ELEMENTS of separatist rebels in Senegal’s Casamance region have begun disarming, 16 years after a bloody war of independence broke out, the Sud Quotidien newspaper reported in Dakar on Wednesday. The Democratic Movement of Casamance Forces (MFDC), led by Augustin Diamacoune, began disarming as part of a restructuring exercise, the paper said. Hopes for peace in the Casamance region, which lies between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, were renewed when Senegalese President Abdou Diouf met Diamacoune for the first time on January 22. Progress towards peace has been blocked by disagreement amongst various tendencies within the MFDC.