Clashes leave villagers cut off as rebels lay fresh mines

Fighting in the forests of Guinea Bissau near the border with Senegal has left many civilians in distress, their villages wholly cut off, Guinea Bissau military sources say. And in a region where landmines from past conflicts have injured and killed hundreds in recent years, Senegalese separatists in the past several days have planted more mines, the sources say. “Many civilians are in difficulty in the region of Varela,” Colonel Antonio N’daye said, referring to an area about 45 kilometres west of Sao Domingos, the site of recent heavy clashes between the Guinea Bissau military and rebels of Senegal’s Movement for the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). The road between Sao Domingos and Varela is completely closed to vehicles and pedestrians in part because MFDC forces are laying landmines, N’daye said. Schools in Sao Domingos and area villages are closed. Only military remain in and around Sao Domingos, where Guinea Bissau troops at the weekend began bombarding a faction of the MFDC, which crossed over into the country after an attack by a rival rebel bloc last week in Senegal's southern Casamance region. One military official who declined to be named said MFDC rebels have stolen food, livestock and other belongings from civilians in the Varela area. Senegal’s southern Casamance region and Guinea Bissau are both reeling from years of unrest – sporadic fighting over secessionist maneuvers in Casamance and all-out civil war in Guinea Bissau. The latest clashes have driven at least 5,000 people from their homes -- thousands displaced within Guinea Bissau and thousands more having fled over the border into Senegal, according to humanitarian workers. While many arriving in the Casamance capital, Ziguinchor, have relatives there to turn to, many families do not have the means to take in the displaced. Amadou Sara Diallo, who along with his two wives and 15 children fled from a village near Sao Domingos to Ziguinchor, initially joined relatives but has had to seek help from aid groups in the area. “We spread out among different members of the family,” he said. “But after three days we realised that conditions were quite precarious. We had a tough time finding enough to eat and some of the children had to venture out into the city to look for food. Given this situation, I’m forced to seek help elsewhere.”