aof document

Office du Niger - Main d'oeuvre - Conditions - Notes
in AOF K 313 (26)

© 1999 by Jim Jones, Ph.D.
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Commisariat du Gouvernement auprès de l'Office du Niger, "État des éffectifs de la 2ième portion mis a la disposition de l'Office du Niger au 31 Decembre 1942"

This chart shows the origins of forced laborers at the Office du Niger from 1940-1942. For the years 1941 and 1942, this report shows how many laborers were called, who many were en route, and how many were at work.

Cercle 1940 1940-1941 1941-1942
- - Workers called En route At work Workers called En route At work
Bamako 566 1,350 1,084 939 350 467 414
Bougouni 217 364 269 251 300 60 60
Sikasso 287 300 242 213 320 320 299
Koutiala 240 118 84 81 290 198 180
Tougan 381 604 247 240 430 432 -
Ouahigouya 641 811 466 327 160 - -
San 215 162 100 96 350 350 331
Gao 26 279 187 158 140 140 104
Tombouctou 48 32 32 21 60 60 52
Goundam 59 71 46 46 100 100 100
Niafunké 58 450 209 190 110 110 110
Mopti 535 2454 1,029 284 850 846 846
Ségou 391 507 437 425 510 505 488
Kita 91 460 280 220 110 109 103
Kayes & Bafoulabé 329 986 308 175 (Baf.)
78 (Kay.) 		440 326 273
Nioro 132 249 163 - 190 190 170
Nema 76 244 182 161 80 - -
Total 4,292 9,441 5,365 3,985 5,000 4,214 3,530

L'Inspecteur Général des Colonies Georges Gayet de la Commisariat du Gouvernement auprès de l'Office du Niger, Rapport Mensuel de Decembre 1942 (Ségou, January 5, 1943)

This three-page report reaffirms the problems caused by the war-time transportaiton shortage. On page two of the report, Gayet wrote that the government was able to use forced laborers to replace voluntary workers on the Office du Niger in 1942, but the transportation problems remained great. The biggest difficulty was with the shortage of automobile transport and delays on the ships operated by the Messagèries Africaines. (NOTE: The report does not attribute any of the transportation problems to the railroad.)

Commissariat du Gouvernement auprès de l'Office du Niger, "Note sur la colonisation et la main d'oeuvre au 30 Avril 1943," n°107/CN (Ségou, [May 1943])

This is a six-page document on the efforts to get Africans to settle on the irrgated land created by the Office du Niger project.

(p5) The transportation shortage during the war made it difficult to supply the more than 13,000 people who depended on the Office du Niger. There were shortages of meat and salt, and almost no fat. Karité butter was only available for purchase in distant cercles (doesn't say which ones).

In April the number of deaths rose due to dry season intestinal infections. There were 49 deaths as of this report, 33 of which were due to intestinal infections.

NOTE

There is another folder in this file containing reports from 1942-1943 on manual laborers at the Office du Niger.