Wade wants direct talks with MFDC commanders

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade says he wants to meet with “rebel generals” of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) that has been waging an 18-year war for independence of the south of the country. “I think I should first meet with the separatist warlords and hold discussions with them,” Wade said on Monday on Radio France Internationale (RFI). “It is only after that we can extend the talks to others.” The previous ruling Parti Socialiste had reached a ceasefire agreement, facilitated by Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, with the MFDC. Monthly meetings in Banjul, designed to usher in full peace talks between Dakar and the MFDC, came to a halt because of the Senegalese presidential elections in March. Wade told the RFI he had since “initiated talks” and that there had been “indirect contacts” with the MFDC military field commanders. “It is highly likely that folowing my contacts with the warlords, meetings will be held in Gambia to include others in the presence of President Yahya Jammeh and other dignitaries who are interested in restoring peace to Casamance,” he said. However, MFDC spokesman Alexandre Djiba told IRIN the MFDC’s political arm, which would have to sanction any contact between Wade and the MFDC commanders, had not received a request for a meeting from the Senegalese president. “How can Wade talk directly with Atika and not pass through our political leaders,” Djiba said. Atika is the military wing of the MFDC. Wade told RFI he would contact Ukraine, Russia, China and Libya and ask them “to halt arms supplies to the Casamance rebels”. Djiba described this statement as a serious indictment on these governments when, in fact, a flourishing international arms market existed. “I have never paid a centime to receive arms deliveries from the (governments of) Ukraine, Russia, China and Libya,” Djiba, also the financial controller of the movement, said.