A Study On The Separation Movement Of Casamance In Senegal

Casamance stripe is an area located in the south of Senegal. It is separated apart from the northern Senegal by Gambia, which made a barrier for communication of the two sides of Senegal. Colonial legacy is the main reason of separation. When the northern part of Senegal was ruled by French, Casamance was still under the control of Portuguese. In the meantime, the British established administration in Gambia. The long-term geographically separation leads to the unbalanced development of the two parts, which contributes to the profound divergence in custom, convention, society and culture. So that it doesn’t form a strong national indentity for indigenous Casamance people. After independent from the colonial rule in 1960, the thought of separatism in Casamance was increasingly on the rise. The conflict broke out in 1982. In 1990s, the conflict was upgraded. After 2000, the situation gradually calmed down. Separatism is a popular phenomenon in Africa. In this paper, the author is trying analyze the cause and influence of African separatism through the case study of Casamance, and than gives an insight for the inter-ethnic relationship and national building.The paper is divided into four parts. First, make a definition on separatism with the opinions of different scholars; introduce African separatism and Casamance separatism in general. Second, introduce the phases of development of the separatism in Casamance in chronological order. In 1980s, the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) was founded to declare the separatism movemnet. The first round of protests in 1982 was violently suppressed by the Senegal government. In 1990s, the situation became more severe due to the advanced equipment of MFDC. Also, MFDC got support from neighboring countries in the 1990s. In 2000s, a series of agreements was signed between the two sides under the pressure of the international community and civil society. At present, the large-scaled conflicts are replaced by frequent small-scaled attacks. Third, analyze the causes and background of Casamance separatism in different perspectives, including history, society, culture, religions, economy and internal policy. Fourth, analyze the separatist influences on the Casamance, Senegal and West Africa. Finally, analyze the challenges to the national building of the post-war Africa and make a conclusion that all sides should get rid of the narrow-minded national sentiments and establish a legal system to effectively promote peace.