Bissau troops killed as Senegal rebel rivals clash
DAKAR, March 16 (Reuters) - Senegalese separatist rebels shelled a rival faction in a volatile border area and two government soldiers from Guinea Bissau who became involved in the fighting were killed, witnesses said on Thursday.
A low-level separatist rebellion in Senegal's southern Casamance region has splintered into rival factions in recent years, with hardline commander Salif Sadio rejecting moves by some comrades in the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) to negotiate with the central government.
Rival MFDC fighters attacked Sadio's positions near Kassorol on the porous border with Guinea Bissau on Tuesday night and Wednesday, security sources in Casamance said.
"People are fleeing the fighting," said a resident of Ziguinchor, around 50 km (30 miles) away.
A witness in Guinea Bissau told Reuters in the capital Bissau that a unit from the country's national army became involved in the fighting in support of the attackers and two soldiers were killed.
"I saw two bodies (of soldiers) being sent back to Bissau," the witness said.
It was not immediately clear how the Guinea Bissau army unit became involved in fighting.
Local tribal loyalties in the area are often more influential than modern national borders originally imposed by European colonists, and armed dissidents have frequently moved between the two countries.
Guinea Bissau's Prime Minister Aristides Gomes said this week that army units on the border were on a state of alert to prevent MFDC incursions over the frontier from Senegal.
Gomes said some people, whom he did not name, had accused his government of wanting to capture Sadio and hand him over to Senegalese authorities, but he said this was not true.
The MFDC took up arms against Senegal's central government in 1982, accusing it of neglecting Casamance, which is separated from the rest of the former French colony by tiny, wedge-shaped Gambia, previously a British colony.
The rebellion has simmered since, reaching its peak in the 1990s. Hundreds of people have been killed and scores maimed by landmines that litter the countryside. (Additional reporting by Alberto Dabo)
A low-level separatist rebellion in Senegal's southern Casamance region has splintered into rival factions in recent years, with hardline commander Salif Sadio rejecting moves by some comrades in the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) to negotiate with the central government.
Rival MFDC fighters attacked Sadio's positions near Kassorol on the porous border with Guinea Bissau on Tuesday night and Wednesday, security sources in Casamance said.
"People are fleeing the fighting," said a resident of Ziguinchor, around 50 km (30 miles) away.
A witness in Guinea Bissau told Reuters in the capital Bissau that a unit from the country's national army became involved in the fighting in support of the attackers and two soldiers were killed.
"I saw two bodies (of soldiers) being sent back to Bissau," the witness said.
It was not immediately clear how the Guinea Bissau army unit became involved in fighting.
Local tribal loyalties in the area are often more influential than modern national borders originally imposed by European colonists, and armed dissidents have frequently moved between the two countries.
Guinea Bissau's Prime Minister Aristides Gomes said this week that army units on the border were on a state of alert to prevent MFDC incursions over the frontier from Senegal.
Gomes said some people, whom he did not name, had accused his government of wanting to capture Sadio and hand him over to Senegalese authorities, but he said this was not true.
The MFDC took up arms against Senegal's central government in 1982, accusing it of neglecting Casamance, which is separated from the rest of the former French colony by tiny, wedge-shaped Gambia, previously a British colony.
The rebellion has simmered since, reaching its peak in the 1990s. Hundreds of people have been killed and scores maimed by landmines that litter the countryside. (Additional reporting by Alberto Dabo)
posted by Marko at 3/16/2006 10:28:00 AM
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