01/08/2004

One of the least known protracted conflicts in Africa, the struggle between the government of Senegal and separatist rebels in the southern Casamance region of the country, may finally be coming to an end. Recent advances in peace negotiations to end the 21-year civil war have inspired more than 3,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their home villages. The first large wave of returnees arrived just after the signing of a 2001 peace accord between Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, a leader of the separatist rebel group  Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC).  A second influx is currently mobilizing as a result of calls for peace from MFDC members at their annual conference in October 2003 as well as the May 2003 death of Sidi Badj, a separatist leader who was halting the peace process.

“Everyone is saying the war is over, and I am 100% certain that it is” stated one refugee, who had recently returned to his home village in Casamance after a 12-year absence, to Refugees International.  Echoing this sentiment, a staff member of the Senegal-based human rights organization Rencontre Africaine Pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO) explained to RI that “people want to return now.  They are no longer afraid.” According to the Secretary General of the local NGO Association des Jeunes Agriculteurs de la Casamance (AJAC APREN), in 2004 10,000 to 15,000 people are expected to return to their home villages.  

To consolidate the peace and avoid unnecessary suffering as the displaced return to their homes, international donors, UNHCR and the Senegalese government must provide immediate resettlement assistance to returning populations in Casamance.  Families of 12-24 people are arriving in their home villages only to find the burned remains of their houses, schools and health centers.  Their land, once rich for cultivating crops, is now overgrown forest that requires clearing to be farmed again.

Many villages and their surrounding areas are full of landmines as well, making safe resettlement in some areas impossible.  Handicap International is providing aid to landmine victims as well as programs to educate the public about landmines.  In the December 17, 2003 edition of the Senegalese daily Sud Quotidien, Handicap International asserted it finds one person and 20 heads of livestock killed by landmines every week.  The organization estimates the actual death toll to be higher because people in rural areas often do not know what a landmine is and would not know to report a death to Handicap International.

Moreover, refugees and IDPs are returning physically, financially and psychologically weakened.  Many have been living for years in overcrowded refugee camps or zones of displacement, where they had no regular source of income or health care, and where often there were no schools for their children to attend.  One former refugee in The Gambia told RI that in his camp “we slept like rats pressed together, it was so crowded.”  IDPs reported that although overcrowding and bad sanitary conditions in displacement zones caused high rates of illness, medical care was often unavailable.  

Refugees and IDPs also told RI that family members had suffered from psychological trauma after having fled their villages.  One IDP from Oussouye, an area where nearly 6,000 IDPs are estimated to have settled, told RI that after leaving their village, his wife experienced anxiety and a distressing recurring dream every night for two years until she finally died.  Although UNICEF administers some stress management programs for refugees and IDPs, there is little systematic psychological aid available to these populations.

The overall number of people displaced by this conflict is uncertain. AJAC APREN estimates that 40,000 people have been displaced inside Senegal. As for refugees, while the U.S. Committee for Refugees reported in 2003 that there were 5,000 refugees from Casamance in The Gambia and 6,000 in Guinea Bissau, these numbers are likely to be higher because many refugees move in with friends and extended family members, blending so thoroughly into their host communities that authorities are unable to identify them. International agencies, spearheaded by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should conduct an accurate census to determine the amount of aid necessary to assist returning IDPs and refugees in Casamance.

The largest aid effort on behalf of refugees and IDPs in Casamance, a three-year U.S. Agency for International Development funded pilot project called the Casamance Recovery Program, ended in 2003. Although USAID spent $12 million through this program, the USAID Ziguinchor representative told RI that “the need is enormous and we cannot even meet half of it.”  USAID is considering renewing this project, but has not yet made a final decision to do so.

IDPs in the region reported that they were not currently receiving support services from UNHCR.  Returned refugees reported receiving UNHCR aid in camps outside Senegal for limited periods, two and a half years in some cases, before such assistance was terminated.  One UNHCR representative told RI that she believes that donors are reluctant to provide aid to Casamance until peace is certain.  They fear, she explains, that they will rebuild villages only to have them destroyed again by renewed conflict.

Similarly, the Senegalese government has not established an official program to help IDPs and refugees.  The governor of Ziguinchor told RI that the government plans to undertake such a program when peace is definitive.  

NGO and international organization officials stressed to RI that donors should not fear that relief efforts will be thwarted by renewed conflict, emphasizing that none of the houses, schools or health centers that USAID has rebuilt over the last three years has been destroyed by armed groups. NGO workers insisted that the dangers involved in leaving returning communities destitute, without food, shelter, health care, education, or means of livelihood, are much greater than the minimal risk that rehabilitation efforts will be thwarted by armed groups. The international community must make an immediate commitment to assist returning refugees and IDPs in Casamance.

Refugees International, therefore, recommends that:

• Donors finance efforts to rebuild villages, schools, and health centers, as well as provide agricultural, micro-finance and psychological rehabilitation programs for returning refugees and IDPs in Casamance.
• UNHCR play a larger role in assisting IDPs and refugees returning to Casamance and that UNHCR donors support such programs immediately rather than waiting for a formal peace declaration.
• The Senegalese government act now to assist returning refugees and IDPs in Casamance rather than waiting for a definitive peace.
• USAID renew the Casamance Recovery Program and increase its budget to prepare for the large influx of returning refugees and IDPs expected in 2004.
• International organizations undertake a systematic census project in Casamance to determine the number of refugees and IDPs in need of international assistance.