Senegal

Area: 196,722 sq km (75,955 sq mi)

Population (2006 est.): 10,961,000

Capital: Dakar

Chief of state: President Abdoulaye Wade , assisted by Prime Minister Macky Sall

On March 14, 2006, Senegalese border villages came under attack by Guinea-Bissau 's army, which was seeking breakaway factions of the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) that refused to accept the 2004 peace agreement between the rebels and the Senegalese government. Members of the mainstream MFDC also clashed with the hard-liners. Further violence erupted in mid-August in northern Casamance after a series of raids by the Senegalese army designed to bring the rebels into the open. Thousands of Senegalese, uprooted by the latest round of fighting, took refuge in neighbouring The Gambia . On September 1 a land-mine explosion killed an International Committee of the Red Cross worker. Two men were later charged in the incident.

The flow of illegal migrants from Senegal attempting to reach Europe through the Canary Islands increased dramatically after Morocco and Mauritania initiated stricter border and coastal patrols. On May 23 the Senegalese navy halted 1,500 would-be migrants trying to reach the Canaries in 19 wooden boats. The Spanish government halted the repatriation of Senegalese migrants on June 1 after protests against their treatment led Senegal 's government to suspend cooperation with the program. After negotiations between the two governments, the deportations resumed in mid-September.

Having served seven months in jail, former prime minister Idrissa Seck was released on February 7. A committee of the High Court of Senegal dropped all charges of corruption and endangering state security, but Seck still faced trial on some minor infractions.

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