Government team meets Casamance rebels

Efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the Casamance conflict in Senegal moved a step forward on Wednesday when two government officials met officials of the armed Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC). Minister of the Interior, Maj-Gen Mamadou Niang, and president of Ziguinchor Regional Council, Abdoulaye Faye, met MFDC leaders Sidy Badi and Abbe Augustin Diamacoune in the main Casamance town of Ziguinchor. Niang and Faye belong to a negotiating team set up by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in August. Sources in Casamance told IRIN on Thursday that the meeting was an "ice-breaker" between the two parties, and could be followed by another in a few weeks' time. The MFDC's Secretary for Internal Affairs, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, told IRIN that the movement had hoped the officials would have set a date for negotiations, but that that did not happen. The MFDC hoped that negotiations could begin by mid-October, and had suggested Guinea-Bissau as the most suitable location, he added. Casamance, a region of southern Senegal separated from the bulk of the country by The Gambia, has witnessed a low-level conflict since 1982. Various accords in the past have failed to bring lasting peace.