Fresh outbreak of fighting reported in Casamance

Senegalese soldiers and armed men reportedly belonging to the Mouvement des Forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) clashed on Wednesday evening in Casamance, southern Senegal, media organisations reported.

There were no reports of casualties but, according to the BBC, the Senegalese army in Ziguinchor, the main town in Casamance, reported on Thursday that four of their men were missing.

A humanitarian source based in Ziguinchor told IRIN he had not heard of the clash. What was certain, he said, was that at the beginning of this week, a group of armed men attacked minibuses travelling on the road between the capital and Ziguinchor, robbing passengers of money and other valuables.

The army blamed the attack on the MFDC, but the leader of the rebel movement, Abbe Diamacoune Senghor, denied this, charging that it was either the work of bandits or provocation by the government and the army, the humanitarian source said.