Peace effort in stand-by mode, MFDC says

Efforts to solve a 20-year conflict in Casamance, southern Senegal, have been on hold in recent weeks, an official of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC - Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance) said. "The situation remains on stand-by," MFDC's secretary for internal affairs, Abdoulaye Diedhiou, told IRIN on Tuesday from Casamance. He said he hoped a recent visit to Casamance by a governmental delegation would restart discussions on the modalities of talks on Casamance. Though the delegation had gone mainly to present its condolences to families affected by a boat accident in which about 1,000 people died last month, the MFDC seized the opportunity to inform the team that it remained committed to peace talks, Diedhiou said. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has proposed that the negotiations take place in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau. Through the delegation, the MFDC asked the Senegalese authorities for an official document attesting that the Bissau government would be "totally" responsible for the security of the MFDC's delegates. Another demand was that the Dakar government facilitate the participation of MFDC members abroad, Diedhiou said. The delegation included Interior Minister Mamadou Niang and the mayor of Ziguinchor, Oumar Lamine Badji. During its one-day visit on Sunday, it also met with the MFDC's interim leader, Sidy Badji, and its honorary president Abbe Augustin Diamacoune. Diedhiou said no date or venue had been set for the beginning of negotiations between the two sides. The MFDC launched an armed struggle in 1982 for independence for Casamance, charging that successive governments had ignored the development and population needs of the area's people. The MFDC also contends that during French colonial rule, Casamance was not administered as part of Senegal.