In Senegal, the army announced the death of two soldiers deployed in neighboring Gambia, within Ecomig, the ECOWAS force. According to the staff in Dakar, their patrol was attacked on Monday, January 24, 2021, by armed men ” supposed to belong to the Casamance rebel movement, the MFDC.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
Reinforcements from Ecomig were deployed in the locality of Bwiam in southern Gambia, indicates the direction of information and public relations of the armies (Dirpa) in Dakar, after the attack which claimed the lives of two Senegalese soldiers this Monday, January 24 . ” A non-commissioned officer and a non-commissioned member. »
One ” rebel ” kill
Their patrol was targeted by fire during a ” securing action », « as part of the fight against timber trafficking “says Lieutenant-Colonel Saliou Ngom of the Dirpa. The attackers, esteemed “ two combat groups », « which can correspond to about twenty men “, he continues, were on board a truck. ” Elements believed to belong to the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance », the MFDC. ” A rebel armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle was killed and two others taken prisoner “, according to the staff.
A year ago, the Senegalese army launched a major operation in southern Casamance – on the border with Guinea-Bissau – against historic bases of the MFDC, a very divided movement. Negotiations with the state, relaunched in 2012, did not lead to a definitive peace agreement.
The Ecomig mission, mostly made up of Senegalese
ECOWAS’ Ecomig mission, deployed in The Gambia in January 2017 after former President Yahya Jammeh refused to step down, is mostly made up of Senegalese soldiers. His mandate has been extended several times, at the request of the Banjul authorities.
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