Portal:Coalition of Crown Albatross/Features
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.
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