Meeting on tension along border with Senegal

Ranking civil and military officials in Guinea-Bissau met on Tuesday to discuss continued tension along the border with Senegal, LUSA reported, quoting a source in the president’s office. The agenda focused on the two-week closure of the northern border post linking the town of Bafata in Guinea-Bissau to Kolda in Senegal, LUSA said. It quoted Bafata Governor Antonio Roberto da Silva as saying that the border was “effectively closed” from the “other side”: Senegal. He is due to meet again with his counterpart from Kolda this week in the border town of Cuntima, 110 km northeast of Bissau. Discussions are to focus on 65 Guinea-Bissau nationals allegedly detained in Kolda under suspicion of being members of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance, which is fighting for independence from Senegal. Senegalese villagers along the border closed off the area, AFP reported, following attacks on them by armed bands from Guinea-Bissau. The closure has caused a shortage of food and petrol in Guinea-Bissau, the agency added.