MDFC consultative meeting due end

Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) separatists agreed on Wednesday at the end of a two-day consultative meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, to hold peace talks with the Senegalese government on 26 December, news sources told IRIN. "On this historic date, the MFDC will propose to the government of Senegal (that it) express its determination to reach lasting peace and the cessation of the war in Casamance," Reuters reported citing a statement by the MFDC. The movement designated its 20-member National Bureau to begin the talks with the government on ending the war in Senegal's Casamance area. The 26 December meeting is to be held in Banjul. A radical member of the movement, one-time deputy secretary-general Nkrumah Sane was not present at the talks. Neither was the leader of the MFDC's military wing, Salif Sadio. However, in a handwritten message to the conference, Sadio said he would support any decision taken by the politicians. The MFDC, made up mostly of the Jola ethnic group that occupies southern Senegal, has been fighting a secessionist war against the government in Dakar for 17 years, complaining that the area has been neglected. Factions of the MDFC, divided between the north, south, the internal and external wings, met in The Gambia in June and July to prepare a united front for talks with the Senegalese government. MFDC Secretary-General Abbe Augustin Diamacoune Senghor and Senegalese President Abdou Diouf agreed in January that the conflict should be ended through talks. The Gambia set up a fund some three weeks ago to support a peace initiative it has been carrying out in the subregion, the most successful element of which was its mediation in Guinea-Bissau. Taiwan has been the first to contribute to the fund with US $30,000, an official of The Gambian Department of State for Foreign Affairs told IRIN. The official said Britain, the EU and US had made contributions and that the UN would eventually be approached.