Senegal: New displacement and challenges to durable solutions in Casamance

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^{31 December 2009}

Senegal’s Casamance region has since 1982 witnessed low-intensity conflict between government forces and the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC). A 2004 peace agreement was rejected by an MFDC faction. 2009 witnessed a surge in violence with heavy clashes between the Senegalese army and MFDC militants.

The actual number of people still internally displaced across Casamance is unknown, as no profiling exercise was carried out in 2009. Estimates range between 24,000 and 40,000 IDPs. In September, an attack by rebels on an army base near Ziguinchor led to the displacement of some 600 people.

Gender-based violence is believed to be widespread, but has tended to go unreported. For children, violence and displacement have disrupted access to education, as schools in some parts of the region have been closed and teachers have preferred not to go back to insecure areas.

In some cases, displacement lasted only a few days. In others, IDPs were supported by family members or host communities while commuting to their home areas by day to tend their orchards.

According to the evidence available, most IDP returns have been spontaneous and unassisted. Because of landmines planted by the MFDC, freedom of movement has generally remained limited. In 2009, insecurity hampered humanitarian demining efforts and put on hold government construction plans around border areas, further impeding the achievement of durable solutions.

Senegal has no bodies with a mandate to protect IDPs, nor has it developed legislation or policies in their favour. In 2009 Senegal was not among the countries which signed the Kampala Convention. Regional development plans have targeted IDPs among other groupes including people remaining in conflict areas. International organisations have outsourced most programme implementation to local NGOs as they face a lack of access.

15 October 2009: Resumption of violence in Casamance causes new displacement and prevents returns Since August, clashes between members of the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) and the Senegalese army have increased in intensity, and led to new displacement in and around the regional capital Ziguinchor and along the border with Guinea Bissau. They have also prevented people previously displaced by the conflict from returning home. At the beginning of September, some 600 people fled the outskirts of Ziguinchor to find refuge with family and friends living in the city, while clashes along the border with Guinea Bissau displaced six villages in the rural commune of Niagha. Thousands of people who left their home in the course of the 27-year long conflict have gradually started to return home since a peace agreement was signed in 2004. Casamance residents fear that with this new spate of violence, return will be more difficult and the continued disruption of farming activities will prolong their poverty.

New clashes between the Senegalese army and members of the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) have caused new displacements since 2009 and hindered durable solutions for long-term internally displaced people (IDPs). Estimates of the overall number of IDPs in Casamance in 2010 range between 10,000 and 40,000, and figures remain unreliable in the absence of a comprehensive survey. The vast majority of IDPs have sought refuge with family, friends and host communities. In line with wider rural-urban migration trends, many have found refuge in Ziguinchor, the largest city of Casamance. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 14,000 IDPs are sheltering in the city.

Large return movements have also been witnessed since 2008. Anecdotal evidence shows IDPs’ wish to return but there has been no survey of their intentions nor data on how many have successfully locally integrated or settled nearby or elsewhere in the country. (...)

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^{18 June 2010}