Fatal fighting reported in border region

Guinea Bissau said Thursday that at least two of its soldiers had been killed near the border with Senegal amid fierce factional fighting between Casamance separatists. Guinea Bissau Defence Minster Helder Proenca, told parliament that extra troops had been sent to the country’s northern border region, which abuts the troubled Casamance region of Senegal where a separatist rebellion by the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) has simmered for two decades. “Guinea Bissau forces were sent to the border three days ago to re-establish order. According to our information, there is a confrontation between two factions of the MFDC,” said Proenca. “During that confrontation, certain factions have entered into Guinea Bissau territory.” Proenca told parliament that national forces had engaged with MFDC combatants and had incurred fatalities with at least two dead. “Yes, there have been confrontations between our military and the rebels. Yes, there were fatalities and some injuries,” he said, adding a military vehicle had been attacked near Sao Domingos, eight kilometres from the border. In Casamance’s main city Ziguinchor residents reported the sound of heavy gunfire coming from the direction of the Guinea Bissau border 15 kilometres away since Tuesday night. “There are loads of Guinea-Bissau troops all along the border,” said a truck driver who asked not to be named and who had just returned to Ziguinchor after crossing the frontier near San Domingos, where he reported passing tanks and well armed military. The presence of the separatist fighters has troubled the forested border region for years. In the 1990s Senegalese forces made a number of aerial cross border attacks on Guinea Bissau and accused the government of supporting the MFDC. But the situation improved substantially in 2000 after Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade came into office and the Guinea Bissau government began to clamp down on separatist fighters arresting MFDC leaders in the capital Bissau. A 2004 report by London-based think tank, Chatham House said that the MFDC is estimated to have some 2,000 to 4,000 men though the exact number is difficult to determine. Tens of thousands have been displaced by the conflict and many civilians killed by landmines. In Ziguinchor, MFDC sources told IRIN that the gunfire was a result of fighting between two rival MFDC factions. Lang Digba, a close ally of MFDC political leader Diamacoune Senghor, told IRIN that fighting had erupted after forces from a faction following Cesar Badiate had invaded territory controlled by a rival faction headed by Salif Sadio. President Wade just over a year ago clinched a peace accord with Diamacoune who lives in Ziguinchor, hailed as a breakthrough for a lasting peace. But talks to implement the agreement have failed to follow through and many of the fighters on the ground have been reluctant to sign on. Digba claimed that Badiate’s forces were receiving help from the Guinea Bissau army. The Guinea Bissau government denies any involvement. “According to our information, Badiate’s forces are being supported by the army of Guinea Bissau,” said Digba. “Guinea Bissau is looking to finish off Salif Sadio for his part in [the rebellion in] Guinea Bissau in 1998/99.” In 1998, rebel troops in Guinea Bissau joined by some MFDC fighters seized control of the military barracks and other strategic locations in the capital and demanded the resignation of the president, Joao Bernardo Vieira. Following international mediation, a peace accord was signed and elections promised, but Vieira was ousted in a bloodless coup before they took place. But elections in 2005 - intended to end years of coups, instability and at times vicious fighting in Guinea Bissau – returned Vieira to the presidency.