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A military offensive in Senegal’s southern region of Casamance has thrown the separatist rebels on their backs, hinting at the possibility that one of Africa’s oldest conflicts may finally come to an end.
Thousands of people have died since the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) began its struggle for independence in 1982.
The poor region has returned to worrying calm in recent years.
But Senegal, backed by neighboring Guinea-Bissau, suddenly launched an offensive on January 26, claiming the capture of several bases and forcing the rebels to retreat.
Several local residents weary of the war told AFP they welcomed the development.
“We very much want the rebellion to end,” said Bailo Coly, who has been displaced by the conflict.
“It hurt us a lot, delaying the region for 50 years and creating social divisions.”
The conflict has roared at a low level for several years, with occasional outbreaks.
A map of Senegal locating the region of Casamance. By Tupac POINTU (AFP) In 2018, 14 young men were massacred in execution-type killings north of the regional capital Ziguinchor.
The Senegalese army said the latest operation was aimed at ending alleged rebel abuses against civilians and helping displaced people return to their homes.
Another goal is to curb the illegal trade in cannabis and timber, which the Casamance separatists would control.
The troops captured several simple tin and wooden shelters from the rebels under the huge trees in Blaze Forest, which they said served as bases.
Army officers led media, including AFP, on a tour of the captured bases and exposed the dilapidated items they had captured, including mortars, rusty guns and cooking utensils.
An expert on Casamance politics, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the separatists had been largely overwhelmed.
But he also added that the MFDC was also losing its emotional appeal among locals.
A Senegalese soldier emerges from a bunker in a rebel base captured in Blaze Forest in Casamance. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) “The Casamancais who believe in independence have come to realize, little by little, that it is not easier,” said the expert.
Casamance, with a population of 1.9 million, was once part of the Portuguese colonies in West Africa, along with what is today Guinea-Bissau.
The location of Casamance adds to this historic distinction.
It is almost separated from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia – a remoteness which fueled perceptions of discrimination by the government in distant Dakar and helped create an independence movement that erupted in violence in 1982.
Political firepower
An MFDC fighter who fled to Guinea-Bissau after the offensive, and who requested anonymity, told AFP the rebels were ill-equipped.
Senegalese troops showed weapons, ammunition and other items at a captured base. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) “We withdrew because we could not cope with the firepower of the Senegalese army,” he said.
The operation against the rebel forest bases began with artillery fire and ended with a ground offensive, which had air support, according to an army officer who requested anonymity.
In addition to improving military capabilities, a realignment of West African policy may have played into Senegal’s hands.
The Gambia has long been accused of aiding rebels, for example. But Gambian President Adama Barrow, who came to power in 2017, is considered close to Senegalese President Macky Sall.
Guinea-Bissau has faced similar accusations. But Umaro Sissoco Embalo, another of Sall’s ally, took office in the poor former Portuguese colony last year.
The political expert from Casamance said it was Embalo’s rise that proved “decisive”.
‘Ready to lay down your arms’
The rebels would still have bases in the Ziguinchor region and near the Gambian border.
Colonel Souleymane Kande, one of the Senegalese military commanders in Casamance, nevertheless declared that he believed that certain factions of the MFDC “are ready to lay down their arms”.
Victim of the conflict: Mamadou Lamine shares a makeshift house in Kaour with 11 other displaced people. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP) He added that the soldiers would remain on the captured bases and that any exaction of the rebels against civilians “will be regarded as a declaration of war”.
Solo Sima, a villager, told AFP he was “very happy” with the military operation.
“I find it hard to realize that the armed men are no longer there because we are so traumatized,” he said.
Edmond Bora, an 80-year-old former separatist leader, said he tried, at the behest of the villagers, to convince the rebels to negotiate when the army started its offensive.
“We cannot continue to shoot at each other (and continue) without negotiating for 40 years,” he said.
In Le Quotidien this week, Senegalese political analyst Yoro Dia warned that peace is not guaranteed despite military gains.
President Sall tried to revive peace talks with the rebels after coming to power in 2012, but the two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement.
“The army won the war,” Yoro Dia said. “It is the politicians who are incapable of winning the peace.”
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