More than 2,000 flee to The Gambia

More than 2,000 people from Casamance, southern Senegal, have fled to The Gambia following heavy fighting between the Senegalese army and fighters of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC). Makallay Camara, protection officer at UNHCR in Banjul, told IRIN on Wednesday that as at 21 May, 2,196 people had crossed the border at Kusamai, some 154 km east of Banjul, and seven other locations. A UNHCR-WFP team travelled on Tuesday to the area to assess the situation and the needs of the newcomers. “At the moment we are constrained for food,” Camara said, explaining that a local chief had started borrowing food from the community to feed the refugees, some of whom are living in the eight border villages while others are at the nearby Kanilai transit camp. WFP has promised to provide food while the Gambian Red Cross has donated blankets and other non-food items to the refugees, who started entering the country on Thursday (17 May), Camara said. A humanitarian source in Casamance told IRIN on Wednesday that the refugees fled their villages after the army started shelling the area on the night of 16-17 May. Casualty figures have not been announced, but many people are known to have died in the fighting, including at least two army officers, said the source, who added that a number of wounded soldiers were taken to hospital in Dakar. The source said commandos from the town of Thies, in northern Senegal, were despatched to the area, Sindian District in the Department of Bignona, after attacks by armed men against travellers along the road between Ziguinchor, the main city in Casamance, and the Gambian border. [The Gambia separates northern and southern Senegal.] The attacks, in which many people died, were blamed on the MFDC, which has been fighting for independence for Casamance since 1982. MFDC Secretary-General Diamacoune Senghor concluded a peace deal with the Senegalese government in March but not all the group’s commanders were party to the agreement. The fighting in Bignona has died down since Monday, when the commandos were reportedly withdrawn from the area, the source said.