Senegal announced it would complete its troop withdrawal from Guinea Bissau today in line with the Abuja peace accord that ended an eight-month military rebellion against President Joao Bernardo Vieira, news reports said.
The Senegalese army yesterday started loading equipment aboard three boats, according to AFP. Reuters quoted the Senegalese military as saying in a communique that “as from March 16, 1999, the last units of the Senegalese contingent in Guinea Bissau will have returned home.”
Senegal deployed between 2,500 and 3,000 troops in Guinea Bissau after a section of the army revolted in June 1998. Guinea also sent troops. Under an agreement reached among the belligerents, all foreign troops must leave Guinea Bissau by today, except ECOMOG, the West Africa peacekeeping force that is replacing the Guineans and Senegalese.
So far, 600 ECOMOG troops from Benin, The Gambia, Niger and Togo have been deployed in Guinea Bissau. Mali has announced that it will contribute 125 troops to ECOMOG, RTM radio in Bamako reported last week.
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