Your First Question.

Sun Tzu the ancient Chinese war philosopher once said that war is a very
important affair of the state, thus implying the primacy of policy over the
use of force in statecraft.  In any war, there exist three elements which
comprise of a balance between the people, the military and the government,
thus forming a "remarkable trinity" to quote Carl Von Clausewitz, that
determines the nature of any war.  The interactions of the tendencies of
these components determine the success or failure of any military adventure
in history.   Let us take a historical case,for example, the Second
Indochina War, between the US and NVA/VietCong.  It is popularly believed
that the US lost the War, but this apparent lost was due not to a tactical
failure but a strategic one.  The North Vietnamese were routed in every
battle,even suffered severe casualties at the their ultimate engagement the
"Tet Offensive" of 1965.  The US lost because they did not understand the
nature of the war, and the US Government lacked the moral will to fight. The
North Vietnamese understood this tragic flaw and exploited it not in the
battlefield, but through propaganda using the US media and buying TIME all
the way to the Paris Peace Talks in the early Seventies.
Now how does this historical analogy fit into the context of Cassamance, and
the Senegalese failure to achieve a favourable solution during the 18 years
of crisis.  First, the nature of the government determines the outcome of
any war- remember the "trinity"- It will suffice to mention the unpopularity
and inefficiency of the Diouf Administration, their lack of a rigid policy
to establish the rationality of the war effort and sensitizing the moral
conviction of the Senegalese "people" through public diplomacy is all addd
to the impedimenta to success. Yet the most critical flaw of the Senegalese
Government, and you Halifa even mentioned it in your letter, is the wrong
military strategy adopted by the Senegalese military. The Senegalese were
fighting a COVENTIONAL WARFARE against a GUERRILLA force..., the same tragic
mistake the US made in Vietnam, and the French in Algeria.  You do not need
a sword to kill a mosquito.  Guerrilla war is a "People's War", it uses
anything under the sun from terror to aggressive propaganda, buying TIME
through peace talks in the name of "dialogue", "progressive rapproachement"
to finally achieve "peaceful coexistence"- guerrilla euphemisms that have
different connotations in the Marxist-Leninist political lexicon.  I am not
accusing any one of being a Marxist-Socialist but these terms, especially
"Peaceful Coexistence" has Hegelian origins of the thesis versus antithesis
conflict all the way to its Marxist derivative of dialectical materialism,
class struggles where we the "progressives" (MFDC) shall finally overcome
the "Oppressor" (the Senegalese Government) to bring peace!
Guerrilla wars require a strategy of proactive propaganda or the "battle of
hearts and minds", active search and destroy missions deep into the Jola
heartland, to isolate, harass, demoralise the insurgency.  This MFDC is a
rebel and criminal organisation and the Senegalese Government should treat
them as such.  There should be no negotiations with them until their will to
fight is finally exterminated.  Yes I will strongly agree with your proposal
for the Senegalese Government to establish a development plan for the region
with the sole objective of supporting the counter-insurgency operations.
These guerrillas are criminals and the Senegalese Government should treat
them as such, so as to isolate them from the law abiding citizens of
Cassamance.

I will answer your second question in part two.

Ebou Jallow
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