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Gambia/Senegal: More Casamance Refugees Flee Into Foni

As fighting intensified in the Senegalese region of Casamance, many people are fleeing from the area into The Gambia.

According to Dawda Badjie and Nfamara Jarju, both from Casamance, there was a surprise attack from the faction of Salif Sarjo's MFDC, against what they described as a government backed armed faction. They claimed that Salif Sarjo's troops pinned down the other armed faction less than a kilometre from The Gambian border.

According to them, the majority of the refugees were living in the border villages but had to move into the interior of The Gambia because they felt insecure; that many of them are scattered in the Fonis. They said that a good number of them headed for Jilemer and Oupat in Foni Bintang, and Jalokoto and Somita in Foni Brefet. This reporter has visited these refugees in Jalokoto and Somita. He was told that some of them have risked their lives to sneak back to Casamance to collect their livestock and foodstuff. The fleeing Gambians are from the border villages of Gikes, Bugofinge and Janaquel in Foni Bintang. Many people in the area are experiencing sleepless nights from the sound of heavy arms being fired across the border, which they say shake their houses. The Casamance refugees are from Nyambolong, Gunia, Majaytam and Kabunkut, all of which are border villages.