The President of Senegal benefits from favorable foreign climate, MFDC rebels’ poor equipment and their loss of emotional appeal among locals to sweep away in Casamance province.
The Senegal army has started a military operation against rebels in the southern Casamance region (1.9 million people), the Chief of Staff Cheikh Wade said in the statement. March 13, 2022, the army launched an operation with the key target to dismantle bases of Salif Sadio’s MFDC faction. In addition, this operation aims at destroying all armed bands involved in criminal activities in the region. The region, which has a distinct culture and language, is separated geographically from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia River. Being accused of trafficking timber and cannabis, Casamance rebels have traditionally sought refuge in Gambia or Guinea-Bissau, which also borders with Senegal.
The rebels are still believed to have bases in the Ziguinchor region and near the Gambian border.
Senegal, supported by neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, suddenly launched an offensive on January 26, claiming the seize of several bases and forcing the rebels to fall back.
The Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) – though split into several factions with one headed by Salif Sadio – has led a low-intensity separatist conflict in southern Senegal since 1982. The MFDC is divided into two blocs, the Southern Front and the Northern Front. These differences within a once-united rebellion began to emerge following the Cacheu and Banjil Agreements in 1992, which sought to consolidate the first cease-fire signed by Sidy Badji and the Senegalese government. In southern Casamance, Abbé Diamacoune, Salif Sadio and Léopold Sagna set up their own unit and adopted a defensive strategy, maintaining their guerilla fighters. Abbé Diamacoune retained his links to the church, creating tensions within the southern front because of the impression he was more inclined to negotiations than the military option. It led to him gradually losing his prestige in the Maquis.
This division benefited from the Senegalese government. Regardless of the government in power Senegal has never considered the option of granting independence to Casamance. As soon as former President Abdou Diouf took office, he conduct a number of military campaigns that resulted in few agreements, notably those of Cacheu and Banjul. Those agreements have been criticized by some as ineffective. Senegalese President Macky Sall has made “definitive peace” achievement in Casamance as a priority of his second term. Under his administration, the Senegalese army has been conducting raids against the MFDC since January 26,2021.
Iraqi and Libyan supported rebels in the 2000s. Iranian arms shipments via the Gambia in 2010 allowed the MFDC gaining the upper hand against the Senegalese army for a short period of time, but it also revealed the rebels’ dependence on outside actors.
The Gambians have been accused of aiding the rebels for a long time. But Gambian President Adama Barrow, who came to power in 2017, is considered to be close to Senegalese President Macky Sall. Guinea-Bissau has faced similar accusations. However, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, another ally of Sall’s, took office in the poor former Portuguese colony last year. Thus, rebels’ cut from foreign support gave the government possible a new chance to solve a separatist issue.
Casamance was under Portuguese rule for several hundred years until it was ceded to colonial France in 1888. It became part of Senegal after the country gained independence in 1960.
Senegal is dominated by Wolof: its people, language and customs are synonymous with Senegalese life. Casamance, however, is Diola (or Jola) country, whose languages, culture and history stray far from the Wolof path. Unlike the hierarchical caste system of the Wolof, the Diola are an egalitarian society. They have no history of nobility or slavery, with every village member undertaking employment they want or need. It is village socialism where power and riches are not king. In the country with dominance of Muslims (95%), Basse Casamance (Lower Casamance) is the only region of Senegal where Catholics prevail.
This crisis originates from the French colonial classifications that pit the Diolas, who were discriminated for their non-Abrahamic belief system and rural lifestyle, against the Wolof, who were stereotyped as “evolved,” because of Islam and urban culture.
The recent woes of Casamance have emerged since Senegalese independence in 1960, with locals feeling exploited by successive Wolof-dominated governments in Dakar. Simmering resentment towards Dakar’s influence boiled into an armed conflict in 1982, with separatists seeking independence for Casamance.
Since the conflict began, the MFDC has never succeeded in expanding its audience to the whole of Casamance, and have only really found favor in the Diola areas.
The conflict had been mostly dormant until Senegal’s army launched a major new offensive in 2021, designed to drive out the rebels.
