Africa’s displaced people: out of the shadows – African Union convention breaks new ground
It was a departure they never had time to prepare for. Seeking to escape death — sometimes amidst fighting between the Senegalese army and rebels in the southern region of Casamance — thousands fled their homes and abandoned livestock and property. Over the past two decades many have resettled in successive waves in Ziguinchor, a major city in Casamance. Since then returning home has been an elusive dream. “We want to, but we fear we might get killed,” Gabriel Tandar, an elder who fled after his village was attacked in 1991, told a Radio France Internationale reporter in December. Up to now their lives have gotten no better, he complained. “We have no jobs, nothing to do and we rely on others for our basic needs. We cannot even go out there to look for firewood. We are afraid.” (continua…)