Copyright 2002 British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Monitoring Africa - Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring July 13, 2002, Saturday LENGTH: 279 words HEADLINE: Senegal: Army "combing operations" in Casamance extends to Gambian border SOURCE: Radio France Internationale, Paris, in French 0730 gmt 12 Jul 02 BODY: Text of report by Radio France Internationale on 12 July The Senegalese army has carried its combing operations to the border with Gambia. These are operations launched against Casamance rebels and armed bandits, especially in the Bignona District. The Senegalese army soldiers are currently at Djibidione, at about 10 km from the Gambian border, and they hope to settle there for a long period. Olivier Roger reports. Roger Officially, combing operations in the Bignona district ended on 7 July, but army COS Babacar Gueye says his troops will remain on the ground for onward deployment along the Gambian border. He says, if they control the area they could prevent people from attacking through this area. In actual fact, the troublemakers - either armed bandits, or MFDC Movement of Casamance Democratic Forces rebels, or both - are in the habit of hiding out in Gambia. And the army is determined to prevent them from infiltrating the Bignona district. In view of these operations, the mounting anger of Senegalese authorities against Gambia is perceptible, as they claim that Gambian officials have been reportedly complacent towards Casamance rebels. Apparently, the army hopes to obtain the same results compared to what they had earlier obtained along the border with Guinea-Bissau, in southern Casamance, with the assistance of the Guinea-Bissau authorities. Meanwhile, the army COS has made an evaluation of operations in the northern area. His evaluation shows that seven Senegalese soldiers were injured and many casualties were reported on the enemy side. However, he denied newspaper reports that 500 MFDC rebels were captured. LOAD-DATE: July 13, 2002 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~