Army clash with unidentified group on Senegal border

The government of Guinea-Bissau has confirmed that its troops clashed with an unidentified armed group near the northern border with Senegal earlier this week. Colonel Domingos de Barros of the military high command told reporters that the incident took place on Tuesday near the village of Jumbembe in Oio province, about 100 km northeast of the capital Bissau. He said the armed group may have belonged to a faction of the separatist guerrilla movement in Casamance, the Senegalese province which borders Guinea-Bissau to the north. Barros said no casualties resulted from the exchange of fire and the armed group had now left the area. The faction-ridden Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) has waged a low-level guerrilla war against the authorities in Dakar since 1982. The movement's moderate wing has declared a ceasefire and is negotiating a deal to give Casamance greater investment and autonomy, but some hardline armed groups remain active in the region. MFDC fighters have often sought refuge in Guinea-Bissau. Several people were killed in disturbances near the border in 2001 as a result of the government's attempts to prevent such infiltration. Barros denied suggestions that Guinea-Bissau had sent military reinforcements to the Senegalese frontier following the latest incident.