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MFDC official released

    ABIDJAN

    A senior official of a group fighting for self-determination for the Casamance area in southern Senegal has been released from detention in Guinea-Bissau, various sources said.

    Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on 30 May that Alexandre Djiba, spokesman of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC), was handed over by the authorities in Bissau to Senegal's interior minister, who visited Guinea-Bissau this week. RFI said the minister returned to Dakar with Djiba and released him immediately.

    Djiba, who has been living in exile in Banjul, The Gambia, for many years, was arrested in Guinea-Bissau in March. The reason given for his arrest was that he was in the country illegally, RFI said.

    An analyst in Ziguinchor, the main town in Casamance, told IRIN: "Senegal's government has scored political points by bringing him back to Dakar and simply releasing him. Some members of the group in France and elsewhere refuse to come to Senegal, saying they wouldn't be safe here," the analyst said on Friday. "This, in a way, weakens their position."

    The MFDC began its armed struggle in Casamance about two decades ago. Thousands of people have been displaced by the insecurity, while many others have been killed or wounded, including hundreds maimed by landmines. The latest casualties include six people who died this week when government soldiers mistook members of a self-defence unit for MFDC insurgents, human rights sources said.

    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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