Senegal seeks Gambia help to end Casamance crisis

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade (R) and his Gambian counterpart Yahya Jammeh in 2005. By Seyllou Diallo (AFP/File)

BANJUL (AFP) - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade called on his Gambian counterpart Yahya Jammeh Tuesday to help solve his government's decades-old conflict with separatists in Casamance.

Gambia is a narrow strip of land wedged inside Senegal, almost dividing it in two, with a large northern half including the capital Dakar and the smaller region of Casamance to the south.

"I have done my part to end the crisis in Casamance but no avail," said Wade, during a visit to the Gambian capital Banjul, where he held talks with Jammeh.

"Senegal and Gambia are one people and that is why I want my brother President Jammeh to intervene so that there will be peace in Casamance," Wade said.

The Senegalese president said that demobilised former separatist fighters from the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC) were being prevented from returning to civilian life by holdout rebels.

Wade also urged Jammed to hand over any Senegalese dissident in Gambia, which is home to thousands of refugees from Casamance and is believed to harbour members of the MDFC.

Jammeh assured Wade of his readiness to cooperate as soon as the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan ends.

"Solving the crisis in Casamance is in the best interest of the two countries. Gambia will never be a safe haven for Senegalese dissidents," Jammeh assured Wade.

Negotiations are deadlocked between the Senegalese government and the MFDC, which was founded in 1982 and comprises a variety of political and military factions.

The signature in December 2004 of a peace deal failed to end the violence.

At least 19 Senegalese troops and an unknown number of rebels have died in a fresh surge of violence since December 2010.