APA-Dakar (Senegal) Hounded since March 2022 by the Senegalese army, rebel leader Salif
Sadio is reportedly dead, according to local media reports which are yet to be verified.
If the news is confirmed, it would be a major step towards destabilising the armed wing of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC).
According to the private television station Walf, Salif Sadio, one of the leaders of the military wing of the MFDC which has been fighting for the independence of the southern province of Senegal since 1982, died late Monday afternoon, May 22.
The private media, which quoted the head of the village of Dialankine, located in the rural commune of Oulampane, in the Ziguinchor region (south), did not specify the circumstances of Sadio’s death.
Dakaractu journalist and specialist in the Casamance rebellion, Chamsedine Sane, told APA that for the moment he had no “details to confirm the death of Salif Sadio,” adding that the announcement was actually made by the
son of the village chief of Dialankine who saw the information in a WhatsApp chat group.
Without confirming the announcement of his death, corroborating sources indicate that the rebel leader was seriously ill.
A commander of the northern wing of the armed wing of the MFDC, Salif Sadio, who joined the rebellion in the early years of the rebellion, has been hunted down since March 2022 by the Senegalese army in the south of the country, not far from the border with The Gambia.
Fiercely opposed to the negotiations initiated by a faction of the separatist movement with the government of Senegal, he had underlined his belligerence in January last year when his men captured seven Senegalese soldiers
of the Economic Community of West African States Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG).
In a meticulously chereographed move, the rebel leader displayed his captives in conditions bordering on humiliation.
Since then, Senegalese authorities apparently put a price tag on his head.
They have not yet reacted to news of his reported death.
Last week, talks led to an agreement to lay down arms by the MFDC wing led by Fatoma Coly, who heads 250 fighters.
The ceremony, held in Mongone, in the rural commune of Djinaky in Lower Casamance region was attended by state officials and facilitators.
AC/odl/fss/as/APA