THE GAMBIA: REPORTED MFDC CLASHES NEAR GAMBIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANJUL 000250 SIPDIS SIPDIS DAKAR PASS RAO, DAO, AND ODC E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV SG GA SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: REPORTED MFDC CLASHES NEAR GAMBIAN BORDER WITH CASAMANCE REF: BANJUL 230 ET AL Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH STAFFORD, REASON 1.4 (B AND D) ¶1. (C) During April 21 discussion with Ambassador, Interior Minister Baboucar Jatta took an urgent phone call from his Inspector General of Police. Afterward, Jatta said the Inspector General had reported acts of violence near The Gambia's border with the Casamance region, involving forces of dissident MFDC commander Salif Sadio. Jatta surmised that Sadio and some of his fighters, following their recent battles with the Bissau-Guinean armed forces, had moved north across Casamance toward the Gambian border area. The Interior Minister expressed concern that the violence could spill over into The Gambia itself and also generate a new wave of Casamance refugees seeking shelter in this country. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: As reported reftel, Gambian ties with Senegal are strained over the GOTG's suspicions of GOS complicity in the aborted coup plot here March 21. Jatta indicated, though, that those strains would not prevent the Gambian authorities from cooperating with Senegalese counterparts in an effort to staunch violence by Sadio's forces in border areas. END COMMENT. STAFFORD