(par Amnesty International)
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La terreur en Casamance : le rapport d’Amnesty International
Amnesty International - Summary
of Report - AFR 49/01/98
17 February 1998
Senegal
Climate of Terror in Casamance
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5 March 1998 SUMMARY
For the past 15 years, civilians have
been hostage to the conflict between the Senegalese
Government and the Mouvement des forces démocratiques
de Casamance (MFDC), Democratic Forces of Casamance
Movement, an armed opposition group which is demanding
the independence of this region in southern Senegal.
Unable to overpower their adversary by military means,
the two parties to the conflict have consciously chosen
to terrorize civilians, including women and the elderly,
to force them to take their side or at least to dissuade
them from supporting the other side.
This armed conflict
has involved a great many violations of human rights.
Hundreds of civilians have been arrested and tortured
by the security forces. Numerous people have been the
victims of extrajudicial executions and dozens of others
have "disappeared" after their arrest and
never been seen again.
Amnesty International
has gathered a large number of written and oral testimonies
about the use of torture by the army and the gendarmerie
(the para- military police). These statements reveal
the formidable panoply of techniques used to humiliate
and forcibly extract confessions from all suspects,
be they healthy adult males, old people, women or the
sick. Several prisoners have, for example, been tortured
by electric shock; some have been beaten for hours whilst
hanging by a rope from the ceiling; others have had
molten plastic poured on their bodies or have been forced
to ingest toxic substances, such as petrol. Motivated
by the need to obtain confessions, the main purpose
of these acts of torture is to serve as an example and
create terror in the hearts of the people to dissuade
them, once and for all, from supporting the MFDC's independence
movement.
Human rights
violations in Casamance are essentially the work of
the army and the gendarmerie, which have for years been
acting with total impunity. It is of course true the
Senegalese security forces are faced with insurrection
in Casamance, but they are not fulfilling their conventional
role, which is to protect civilians against an internal
or external enemy. Many of the people interviewed by
Amnesty International have insisted that the Senegalese
security forces are deliberately keeping the civilian
population of Casamance in a state of terror and avenging
themselves against innocent civilians for the human
losses caused by attacks by the MFDC's armed fighters.
Military sources have told Amnesty International, under
the seal of anonymity, that it is regular practice for
"the Senegalese army to torture and execute people
in Casamance, and then to bury the victims' bodies close
to army camps and checkpoints".
These massive
violations of human rights cannot be explained away
as "regrettable errors", since the Senegalese
army is unanimously seen as a well-structured and well-disciplined
army and has for many years regularly taken part in
peace-keeping operations conducted both by the Organization
of African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations (UN).
Senegal itself proudly claims to have republican security
forces that obey the orders of the political authorities.
The very serious acts attributed to Senegalese soldiers
and gendarmes over past years therefore clearly imply
the responsibility of the highest authorities of the
State.
Amnesty International
is particularly alarmed about the "disappearance"
of people arrested by the security forces, and whose
fate is unknown. Their names do not appear on any list
of prisoners and the Senegalese authorities deny that
they have been arrested. Despite repeated demands by
some victims' relatives, Senegalese human rights organizations
such as Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits
de l'homme (RADDHO), African Conference for the
Defence of Human Rights, and Amnesty International,
the Senegalese authorities have systematically refused
to acknowledge the existence of this phenomenon and
to put an end to the suffering of families who have
to live in ignorance of their relatives' fate and are
denied the right to mourn.
Amnesty International
has for many years been denouncing the abuses committed
with full impunity by the MFDC against unarmed civilians,
be they traditional leaders or people who have recently
settled in Casamance and originate from other parts
of Senegal: all are suspected of collaborating with
the Senegalese authorities. Dozens of civilians, including
women and children, have been the victims of ill-treatment,
acts of torture and deliberate and arbitrary killings.
Some of these acts seem to have been committed by the
MFDC on the basis of ethnic criteria. Members of the
Manjak, Mandingo, Balante and Mancagne ethnic groups
have often been the target of attacks by the MFDC, which
feels that these non-Diola populations are not involving
themselves in the struggle for the independence of Casamance.
The MFDC also kills soldiers who fall into its hands.
Casamance had not been able to break
the pattern of violence because both parties to the
conflict perceive armed force as the only way of resolving
their political differences, but also because the people
responsible for atrocities are never brought to justice.
Although dozens
of cases of human rights abuses have been reported over
many years, the two parties continue to deny the truth
of this information and have thus constructed a wall
of impunity behind which those responsible for further
abuses can hide. For as long as such abuses remain unpunished
and nothing is done to prevent further abuses taking
place, there can be no serious hope of any improvement
in the situation as regards the respect of human rights
.
This report summarizes a -page document
( words), : SENEGAL: CLIMATE OF TERROR IN CASAMANCE
(AI Index: AFR 49/01/98) issued by Amnesty International
in 5 March 1998. The original document, in French, is
called Sénégal: La terreur en Casamance (AI Index
AFR 49/01/98/F). Anyone wishing further details or to
take action on this issue should consult the full document.
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET,
LONDON WC1X 8DJ, UNITED KINGDOM
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