Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dakar (Agenzia Fides)- The death of Rev. Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, leader of the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces, and ensuing struggle for succession in leadership ushers in a ‘time of uncertainty’ according to Senegalese newspapers. The Catholic priest who started the MFDC died at the age of 78 in a Paris hospital where he had been admitted due to worsening conditions caused by malaria.
“Rev Diamacoune was a controversial figure” local Church sources told Fides. “On the one hand he championed human rights for the people of Casamance, especially land distribution and the demand for real development in the region, on the other he started a movement that opted for armed conflict which, although judged not intense by the United Nations, has caused about 50 deaths every year since 1982 and destroyed the sector of tourism vital for the region’s economy”.
Rev Diamacoune started the MFDC in 1982. Since then there have been many attempts involving also the local Catholic Church to restore peace in the mainly Christian region closed in between Gambia and Guinea Bissau. In 2003 the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Senegal issued a formal statement that Rev Diamacoune represented only himself, not the Church. The priest had been forbidden to preach.
Mediation efforts led to a general peace agreement signed on 30 December 2004 by Rev Augustin Diamacoune Senghor and the government of Dakar. Peace talks part of the agreement were twice postponed at the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.
“The movement has split into a political wing in favour of negotiations, with which Rev Diamacoune identified himself, ,and a military wing which continues to fight the regular army” the sources told Fides. The troops of the military wing suffered heavy defeat in recent months because of joint operations launched by the armies of Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Gambiato chase the militia from their bases on the border of the three nations. In the 2004 agreement the MFDC withdrew its request for independence for Casamance, in exchange the government promised to guarantee development for the region. “However so far, little has been done - the source told Fides - there is a lack of infrastructures necessary to re-launch agriculture and tourism. It is true mine clearing is still a problem (Fides 23 November 2006) and the active presence of militia prevents any extensive programmes”.
In December last year don Diamacoune encouraged the movement to “continue to work for a definitive peace in Casamance”. “I have always said that economic and social development for Casamance demands peace”, he told a reported of a private radio station who visited Diamacoune in hospital. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 15/1/2007 righe 40 parole 501)
