Crisis in Casamance: the distress of the Bissau-Guinean peasants
Audio 01:41
A rice field in Casamance (illustrative image).
Vanessa Anaya / Flick'r / CC
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
The main bases of the southern front of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) fell following heavy bombing by the Senegalese army.
On the ground, hundreds of hectares of cashew and sesame trees belonging to Bissau-Guinean peasants went up in smoke.
These peasants have lived since the beginning of hostilities between fear and worry.
Publicity
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With our special
correspondent at the border between Guinea-Bissau and Senegal,
Allen Yéro Embalo
Brenglom, a border town, is home to around 500 souls, peasants living on sesame crops after the cashew nut harvests.
Antonio lives in this village.
Its field is located only a few meters from the border not far from a rebel cantonment, a potential target then for the Senegalese artillery which has been trying for several days to
dislodge
the Casamance separatists
from their bases
.
The area is devastated by firebombs, all the trees have been burned by the flames.
“
I cleaned my field well to avoid bush fires.
Now a bomb falls in the middle of the cashew trees and everything has burned down.
Look at me, I can't sleep anymore because of worries.
Because I and all my family rely only on this field.
It is true that my field is close to the border very close to the rebel cantonment, but it is in Bissau-Guinean territory.
Today I am even afraid to go there because of the bombardments
”.
Not knowing which way to turn, Miloca Mendes, in his forties, has only his eyes to cry on.
“
This year is a year of suffering for us.
All our fields are burnt.
When the Senegalese do not find the rebels, they set the forest on fire and there is a bushfire everywhere which destroys our fields.
My field produces more than 4 tonnes of cashew annually.
Everything went up in smoke.
When I think about that my tears flow
”.
According to an officer of
the Bissau-Guinean army
stationed at the border with Senegal, about sixty shells were fired on Saturday from the positions of the Senegalese army.
Some rockets that missed their target ended their course in the cashew fields of the Bissau-Guinean peasants.
The presence of the Bissau-Guinean army deployed on the spot certainly reassures the peasants who still live between fear and worry but cannot provide an answer to those who have lost their fields of cashew trees and sesame trees.
►
To read also: Casamance: a silent war without media coverage
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Guinea-Bissau
Senegal
Agriculture and Fishing