This is an interesting development.  Hopefully, it will last.


BANJUL, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Senegal's government and
separatist rebels from the southern tourist region of Casamance
wrapped up two days of talks in Gambia on Monday with an
agreement to cease hostilities and meet regularly, officials
said.

"I am optimistic that the peace process will finally pay
dividends as both parties have shown commitment to peace after
17 years," Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Lamin Sedat Jobe
told reporters after talks ended.


Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, itself emerging from a transition
that followed an army revolt and a coup, acted as mediators.
Senegalese government representatives and leaders of the
Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance (MFDC) agreed to
meet on a monthly basis to review a ceasefire agreement signed
during the two-day meeting.

Senegal also agreed to release all prisoners detained
because of MFDC activities.
Hundreds of people have been killed since the MFDC launched
armed rebellion on December 26, 1982

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