Dakar – Separatist rebels in Casamance, a region of southern Senegal afflicted by a longstanding separatist conflict, are to free seven Senegalese soldiers taken prisoner in late January, a spokesman said on Saturday.
The seven soldiers are members of the West African mission in Gambia (Ecomig).
They will be handed over Monday in The Gambia to the representative of the Community of West African States (Ecowas), an official of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) said on condition of anonymity
The MDFC captured the seven soldiers during a January 24 clash in which four other soldiers were killed, the Senegalese army said.
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The army said the clash took place during an operation to combat illegal logging on the border with The Gambia.
The MFDC is behind a low-intensity breakaway conflict in Senegal’s southern region of Casamance that dates back to 1982 and has claimed several thousand lives.
Casamance was a Portuguese possession 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.
The region, which has a distinct culture and language, is separated geographically from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia River, around which lies the tiny state of The Gambia.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Unsplash
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