Ebou Colly said:

"Since Wadda kept Yaya away from the Casamance crisis the rebels' military
activities have been virtually contained."

I don't know whether the withdrawal of The Gambia from the Casamance peace
talks would herald any good tidings for the end of hostilities as Ebou Colly
tends to assume. The MFDC rebel movement seems to be very unpredictable in
their activities. Just last Sunday on September 24, a Senegalese military
convoy was reportedly ambushed in the district of Niassa by a group of
individuals armed with RPGs, which left 8 soldiers injured, some of them
seriously.

On September 12, the military post of Dialang was attacked and overrun by
MFDC rebels according to press reports in Senegal.

In August, armed elements of the MFDC struck a busy neighborhood of
Ziguinchor in broad daylight. A young teenage girl was left dead and many
others injured.

It seems the MFDC has the ability to strike at random, at any time of day to
the utter helplessness of the Senegalese army units in the area.

President Wade had promised during his electoral campaign to end the war
within 100 days after he assumes power. Landing Savané, the leader of the
opposition And Jëf/PADS, recently said during an interview with Sudonline
that he seriously doubted an immediate solution of the Casamance crisis,
which he described as "a complex problem with deep roots."  Apparently,
President Wade has undertaken to talk directly with the MFDC leadership
without the intervention of any third parties. He has even excluded most of
his cabinet officials from the negotiations.

While I would not doubt Ebou Colly's version of events surrounding President
Jammeh's involvement in this imbroglio, I wonder how Wade's government can
seriously cripple a rebel movement whose sources of finance and support are
provided by individuals and organizations based as far as France (Nkrumah
Sané). Even some Senegalese intellectuals from the South, particularly those
from the Jola ethnic group, have not escaped the suspicion of the Senegalese
authorities. In fact, the involvement of a leading Catholic priest, Father
Diamacoune Senghore, in the MFDC lends support to these suspicions.

Any serious talks regarding the issue would have to consider the
socio-cultural aspects of the Casamance region. Inhabitants of the area have
often argued that while the Casamance constitutes the bread-basket of
Senegal the region and its people have for a long time felt left out and
despised by successive Senegalese governments.

Whether Jammeh's government was booted out by Wade or not, The Gambia can
only afford to be a peace-broker at the invitation of the parties concerned.
Any other participation would be seen as meddling in the internal affairs of
a sovereign nation. For President Jammeh this could be translated as overt
support for a rebel movement most of whose fighters are from his ethnic
group. He is certainly aware that such a move would be a bitter pill for
Senegal to swallow.

Hamadi.




_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------