![[Senegal] Casamance : Displaced children from southern Casamance play into the used waters in the poor district of Nema 2, outside the regional capital Ziguinchor. Some 23,000 people live in the overcrowded place, most of them have fled the rebels of the](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20068323.jpg.webp?itok=G-zmtexn "Sand filled with toxic lead is being removed from the neighbourhood of Ngane Diaw.")
A Swiss-American woman working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed when her vehicle struck a mine or unexploded ammunition in Senegal's southern Casamance region, ICRC has confirmed.
Jeanette Fournier, 50, died on Friday while travelling a frequently used route through Tandine, a village some 100 km north of the regional capital Zuiginchor. Three other staff, two Senegalese and one Ukrainian, were wounded, ICRC added.
“Everybody knows that we work in the area and was informed about our arrival,” Marco Rodriguez ICRC spokesman in Geneva told IRIN on Monday. “It’s the first time that this sort of incident has happened in Senegal.”
All ICRC fieldwork in this restive province has been suspended pending a thorough investigation, Rodriguez said.
Fournier and her colleagues had been conducting a survey of 3,000 civilians displaced by recent fighting between Senegalese troops and Casamance separatists, Rodriguez said.
Years of fighting between two rebel factions, and with the armies of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, have left the region littered with mines and unexploded munitions.
But United Nations staff said the area around Friday’s explosion was not previously known as being mined though seasonal heavy rains could have displaced old explosive devices.
“We have stopped all our movements in the field until we have a clearer idea of what happened,” Rodriguez said. “Now, we need to know where we can go and what kind of risks we are running before going back into the region.”
ICRC has worked in Senegal for 15 years providing medical kits and non-essential goods to remote health centres and villages, Roriguez explained. “Our commitment to help these people remains the same,” he said.
Rebels of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) first took up arms against the Senegalese government in 1982, accusing them of neglecting the region which is sandwiched between Gambia and Guinea Bissau.
Despite a peace accord, signed last year, a hard-line faction has continued to fight.
Aid workers said on Friday 3,740 people had last month crossed into the neighbouring Gambia to escape the most recent fighting in Casamance, a fertile region rich in cashew nuts, fisheries, rice and palm oil.
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Jeanette Fournier, 50, died on Friday while travelling a frequently used route through Tandine, a village some 100 km north of the regional capital Zuiginchor. Three other staff, two Senegalese and one Ukrainian, were wounded, ICRC added.
“Everybody knows that we work in the area and was informed about our arrival,” Marco Rodriguez ICRC spokesman in Geneva told IRIN on Monday. “It’s the first time that this sort of incident has happened in Senegal.”
All ICRC fieldwork in this restive province has been suspended pending a thorough investigation, Rodriguez said.
Fournier and her colleagues had been conducting a survey of 3,000 civilians displaced by recent fighting between Senegalese troops and Casamance separatists, Rodriguez said.
Years of fighting between two rebel factions, and with the armies of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, have left the region littered with mines and unexploded munitions.
But United Nations staff said the area around Friday’s explosion was not previously known as being mined though seasonal heavy rains could have displaced old explosive devices.
“We have stopped all our movements in the field until we have a clearer idea of what happened,” Rodriguez said. “Now, we need to know where we can go and what kind of risks we are running before going back into the region.”
ICRC has worked in Senegal for 15 years providing medical kits and non-essential goods to remote health centres and villages, Roriguez explained. “Our commitment to help these people remains the same,” he said.
Rebels of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) first took up arms against the Senegalese government in 1982, accusing them of neglecting the region which is sandwiched between Gambia and Guinea Bissau.
Despite a peace accord, signed last year, a hard-line faction has continued to fight.
Aid workers said on Friday 3,740 people had last month crossed into the neighbouring Gambia to escape the most recent fighting in Casamance, a fertile region rich in cashew nuts, fisheries, rice and palm oil.
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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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