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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------