Senegal destroys eight separatist rebel camps in Casamance

Dakar, 23 Mar The Senegalese armed forces destroyed eight bases of the separatist rebels of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) since last 13th, when they started a special operation against the armed group in the south of the country, the Army reported. In addition to recovering a large amount of weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other objects, several rebels died during this operation, “several rebels died,” the Senegalese Army said in a statement on Wednesday in local media. The armed forces also mourned the death of one Senegalese soldier and at least eight soldiers wounded. “These criminal gangs will be traced back to their last entrenchments, within the national territory and everywhere,” Colonel Alexis Grégoire Vasse, Director of Information and Public Relations of the Senegalese Army, said in that statement. “(The Army) will continue its security operations at all costs with the same determination and with the aim of preserving the integrity of the national territory,” he added. The Senegalese Army's operations against the rebels have forced more than 5,600 Gambians to leave their homes since the start of this operation, whose main objective is to dismantle the bases of Salif Sadio's MFDC faction located along the northern border. Likewise, “it aims to destroy all armed gangs that carry out criminal activities in the area and to neutralize any person or entity that collaborates directly or indirectly with them,” the Army declared when announcing the start of the operation. In addition, more than 700 Senegalese people crossed the border between the two countries as refugees, the Gambian authorities confirmed to Efe on Wednesday. Residents say that the shells of the Senegalese Armed Forces are falling into Gambian territory, reducing the orchards of many civilians to ashes. The operation takes place after on 24 January a patrol of Senegalese military forces deployed in the Gambia within the framework of the mission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in that country was attacked by rebels on board a truck carrying wood. The attack took place when the military was conducting a security operation south of the Gambian town of Bwiam related to the fight against illicit trafficking, “mainly against the criminal exploitation of timber on the border with the Gambia”, as the Senegalese Army said at the time. Seven Senegalese soldiers were also captured by the MFDC, who were released on 14 February. The Casamance region is the scene of an armed rebellion - considered a “low-intensity conflict” - that has been going on since 1982 between the Government and the MFDC rebels. This group claims the independence of that Senegalese region, separated from the rest of the country by neighboring Gambia and which has historically felt abandoned by the central executive. Unlike the more arid north of the country, southern Senegal has fertile land and is very rich in forest resources, with illegal timber trafficking in recent years being the main source of income for the MFDC, according to a report by the British NGO Environmental Research Agency (EIA). In the past, the Casamance crisis caused hundreds of deaths and forced tens of thousands of people to move or take refuge in Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia. In recent years, the Senegalese Army has carried out several military operations to neutralize rebels taking refuge in the area, to allow populations to return to their homes and to combat the illegal activities of armed gangs. CHIEF dk-pm/mrgz/pddp