In Senegal, Casamance rebels have signed a peace agreement with the government and pledged to lay down their arms.
Head of a unit of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), César Atoute Badiate, and an emissary of Senegalese President Macky Sall signed the agreement at the presidency of the Guinea-Bissau Republic.
Guinea-Bissau head of state, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, addressing César Atoute Badiate, said it was time for the rebel group to rethink its position.
“You went into the bush when I was 10 years old. Today I am 50. I think that’s enough now. (…) How many people have died, been maimed or left their villages? We will accompany you in the search for peace.”
President Macky Sall tweeted on Thursday evening, also thanking Umaro Sissoco Embalo for his mediation.
“I welcome the peace agreement and the laying down of arms signed on 4 August in Bissau between Senegal and the provisional committee of the political and fighting wings of the MFDC. I remain committed to the consolidation of lasting peace in Casamance,”
President Macky Sall has made “definitive peace” in Casamance one of the priorities of his second term. His negotiations for a settlement of the conflict have not led to a final agreement, complicated by divisions within the MFDC.
The Casamance conflict is an ongoing low-level conflict that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) since 1982. On May 1, 2014 the leader of the MFDC sued for peace and declared a unilateral ceasefire.