkheir tent, destroying everything, took her jewelries and beat Messaoud’s mother until thinking that she was dead. They left the place with a lot of blood and fire. After surviving this event, Messaoud’s mother went directly with her dress covered with blood, to the French colonial administration in Nema to complain. Generally, the colonial administration does not take any part of the problems of the slaves with their masters. After the colonial administrator saw her covered with blood and harmed, they decided to help her. The colonial administration asked for the restitution and reimbursement of all of the things the masters had destroyed and taken and to freed Messaoud’s mother and her family. They suggested that Messaoud’s mother to stay in the city of Nema to avoid this kind of attack. But she refused because she wanted to live in her community and to be respected there. The Messaoud family became the first Haratine family in Mauritania to become free and to live equally in the same community as their ancient masters the Beydhan. Messaoud’s mother died in October 1953.[1]

Messaoud Ould Boulkheir started his primary school in 1950. At that time every family was obligated send one of their sons or daughters to school. Most of the Beydhan did not want to send their children to school because they thought that the French schools were giving their children a Catholic education. Messaoud was sent to a French school because the Ahel Taleb Ethmane family (the masters of the Messaoud family) did not want to send their children to school. It was an obligation to send at least one child in each family. The Ahel Taleb Ethmane family preferred to send one of their slave’s sons who were Messaoud ould Boulkheir. Messaoud’s mother complained and refused, but a woman of the city, who had been to French school, advised her that it was a good idea to send him to school. Messaoud became the first of the Ahel Taleb Ethmane family to go to school. Messaoud left the community to go to the city (Nema) to study; he was living with his community correspondent in Nema who was a woman from another community who was unkind to him. Messaoud missed a lot the love and the protection of his mother and family. Messaoud changed his correspondent to find love and protection from another correspondent. Messaoud was a good student in his primary school. However, the teachers of his school were beating the pupils dangerously. That motivated Messaoud to take his studies seriously. But the death of his parents affected him a lot during his primary studies because no one was there to support him. After these events, Messaoud abandoned his Muslim faith until 1967 when he was 24 years old and he resumed the practice of Islam. Messaoud ould Boulkheir obtained his primary studies certificate in 1956. He started his secondary studies in 1957 at the “College Xavier Coppolani” (Secondary school) in Rosso in the southwest of Mauritania. Messaoud did not study there for a long time because with the freedom of the secondary school, he was missing many classes to profit of what he did not get in his primary school. He failed his first secondary year and in 1960 he was dismissed from the school. Messaoud assumed his dismiss but he is sure that if he was a Beydhan, he would not have been dismissed. At the same time that he was dismissed Messaoud lost his only older sister who was struck under their tent. His older sister had been taking care of the family after the death of Messaoud’s parents. She left her two young daughters (three and one years old). With all these problems, shame, deception and humiliation, Messaoud was lost and he even thought about ending his life to run away from these difficult situations. Messaoud did not even know how he overcame this situation with his dismissal from school, which was a synonym to death for him. After these events, Messaoud was alone without anybody; he realized that his only solution was to fight for his right or to perish. Messaoud was too young at that time and he knew that the only way that he could achieve his goals was to have trust and to impose himself in the society. To achieve that Messaoud needed to be very serious, efficient, honest, and right and to overcome all the difficulties in his life. Messaoud is a former slave who wants to affront the Beydhan in the society; this was the most difficult thing for Messaoud. Messaoud’s favorite hobbies were to read and to listen to the radio. In 1958, he was a benevolent secretary of the “Cercle of Nema” (colonial administration). Messaoud was in charge of registering mailings, typing the non-confidential mails. In December 1959, there was a national competition to recruit secretaries of administration. However, the minimum age for the competition was eighteen years old. Messaoud participated with the help of the commandant of the colonial administration of Nema as he was not old enough.[1]

In 1960, Messaoud Ould Boulkheir was admitted and transferred to Atar the region the most dangerous city and populated by the Beydhan in majority who were exploiting, capturing and selling Haratines (slave). Messaoud was happy about his competition and scared to go to Atar. In July 1960, Messaoud arrived at Atar; he met the commandant of the colonial administrator who was at that time French. A few months later, Mauritania gained its independence from France in November 1960. The colonial administration became administrated by the Beydhan or the negro-Africans (Fulani, Soninke, and Wolof). Messaoud came under the direction of the Beydhan because they were directing the ancient colonial administration. In 1962 he was transferred to Boghe and Aleg in the south of the country until 1968. Then, Messaoud moved to Aioun el atrouss from 1968 to 1969. He also was transferred to Tichit in 1969 to 1970; Messaoud suffered many difficulties because he was Haratine who was working in the administrations run by the Beydhan who made things difficult for him because he was too young. From 1964 to 1965 he did an internship to promote his level to redactor of Administration, in which he was the major. Five years later he was transferred to Maghama and Gorgol in which he was under the direction of his internship classmate who was a Beydhan. After a long fight for the right to have a good position, the government sent him as a chief of district of Temessoumitt in the department of Moundjeria which was not populated and was without water. After being informed of the conflict between Messaoud and his boss, the government decided to transfer him to Ouadane in Adrar in the desert. Ouadane was better than Temessoumitt because the region was more populated. In April 1975, Messaoud was contacted by the Interior Minister, to come to Nouakchott (administrative capital of Mauritania) for a professional formation of cities administrator in which he would be promoted to City Administrator. In Nouakchott, Messaoud heard that there was another national competition for the Public Administration Certificate that was more efficient than City administrator. Messaoud decided to do the two competitions at the same time but he needed the permission of the interior minister. The interior minister contacted Messaoud and told him that he could not do the two competitions at the same time because he did think that Messaoud would not succeed due to the fact that Messaoud was a Haratine. Messaoud told the minister that he could do it and the minister decided that if Messaoud failed the public administration certificate he would no longer work in the government; the minister requested a signed letter from Messaoud. Messaoud agreed to the contract and knew that he was taking a huge risk. Four months later, Messaoud was the third of his promotion for the public administration certificate and the first of the professional formation for city administrator. After the results of the competition, Messaoud was promoted Assistant of the governor of Nouakchott in charge of administrative cases. Three months later, Messaoud was promoted Executive Administrator of Rosso (in the south of Mauritania). In 1981, Messaoud was nominated the governor of Gorgol and Guidimakha (regions) for four years. In 1984, Messaoud the first Haratine entered in the Mauritanian government as minister of rural development.[1] [2]