SUMMARY
MFDC - S (Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance – Sadio, Movement of the Democratic Forces of the Casamance – Salif Sadio faction) was a faction that broke away from the main MFDC rebel group in the late 1990s. For more information about the latter group and the background to its formation, see the actor description for MFDC.
From the beginning of its armed struggle against the Senegalese government the separatist MFDC was fraught by internal splits. In the mid-1990s the cracks that would lead to the break-away of MFDC - S started to appear. The armed wing of MFDC, since 1992 called Front Sud, was at that time led by Léopold Sagna. Sagna was seen as a moderate in the conflict, as he was at times in direct contact with Senegalese president Abdou Diouf. This alienated him from the hardliners in both the political and military wings, who instead grouped themselves around one of his younger lieutenants, Salif Sadio. However, the political leader of the group, Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, continued to support Sagna, and thus Sadio and his followers split from the movement.
Until 2006 based along the border with Guinea-Bissau, Sadio’s group has at times enjoyed exceptionally warm relations with the regime in Bissau. While the main MFDC group through much of the 1990s were allowed to have rear bases across the border (whether with the sanction from the political top is unclear), the role of Guinea-Bissau became increasingly important during the latter half of the decade. In 1998 parts of the Guinean army mutinied after president Nino Viera sacked the army General Ansummana Mane, whom he accused of allowing weapons to be smuggled to the rebels in Casamance. In the subsequent conflict, MFDC - S helped Mane to seize power from president Viera and for this it was well rewarded, receiving material aid in the form of heavy arms. However, political changes in the neighbouring country meant that the support that MFDC - S had received dried up. In January 2000, Kumba Yalla was elected president and in November the same year Mane was killed, allegedly after attempting to stage a new coup. In 2005 elections brought Nino Viera back to power and in one of his first statements, he declared that he would push the Senegalese rebels out of Guinea-Bissau. After fighting Sadio’s men for a month in early 2006, he achieved his goal.
MFDC-S has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
