Senegalese refugees still flooding into Gambia: UNHCR
Copyright 2001 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) / Fri, 1 Jun 2001
10:10:17 PDT

GENEVA, June 1 (AFP) - Refugees from Senegal's troubled Casamance province are
still flooding into Gambian border villages, which are unable to shelter them,
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said here Friday.

The arrival of 200 new refugees this week brings to more than 2,500 the number
of people who have fled to Gambia to avoid fighting between Senegal government
forces and separatist rebels from the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces
(MFDC), UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.

Rebels have since 1982 been fighting for independence of the southern
Senegalese province of Casamance, which is cut off from the rest of Senegal by
the Gambia enclave, in what Redmond described as "one of Africa's forgotten
civil wars".

Refugees unable to find refuge in the villages live under trees, Redmond said.
But despite the lack of shelter, most refused to go the to UNHCR transit camp
in Kwinella, 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of the border.

Refugees arriving this week told UNHCR workers that they fled their villages
because of fears of renewed bombings by Senegalese army planes, as had occurred
a few days earlier.

A recent operation by the Senegalese army to protect civilians and flush out
diehard MFDC rebels sparked the exodus.

A woman from the village of Tanding said that her village had been destroyed by
government soldiers, who burned most of the homes looking for rebels.

Without counting the 2,500 recent arrivals, the UNHCR is responsible for 12,400
refugees in Gambia, 1,675 of whom are from Casamance. The rest are primarily
from Sierra Leone or Liberia.

The UNHCR is also trying to verify reports that Guinea-Bissau government troops
this week forced more than 1,000 refugees back to Senegal on May 18 after
razing their houses and slaughtering their livestock.

UN personnel in Ziguinchor in Casamance said 53 Senegalese returned to
Casamance from Guinea-Bissau, but could not confirm if their return was
voluntary.

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