Tough times for the MFDC?

Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces plan to flush out Senegalese insurgents from bases inside the country’s borders, AFP reported on Sunday, quoting a military source. “Guinea-Bissau is ready to launch a final assault against Salif Sadio,” head of one of two factions into which the Movement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) is reported to have split, AFP quoted Colonel Tag Na Wai, armed forces commander for Guinea-Bissau’s northern region, as saying. The MFDC wants independence for Casamance, an area in southern Senegal that borders on northern Guinea-Bissau. AFP had reported earlier this month that 24 MFDC fighters and six Guinea-Bissau soldiers were killed after Bissau sent troops to engage MFDC factions that had reportedly been involved in violent in-fighting in the north. Several insurgents were arrested, AFP said. However, MFDC spokesman Alexandre Djiba denied the reports. He said that, during the first week of January, there was a “brief clash” in which one Guinea-Bissau soldier died and an MFDC fighter lost a leg. Djiba told IRIN on Thursday that there was no split in the movement. “There has been no faction since 1999”, he said. “(Father Augustin) Diamacoune is the only leader.” He added that Diamacoune “has problems talking to Salif Sadio”, but that was on a personal level and had not split the MFDC. The MFDC spokesman also denied that Diamacoune had tried to prevent Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces from attacking the MFDC. ‘Le Soleil’, a Dakar newspaper had reported that Diamacoune sent two envoys on Wednesday last to persuade Guinea-Bissau’s authorities to call off a planned attack on the MFDC’s southern forces. Diamacoune said, however, that two MFDC representatives had been sent to Guinea-Bissau on 8 January to assess the situation on the border.