Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Hunters - hidalgos of other kind

[Svend Buhl]

David and list,   I remember the picture you are refering to, here is the link. http://www.agadez.de/Reisebericht.html   Concerning the people on the trucks they are in no way meteorite hunters. I have seen this kind of transport myself few times in the Agadez area / Republic of Niger and further east in Bilma. I had the opportunity to talk with the middlesmen who are organizing this modern slave trade - mostly Touareg or Haussa tribesmen.   The transports with vintage Magirus or Mercedes trucks start in the South of the Republic of Niger or in the Burkina Faso- Ghana border area and end in Libya. The human truckload usually consists of poor people from Mali, Tschad, Sudan and sometimes Nigeria heading for a better future in the "rich" northafrican countries, esspecially Libya. They had to work hard, sometimes for years to pay for the passage. Their far goal is to reach Europe via Italy or Spain but only a handful make it every year. Some of these refugees run out of money on their way and end up in Agadez or Arlit in prostitution or the conterbande business. Those who reach Libya are stacked into huge Ghettos and kept as cheep labourers in the south with no chance to continue to Tripolis.   The 1500 mile trip through the fearsome T�n�re up to Sebha in Libya costs an enormous number of victims every year. Water is only carried along a few gallons per person and from time to time a breakdown causes the worn out trucks to fall out of the collumn or stop in the desert. If the problem cant be fixed and no other vehicle passes by within days the partys of up to 300 people (on one truck!) are doomed. Cases of cannibalism are reported from such incidents in 1998 and 2001 with details beyond imagination. Because the trips are illegal the Niger-Libya or Niger-Algeria borders are crossed in the desert far off the beaten tracks. Reconaissance patrols of the Algerian and Niger-Army sometimes bury mumified corpses - passengers who lost grip and fell off the trucks during night.   The main route of the conterbande is running through the wadi of Taffassasset, east of the Tassili Ahoggar (the strewfield of the Tafassasset CR-chondrite) but believe me, these people do have other things in mind than collect meteorites.   To sum it up: not every group of nomads in the desert is a funny bunch of meteorite hunters chasing their piece of the meteorite cake.   regards   Svend   http://www.niger.meteorite.recon.de/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]   "David Gregory" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb am 24.09.03 04:20:43: Dear List        Can anyone help me find the picture of the greatly overloaded truck with the Moroccan meteorite hunters covering every square foot of it. Im giving a talk on meteorites and it represents the enthusiasm and desire of the locals to get on board and look for those black rocks that us westerner want. Many thanks for your consideration. Best regards David Gregory ______________________________________________________________________________ Die Besten ihrer Klasse! WEB.DE FreeMail (1,7) und WEB.DE Club (1,9) - bei der Stiftung Warentest - ein Doppelsieg! http://f.web.de/?mc=021184 ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list