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Africa Subsaharan

Senegal: Suspected rebels rob 50 vehicles

2008-08-22

Police say suspected rebels in Senegal have robbed 50 vehicles on a main road in the south of the country.

Police commissioner Yakham Thiam says armed men stopped dozens of passing cars Tuesday night in the village of Manpalago. They pillaged money and cellphones before seizing a four-wheel-drive and fleeing toward neighboring Gambia.

Thiam said Wednesday that victims reported the assailants had claimed to be from the main rebel group.

The rebel Movement of the Democratic Forces has waged a low-level insurgency against Senegal's government since 1983.

Posted by:Fred

#1 Unfortunately many of those claiming to be from the rebel group are not, in fact, rebels.
Many are simply from large, organized groups of thugs. They may or may have links to the rebels, but the link does not make them rebels themselves.
After each attack like this, the government then cracks down harder on the rebels, who more than likely were doing nothing. This is not to say the rebels are not responsible for many attacks there- they are.
The Casamance is the only part of Senegal that is self-sustainable. Yet it is barely developed because the government takes these actions of the "rebels" as an excuse to punish the region.
And then the rebels attack because the government isn't doing its job in fixing roads, giving health care, helping farmers etc. Its your traditional cycle of violence exemplified.

Posted by: sjb 2008-08-22 10:31

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