Internally Displaced Persons from southern Senegal have been finding their way into neighbouring Gambia following skirmishes between Senegalese forces and Casamance rebels on Sunday.
Witnesses speak of a steady stream of people fleeing to the Gambian villages of Foni Bintang, Foni Kansala and Foni Bintang Karanai where they are being registered as IDPs.
Sources say there were overnight clashes as Senegalese forces opened fire on rebels who responded with heavy artillery, forcing people in the troubled area to flee across the border into The Gambia which borders southern Senegal.
According to a statement by government spokesman Ebrima Sankareh, Gambia’s vice-president Isatou Touray is leading the government’s emergency response to address the plight of the IDPs.
To assuage public security concerns in the wake of the recent skirmishes between Senegal’s regular soldiers and rebels of the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), President Adama Barrow has ordered regular patrols along the border for the safety of Gambian citizens and safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity of the country.
President Barrow sought to allay Gambian fears over his country being used as a launching pad for attacks by both sides to the 40-year long separatist conflict in Senegal’s southern region.
“The Gambia continues its peaceful advocacy for a resolution of the Casamance conflict and envisages lasting peace, security and stability in our region” a government statement said.
In February, MFDC leader Salif Sadio freed some nine Senegalese soldiers his fighters had captured during a similar skirmish near the Gambian border.
WN/as/APA