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Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 16:33:57 -0000
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Subject: GAMBIA:  Repatriation of Senegalese refugees on hold [2001031]
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THE GAMBIA: Repatriation of Senegalese refugees on hold

ABIDJAN, 31 October (IRIN) - An assessment team that went last week to
Casamance in southern Senegal to evaluate the situation in the troubled area
has decided that it was not yet secure enough for the voluntary repatriation
of refugees, UNHCR official said.

Marcellin Hepie, senior regional operations manager at the UNHCR Regional
Office in Abidjan, told IRIN the team found that the Senegalese government
had no credible counterpart on the ground to discuss the implementation of a
ceasefire signed last year with the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de
Casamance (MFDC).

The MFDC has been fighting for the past 19 years for independence for
Casamance, an area sandwiched - except in the east - between Guinea-Bissau
and Gambia. Although the MFDC signed the ceasefire with the government of
former president Abdou Diouf, there have been occasional clashes between
MFDC fighters and the army. The insecurity has been compounded by cattle
raids along the border with Guinea-Bissau.

About two months ago, women's organisations marched in Ziguinchor, the
largest town in Casamance, to demand an end to the insecurity. They also
called for the return of the many people displaced from their homes,
including 15,000 refugees who, Hepie said, are evenly divided between Gambia
and Guinea-Bissau.

The women repeated their calls in letters to President Abdoulaye Wade and
Abbe Diamacoune, head of the political wing of the MFDC. The Senegalese and
Gambian governments decided to work towards the repatriation, and asked the
UNHCR to help.

However, the assessment mission, which comprised representatives of the
UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration, Senegalese government and
the French Embassy in Dakar, found that the conditions were not yet right
for the refugees to return.

"Until all the problems are solved and a peaceful solution found, there is
no way the UNHCR can carry out the voluntary repatriations," Hepie said.

[ENDS]

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