The Senegalese army announced on the night of Sunday March 13 to Monday March 14 that it had launched an operation against rebels in Casamance, the scene of an old conflict in the south of the country. This offensive comes less than two months after the death of four Senegalese soldiers and the capture of seven others by the rebels in the border area with Gambia.
The seven soldiers, members of the West African military mission in Gambia (Ecomig), have since been released by Salif Sadio, a military leader of the Casamance rebellion whose men had captured them.
“As part of their sovereign missions to secure people and property, the armies launched an operation on Sunday March 13, 2022, the main objective of which is to dismantle the bases of the MFDC faction. [Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance] of Salif Sadio located along the northern border » with Gambia, indicates the Senegalese staff in a press release.
“This operation also aims to destroy all armed gangs carrying out criminal activities in the area. The armies remain determined (…) to preserve at all costs the integrity of the national territory”he says.
In neighboring Gambia, populations “were affected by the detonations of heavy weapons and fallen shells” in villages on the border with Senegal, the Gambian government said in a statement released on Monday.
The oldest conflict on the continent
From Sunday night to Monday, “several displaced persons and refugees coming from the border [sénégalaise] began to arrive in the villages [gambiens proches du Sénégal] of Foni Bintang, Foni Kansala and Foni Bintang Karanai and have been recorded”the statement said.
Gambian President Adama Barrow “ensure” that his country “will not serve as a rear base for anyone and does not authorize anyone to enter there with their weapons and ammunition”. It calls for a solution “peaceful” of the conflict in Casamance.
Casamance, separated from northern Senegal by Gambia, is the scene of the oldest conflict on the continent since separatists took to the maquis with rudimentary armament after the repression of an MFDC march in December 1982. The rebellion flourished on the particularism of this fertile region but largely isolated from Senegal by Gambia and inclined to the feeling of abandonment.
After claiming thousands of victims and ravaging the economy, the conflict has persisted slowly, with hot snaps such as the massacre of fourteen men near Ziguinchor in 2018. The trial of these events is expected in a few days.
In recent years, the Senegalese authorities have undertaken to resettle the displaced. In January 2021, the army launched an operation against MFDC bases in order to allow these returns and put an end to the flourishing traffic in wood and cannabis, in which it accuses the rebels of taking part.
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