Senegal arrests 30 at Casamance rebel base

Senegalese police dismantled a symbolic separatist rebel base in the southern Casamance region and arrested 30 people, a security source said Wednesday.

The site, on the outskirts of Ziguinchor, served as the headquarters for the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces, or MFDC, which has fought since December 1982 for Casamance independence.

The security source said the site was dismantled on Tuesday afternoon and that 30 people present there were taken into custody by the gendarmerie. No further details were provided.

Several Senegalese media outlets reported that the army and gendarmerie carried out the operation at the headquarters of the movement's political wing. They said mobile phones, documents, rebel movement flags and other objects were seized.

The Casamance rebellion has lasted nearly 44 years and continues at low, sporadic intensity.