Biulundo conflict

Biulundo conflict
Part of Ethnic violence in Apatonia and the Apatonia Civil War
Apatonian forces prepare for a counterattack on LDF positions in Dori, November 5th, 2021
Date 3 September 2017 – ongoing (7 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 4 days) Location Apatonia Spillovers in Thezu and Unified Sera
Participants
Apatonia Federal Forces Supported by Unified Sera	Lukonde Loyalists	CCAMSA	Lundia Defense Forces Al-Fijar
Strength
150,000	350,000	2,000	72,523
Casualties and losses
12,659 killed, 9,921 wounded	23,129 killed, 37,282 wounded	14 peacekeepers killed, 62 wounded	Unknown
90,000 violent deaths 121,000 total deaths (January 2022)
200,000+ civilians have fled Apatonia and 1,100,000+ civilians internally displaced (as of 2021)

The Apatonia Civil War, also known as the Biulundo Conflict, is an ongoing multi-sided civil war in Apatonia between forces of the government, opposition forces, and other rebel factions. Beginning in 2017, the Lundia Defense Forces, an al-Fijar affiliated rebel group in the easternmost province of Lundia, began fighting the federal government under President Asyuer Odoyo. Intially the fighting began as a declaration of separatist intention from the LDF, but evolved into a desire to distance the country from ethnic federalism and ethnic nationalist politics, while some LDF factions wish to form an Islamic caliphate in Apatonia. Due to the onset of the war, a deep humanitarian crisis has developed.

Mlamuli Ngotsha was elected President in 2018, inheriting the conflict and making significant gains against the rebels. Insurgent activity largely declined by the end of 2018 and the conflict stayed restrained to Lundia province in sporadic clashes, until the September 2021 fall of Biulundo to the rebels, which resulted in the Coalition of Crown Albatross Mission in Southern Adula (CCAMSA) sending hundreds of additional peacekeepers to the region. Federal forces began to be pushed back by the end of 2021, and a political crisis between Ngotsha and Prime Minister Michel Lukonde unfolded as Ngotsha suspended Lukonde's powers, delayed elections, and reformed the constitution. Lukonde and his supporters in the National Army subsequently took control of several government offices in the capital of Sifondo. Ngotsha survived an assassination attempt on January 1st 2022. On January 2nd 2022, LDF insurgents attacked multiple international consulates and triggered diplomatic suspensions. On January 17th 2022, Lukonde led a coup that ousted Ngotsha, and on January 23rd the government of Unified Sera declared war on both Lukonde's government and the LDF.

About 120,000 people were estimated to have been killed in the war by January 2022, including notable atrocities such as the 2018 Intupo massacre and the 2021 Dori massacre. More than 200,000 civilians have fled Apatonia, largely to Unified Sera, Timeria, and Austrolis, and more than a million people have been internally displaced. Fighting in the agricultural heartland in the center of the country caused the number of people facing starvation to soar to 4 million, causing famine in 2018 in some areas. The country's economy has also been devastated.

Background

The Apatonia civil war is often characterized as a fight between the central government expanding and dominating peoples of the periphery, raising allegations of marginalization. Kingdoms and great powers based along the coast of the Albarine Sea have fought against the people of inland Apatonia for centuries. Since at least the 18th century, central governments have attempted to regulate and exploit the undeveloped southern and inland Apatonia. Some sources describe the conflict as an ethnoreligious one where the Christian central government's pursuits to impose law on Muslim easterners, with more fundamentalist extremist Muslim groups in the east responding with their own desire to impose sharia law, which led to violence and eventually to the civil war. President Foley Sakzi of Zamastan has pointed to an exploitative governance as the root cause.

When the Albarineans governed Apatonia as a colony they administered the west and east provinces separately. The west was held to be more similar to the other South Adulan colonies – Peoratia, Buckingla, and Vita – while eastern Apatonia was more similar to colonies in Muslim-dominated Zalluabed. Eastern Muslims were prevented from holding positions of power in the West with its South Adulan traditions, and trade was discouraged between the two areas. After decolonization most power was given to the western elites based in Sifondo and Misamba, causing unrest in the east. The Albarineans moved towards granting Apatonian independence, but they failed to give enough power to eastern leaders. Eastern Apatonian leaders weren't even invited to negotiations during the transitional period in the 1950s. In the post-colonial government of 1957, the Apatonian Committee only included 6 eastern leaders, though there were some 800 available senior administrative positions.

The war is partially about natural resources. Between the east and the west lie significant oil fields and thus significant foreign interests (the oil revenue is privatized to other international interests). The west wanted to control these resources because they are situated on the edge of the South Adulan desert, which is largely unsuitable for agricultural development. Oil revenues make up about 70% of Apatonia's export earnings, and contribute to the development of the country which, unlike the east, does not depend on international aid. Due to numerous tributaries of major rivers, access to the coast, and heavier precipitation in the west, they have superior water access and fertile land.

There has also been a significant amount of death from warring tribes in the east. Most of the conflict has been between Lundi and the Bui but other ethnic groups have also been involved. These tribal conflicts have remained after independence. For example, in January 2012 3,000 Bui people were massacred by the Lundi.

War crimes

Numerous war crimes have been committed by the LDF rebel factions as well as Apatonian government forces during the civil war.

In April 2018, Lutharian observers claimed LDF forces summarily executed dozens of civilians in two towns (Guyab and Robo) they controlled in Lundia.

On October 24th 2021, the Lundia Defense Forces were accused by the CCA Human Rights Council and Lutharian observers of extrajudicially killing 400–500 villagers in the town of Dori. A visit by the Tofino Times found many unburied corpses, some in military clothing. Residents said that LDF forces had killed villagers who had resisted looting but also blamed Apatonian federal forces for abandoning the villagers to defend themselves unaided.

On November 4th, 2021, Caspiaan watchdogs issued an emergency alert stating that "both sides are committing genocide", referring to detentions of thousands of people based on Ista or Kjanta ethnic identity, and arguing that "Prime Minister Michel Lukonde's hate speech and calls for war" and that the "LDF is perpetrating conflict with no regard for hiding their atrocities."