By Mustapha Jarju
More than seven hundred school going children and three hundred pregnant women and lactating mothers are among displaced people that fled Casamance due to the ongoing fight between the Senegalese soldiers and MFDC rebels.
At least ten thousand people are known have fled their homes since the fighting broke between Senegalese troops and MFDC rebels this month.
“Seven thousand and forty-four (7,044) Gambian students are affected, since most of the schools around the southern borderline continued to be closed due to heavy gun sounds and landing of shells in some of the Gambian villages in Foni. Three hundred and seventy-four (374) pregnant and lactating women living within around the Foni borderline are affected by the intensified fight in Casamance,” The Gambia’s National Disaster Management Agency said in a report.
It added that “the number of refugees is six hundred and ninety-one (691) refugees who are currently residing in The Gambia to protect and safe their lives from the tense fight which continued in Casamance for 9 days now, without peace in the area since the Soldiers invasion began on Sunday.”
“Three thousand six hundred and fifty-six (3,656) families are hosting this internally displaced persons and the refugees, 2, 029 (two thousand and twenty-nine) children are under the age of five (5) and currently displaced.
“National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) makes a statistic data on who is affected by the continued conflict on the Southern border belt of The Gambia, which started on the 13th March 2022 with a heavy gun shutting between the MFDC separatists and the Senegalese soldiers. This has affected nine thousand nine hundred and seventy-three (9,973) Gambian people living around the southern border with Senegal Casamance region.
“In Casamance conflict has led to the internally displacement of five thousand six hundred and twenty-six (5,626) persons who leave their villages since the conflict began to seek refuge in other villages across districts in Foni and Kombo,” the report stated.
