This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (French: Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance; MFDC) is the main separatist movement in the Casamance region of Senegal, founded in 1982. It was supported by Guinea-Bissau President João Bernardo Vieira until he was overthrown in 1999. It relies mainly on the Jola people. Its armed wing was formed in 1985 and is called Atika (Diola for "the combatant").
| Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance | |
|---|---|
| Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance | |
Flag of the MFDC[1]
| |
| Leaders | Augustin Diamacoune Senghor (1982–07) Salif Sadio (2007–14) Caesar Badiatte (1982–14) Mamadou Niantang Diatta (1982–14) |
| Dates of operation | 1982–present |
| Active regions | Casamance, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia |
| Ideology |
|
| Battles and wars | Casamance conflict Guinea-Bissau Civil War ECOWAS military intervention in the Gambia |
Its leader was Father Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, who died on 13 January 2007. Senghor signed a peace agreement with the government of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in 2004. However, several factions of the MFDC refused to participate in the peace deal and continued their fighting. This division has deeply divided Casamance's independence movement.
The movement was rumored to have involved itself militarily in the 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis and the subsequent ECOWAS military intervention in the GambiaonYahya Jammeh's side.[2][3]
Since 2013 photos indicate that the MDFC - or, at least one of its armed branches - uses a new flag, designed with a different geometrical arrangement of the elements of the flag adopted in 1983. The flag is horizontally divided green-yellow with a red triangle placed along the hoist, charged with a white star tilted to the upper hoist.[4][5][6]