Senegalese Army Captures Rebel Bases In Fresh Offensive
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published June 15, 2021 | 12:01 AM
Senegal's army said Monday that it has captured several rebel bases in the West African state's southern Casamance region, as part of a fresh push against separatists launched last month
Ziguinchor, Senegal, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2021 ) :Senegal's army said Monday that it has captured several rebel bases in the West African state's southern Casamance region, as part of a fresh push against separatists launched last month.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mathieu Diogaye Sene, a commander in the region, said that two soldiers were wounded in the operations on the border with Guinea-Bissau which began on May 31.
Sene did not specify whether any separatists had been wounded or killed.
One of Africa's oldest ongoing conflicts, the fighting in Casamance has claimed thousands of lives since it first broke out in December 1982.
The region had returned to an uneasy calm in recent years until the army launched a major new offensive on January 26, capturing rebel bases in remote forests on the southern border.
Home to 1.9 million people, Casamance was once among Portugal's colonies in West Africa along with what is today Guinea-Bissau.
But the region is now located within the former French colony of Senegal -- although it is almost separated from the rest of the country by The Gambia river.
The remoteness of Casamance has fed into perceptions of discrimination by the government in the far-off capital Dakar and helped create an independence movement.
Colonel Souleymane Kande, a commander speaking in Casamance's capital Ziguinchor, told AFP that the army launched an operation to better control the border region on May 31.
He added that the military captured several bases from the separatist Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC).
The fresh push is intended to resettle people whom conflict drove from the region, according to the army, as well as to stop alleged rebel exactions on locals, and to clamp down on drug and timber trafficking.
Guinea-Bissau had long faced accusations of aiding Casamance separatists. But the country supports the latest Senegalese offensive, according to observers.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo, an ally of Senegalese President Macky Sall's, took office in Guinea-Bissau last year.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Mired in crisis, Boeing reports another loss
Session Awarding Ceremony 2024 held at Cadet College Muzaffarabad
Austrian ski great Hirscher to make comeback under Dutch flag
Pakistan, Japan agrees to convene 'Economic Policy Dialogue'
FM Dar conveys deepest sympathy on torrential rains devastation in UAE
Spain PM Sanchez says weighing resignation after wife's graft probe
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 1st update
Long-lost Klimt portrait auctioned off for 30 mn euros
Osaka seals first win on clay since 2022 in Madrid
Earthquake jolts Karachi
Sindh minister orders operation after attack on police in Ghotki
TikTok to fight US ban law in courts
More Stories From World
-
Football: English Championship table
5 hours ago -
Time for 'democratic transition' in Venezuela: opposition candidate to AFP
6 hours ago -
Spain's Pedro Sanchez : a risk-taker with a flair for survival
6 hours ago -
Football: French Ligue 1 table
6 hours ago -
Nadal will only play French Open if he can 'compete well'
6 hours ago -
Ukraine, Israel, TikTok: the massive aid package before US Congress
6 hours ago
-
TikTok to fight US ban law in courts
6 hours ago -
Football: French Ligue 1 results
7 hours ago -
Spain PM Sanchez says weighing resignation after wife's graft probe
8 hours ago -
Long-lost Klimt portrait auctioned off for 30 mn euros
8 hours ago -
TikTok to fight US ban law in courts
8 hours ago -
Anger among Ukrainians in Poland as Kyiv halts passport renewals
8 hours ago