Senegalese forces have launched a military offensive against fighters linked to Casamance Secessionists, a separatist group based in the country’s south.
According to a statement on Sunday evening by the military chief of staff, the offensive aims to “destroy all armed gangs conducting criminal activities in the area” and “preserve the integrity of the national territory at all costs”.
“As part of their regalian missions of securing people and property, the armies launched an operation on Sunday, March 13, 2022, whose main objective is to dismantle the bases of the MFDC faction of Salif Sadio”, the statement said.
The mission comes only weeks after the MFDC fighters killed four Senegalese troops and kidnapped seven others while fighting in the Gambia’s border territory.
The MFDC insurrection, which goes back to 1982 and has flourished on perceived marginalisation of the territory wedged between The Gambia to the north and Guinea-Bissau to the south