SENEGAL, 12 February, 2021 (TON): The Senegalese Army said, the operation aims to let people displaced by the conflict resettle, and to put an end to rampant timber and cannabis trafficking in the region.

The military took control of several hectares of cannabis.

"These are industrial farms of Indian hemp that fed the criminal economy of the armed gangs," Kande said.

Senegalese army officers told the media, those following years of "neither war nor peace", the operation was launched to secure the region after "abuses" committed by the rebels against civilians.

Senegal's army said on Tuesday, it has captured three rebel bases in the southern Casamance region with support from neighboring Guinea-Bissau, after fighting flared up in a long-dormant independence conflict.

Recent years had seen a return to relative calm to the region, with Sall's election in 2012 bringing about several attempts at peace, all of which failed.

The conflict in Casamance is one of Africa's oldest and has claimed thousands of lives since it first broke out in 1982.

The region had returned to an uneasy calm in recent years until the army launched a major new offensive on 26 January, the rebels accusing the government of "restarting the war".

However, Senegal's military has not reported either army or rebel casualties, or the isolated region could not give reliable figures.