A 2004 peace accord restored order in Casamance and led to hopes that the region might once again become a valuable tourist destination.

VOA: standard.2009.10.05

Some politicians claimed the United States had abandoned the region in order to repair relations with Russia, which strongly opposed the previous missile plan.

VOA: standard.2009.10.21

"I think we are not in a war with the settlers, and we should do everything we can in order to reach an agreement in order to prevent any kind of deterioration in the region,".

VOA: standard.2009.12.21

"We are not backing away. We are going full steam ahead with our programs in Iran and across the region,again in order to create that space for civil societies to actually play the proper role that we would all understand in building more accountable democratic governing institutions,".

VOA: standard.2009.10.28