Insecurity in Senegal’s southern Casamance region in recent days has forced some 300 people from their homes into neighbouring villages and an undetermined number of others across the border into The Gambia, aid workers said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear whether the gunfire and explosions heard in the region stemmed from clashes between factions of the secessionist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), from efforts by the Senegalese military to flush out rebel forces, or from both.
“There are a few hundred people displaced on the western side of Casamance in the area of the village of Samboulandiang,” said Henry Fournier, regional delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Dakar.
Fournier said the health condition of the displaced was “not worrying for the instant”.
He said in eastern Casamance an undetermined number of people living north of the village of Sindian, 60 km north of Ziguinchor, have fled to The Gambia, 22 km away.
“I’m dispatching a rapid assessment team this afternoon” to the border region to investigate the reports, said Willy Jammeh, secretary general of the Gambia Red Cross Society, on Friday.
He said one or two casualties had been attended to in The Gambia. It was not immediately clear whether they were MFDC fighters, members of the Senegalese military or civilians. Military sources in Ziguinchor on Friday said two Senegalese soldiers were wounded and brought to the city. A military spokesman could not confirm the report.
Six weeks ago, the Gambia Red Cross and the ICRC assisted 264 displaced people in the towns of Kusamai and Gifanga and other villages along the border, Jammeh said.
The MFDC emerged as a separatist movement in Casamance in 1982. Casamance is separated from the rest of Senegal by the sliver of land that makes up The Gambia. Although a peace deal was signed between the Senegal government and MFDC leaders in December 2004, some hardliners have refused to give up the fight.
Residents on the Senegalese side of the border, in the area of Djibidione, told IRIN that the Senegalese army had launched an operation to flush out rebels in the region of northern Casamance.
“The Senegalese army is not carrying out a clean-up operation in the north of Casamance,” said Colonel Antoine Wardini, an army spokesman. “It concerns a simple operation of securing populations. Our mission is to protect the population and assure territorial integrity.”
He said the rebel threat had been at the Casamance border with Guinea-Bissau, but then moved to the Gambian border after the more militant faction of the MFDC, led by Salif Sadio, fled north.
“The army has descended into all of the north of Sindian. They have alerted me of clashes but I don’t know if it’s clashes between our soldiers with the rebels or if it is clashes between rebels because you know that the rebels have been fighting each other in the area for several days,” said Wardini.
Fournier of ICRC said gunfire as well as rumour had helped spark the recent population movement.
“The army’s there, everybody is there,” he said. “The people don’t have any point of reference. They don’t know what is going on so they are little bit afraid.”
Meanwhile, Roman Catholic Father Diamacoune Senghor, leader of the moderate MFDC faction, has written a letter to Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade asking for clarifications on the status of the peace process.
“I was shocked to see in the territory of Casamance a redeployment of your military forces on all fronts, the north as well as the south,” he said in the letter last week. “It is for this reason that I am obliged to write you this letter to receive from you clarification on the deployment of the army in Casamance.”
He said the MFDC as well as the general population were worried about the future of peace in the region.
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It was not immediately clear whether the gunfire and explosions heard in the region stemmed from clashes between factions of the secessionist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), from efforts by the Senegalese military to flush out rebel forces, or from both.
“There are a few hundred people displaced on the western side of Casamance in the area of the village of Samboulandiang,” said Henry Fournier, regional delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Dakar.
Fournier said the health condition of the displaced was “not worrying for the instant”.
He said in eastern Casamance an undetermined number of people living north of the village of Sindian, 60 km north of Ziguinchor, have fled to The Gambia, 22 km away.
“I’m dispatching a rapid assessment team this afternoon” to the border region to investigate the reports, said Willy Jammeh, secretary general of the Gambia Red Cross Society, on Friday.
He said one or two casualties had been attended to in The Gambia. It was not immediately clear whether they were MFDC fighters, members of the Senegalese military or civilians. Military sources in Ziguinchor on Friday said two Senegalese soldiers were wounded and brought to the city. A military spokesman could not confirm the report.
Six weeks ago, the Gambia Red Cross and the ICRC assisted 264 displaced people in the towns of Kusamai and Gifanga and other villages along the border, Jammeh said.
The MFDC emerged as a separatist movement in Casamance in 1982. Casamance is separated from the rest of Senegal by the sliver of land that makes up The Gambia. Although a peace deal was signed between the Senegal government and MFDC leaders in December 2004, some hardliners have refused to give up the fight.
Residents on the Senegalese side of the border, in the area of Djibidione, told IRIN that the Senegalese army had launched an operation to flush out rebels in the region of northern Casamance.
“The Senegalese army is not carrying out a clean-up operation in the north of Casamance,” said Colonel Antoine Wardini, an army spokesman. “It concerns a simple operation of securing populations. Our mission is to protect the population and assure territorial integrity.”
He said the rebel threat had been at the Casamance border with Guinea-Bissau, but then moved to the Gambian border after the more militant faction of the MFDC, led by Salif Sadio, fled north.
“The army has descended into all of the north of Sindian. They have alerted me of clashes but I don’t know if it’s clashes between our soldiers with the rebels or if it is clashes between rebels because you know that the rebels have been fighting each other in the area for several days,” said Wardini.
Fournier of ICRC said gunfire as well as rumour had helped spark the recent population movement.
“The army’s there, everybody is there,” he said. “The people don’t have any point of reference. They don’t know what is going on so they are little bit afraid.”
Meanwhile, Roman Catholic Father Diamacoune Senghor, leader of the moderate MFDC faction, has written a letter to Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade asking for clarifications on the status of the peace process.
“I was shocked to see in the territory of Casamance a redeployment of your military forces on all fronts, the north as well as the south,” he said in the letter last week. “It is for this reason that I am obliged to write you this letter to receive from you clarification on the deployment of the army in Casamance.”
He said the MFDC as well as the general population were worried about the future of peace in the region.
md/cs/ccr
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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