In Niger, ethnic jokes keep ethnic tensions down

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

NIAMEY (AFP) — In Niger, a centuries-old custom that allows people to make jokes at the expense of their "cousins" from other tribes, far from exacerbating ethnic tensions, actually has a calming effect on them.

Abarchi is a taxi driver in the capital Niamey. A row suddenly breaks out with a customer who is refusing to pay for the ride, but a short time later the two men seem to be the best of friends and are sharing a kola nut.

Only moments earlier the passenger had been screaming: "I am not paying for that ride. You're a Mauri, I'm a Peul and I can do what I like". The scene transpired to the amused gaze of passers-by.

All people in this western African country participate in such verbal games and everyone prefers the role of master to that of slave, but...