DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The most high-profile rebel leader in Senegal’s southern Casamance region declared a ceasefire Wednesday, raising government hopes that a low-level insurgency spanning more than three decades could be nearing its end.

Salif Sadio, leader of the armed wing of the Movement of the Democratic Forces, has been fighting for Casamance’s independence since the early 1980s, arguing that the region is culturally distinct from the rest of Senegal and has suffered from inattentive governments in the country’s capital, Dakar.