CRSV: Casamance Conflict
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Background of the Conflict
The Casamance conflict refers to an ongoing, low-level armed conflict waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC), since 1982 (Gehrold & Neu, 2010). The conflict ended on May 1, 2014 with the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by the MDFC. While for the most part, ceasefires have held to date, there have been disagreements around disarmament and mediated settlements. The population of the Casamance region has historically been ethnically distinct from that of the rest of Senegal, and the conflict effectively concerned the separation of Casamance from Senegal. The roughest phase of the conflict were between 1992 and 2001, as it resulted in over a thousand battle-related deaths. The Casamance is a stretch of fertile land between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, and Senegal. The Casamance conflict has been the longest running conflict on the African continent and has created significant political disruptions (Evans, 2004; Marut, 2010). In 2010, as many as 20,000 to 40,000 people were displaced.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual and gender-based violence were not a systematic or key feature of the long-standing armed conflict. The MFDC's ideology of emphasizing the sacredness of women has been the centrepiece of the armed conflict - a factor that resulted in both the exacerbation of sexual and gender-based violence at the home in the form of domestic violence as well as stereotypical roles for women and a related measure of control over women and girls in the process (Rudolf, 2021).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
No records indicate that there was a systematic or deliberate approach to deploying sexual violence. Rather, the outbreak of the conflict both exacerbated stereotypical gender roles while also changing some of those rules during the times of conflict and the conscription of male family members into fighting in the armed conflict. Some research indicates the increase of domestic violence, although no specific details mapping this correlation have been documented. This happens to be one of the rare instances of armed conflict where rape and sexual violence were not characteristically deployed as a strategy in conflict.
References
Evans, M. (2004). Sénégal: Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC). The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Gehrold, S. & Neu, I. (2010). "Caught Between Two Fronts – In Search of Lasting Peace in the Casamance Region: An Analysis of the Causes, Players and Consequences". KAS International Reports. Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09980
Marut, J.-C. (2010). Le conflit de Casamance. Ce que disent les armes. Karthala.
Rudolf, M. (2021). For us, women are sacred: gender and conflict in the Casamance. Cadernos de Estudos Africanos, (42).
