Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dakar (Agenzia Fides) – Three people have been killed in recent days in three different street muggings, a woman has lost a leg as the result of a mine explosion. These recent events show two plagues afflicting Casamance: banditry and the presence of mines or other explosive devices left undetonated, left overs from the civil war that officially ended in 2004.
Casamance is a region of Senegal, located between Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea Conakry, where in 1982, the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) has carried out an armed fight for the secession of the area from the rest of the country. After years of civil war, which caused the death of 3,000-6,000 civilians and 60,000 internal refugees, a peace accord was finally signed in 2004, however Casamance never returned to state of security. The conflict has left behind a soil filled with thousands of mines and other explosive devices still undetonated, as well as a portion of the guerrillas who have not only put down their arms but have decided to dedicate their time to banditry. As to the former issue, a study from the UN Development Program done in 2006 affirms that there are 93 towns in Casamance with mines or other explosive devices still undetonated, for a total of 90,000 people who are directly threatened by the presence of these instruments of death that can remain active in the soil for several years.
The outbreak of banditry is linked to the lack of disarmament of the people, the heavy unemployment, and the outbreak of internal conflict in the MFDC, which has divided into at least 3 groups that are fighting among themselves. These groups seem to have progressively abandoned the political claims to dedicate their time to increased street muggings. The grave status of insecurity being caused by the banditry is threatening the distribution of food and the continuation of health and education programs run by various humanitarian aid organizations in the area. Since May 1 of this year, at least 20 street attacks have been recorded in the Department of Bignona alone. The new wave of violence also coincides with the planting season. If the attacks on rural citizens continues, there is a risk for a sharp decline in agriculture production. Before the civil war, Casamance was one of the most prosperous regions, thanks to agriculture and tourism. However, now a large part of its inhabitants are dependent on humanitarian aid. The region is separated from the rest by the country of Gambia and at the moment there are no airways or waterways connecting Casamance to the Senegalese capital of Dakar, and both the trans-Gambia highway and the Bignona-Diouloulou are threatened by bandits.
The region's proximity to Guinea Bissau, one of the most important hubs for cocaine trafficking in Western Africa, makes Casamance an appealing site to drug traffickers, as they are always in search of a territory where the law is practically non-existent. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 16/06/2009)
