Slaves, What Slaves?

This is a curious story from Niger (via Instapundit and Powerline):

The government of Niger has cancelled at the last minute a special ceremony during which at least 7,000 slaves were to be granted their freedom. A spokesman for the government's human rights commission, which had helped to organise the event, said this was because slavery did not exist.

It is not clear why the government, which was also a co-sponsor of the ceremony, changed its position.

At least 43,000 people across Niger are thought to be in slavery.

Sorta sounds like Dems canceling their support for private accounts in Social Security - which of course they liked a lot when Clinton proposed it in the 90's. Social Security problem? What Social Security problem?