Muttay Ajamhuryin
| Charnean Revolution Muttay Ajamhuryin | |
|---|---|
| ⵎⵓⵜⵜⴰⵢ ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⵉⵏ | |
| Date | 22 March 2023 – 4 April 2023 |
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| Casualties | |
| Death(s) | 487 |
| Injuries | 3,107 |
The Muttay Ajamhuryin (Tamashek: ⵎⵓⵜⵜⴰⵢ ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⵉⵏ, lit. "Republican Reform"), also known as the Charnean Revolution, was a civil and military uprising which took place over 13 days in March and April of 2023, resulting in the overthrow of the Imperial government and the establishment of the Charnean Republic. It consisted mainly of demonstrations and protests staged by thousands of active and retired Charnean Army personnel and their families, which escalated into violent clashes between state security forces and armed elements within the protest movement. These clashes culminated in a widespread mutiny within the Army which resulted in the defeat of state security forces, the capture of government buildings and the success of a military coup staged by the mutineers. Unrest within the Charnean Army had been rising for years with complaints of low pay, corruption of superior officers, and systemic discrimination against the Kel Ajama ethnic sub-group which had become a majority of the Army's manpower. The proximate cause of the protests in March of 2023 were the arrests of Army Colonels Amastan Elmoctar, Hrakhel Kabte and the killing of Colonel Chekkadh Amanrassa who had resisted arrest. All of these officers, as well as many others subject to arrest, were members of the Cobalt Square, a faction within the military opposing the perceived corruption of the Army's leadership as well as a litany of injustices and accusations the group leveled at the Imperial government. The majority were also ethnic Ajamites and influential figures in the Charnean veteran communities well known as advocates for increased compensation and benefits for Ajamite veterans.
State security agencies alleged that the demonstrations were being coordinated by Colonel Khyar Aziouel, the fourth leader of the Cobalt Square who evaded capture by military police who attempted to arrest him in an Army encampment outside of Azut in Adjer province. In reality, much of the mobilization of the marchers was spontaneous in nature and motivated primarily by the arrests and crackdowns as well as years of ignored demands from the Army veterans. The later mutiny and coup, however, was linked to the Cobalt Square and its wide reaching influence. A force of several thousand mutineers armed with Army issue equipment descended on the capital in the morning of the 3rd of April following an escalation of violence between police and protestors in the preceding days, while tens of thousands of active duty ICA soldiers deserted their posts, seized bases and arrested officers and political chiefs on their own initiative all across Charnea. These soldiers, labeled mutineers by the Army high command, were for the most part not directly connected to the Cobalt Square but belonged to like minded groups across several of the Army services. Many were motivated by self-preservation, believing that the ongoing purge of the Cobalt Square would inevitably expand to a general cleansing of the armed forces of various officers and groups considered to be dissidents or malcontents.
The fall of the Imperial government of Charnea on the morning of April 4th was met with declarations of victory by the demonstrators and an official announcement by the Cobalt Square broadcast through state media. The Cobalt Square announced the formal abolition of the Empire of Charnea, the dissolution of the Agraw Imgharan state assembly and the establishment of a Republic under the stewardship of the Charnean Army. An interim ruling council was convened on the 4th and 5th, representing the Square and many of the other groups that had turned out for the demonstrations was established pending a general election to be held within the ranks of the Army on May 14th once proper electoral infrastructure could be put in place. Having successfully accomplished its stated goals of purging the corrupt elements of the Imperial government and establishing a military democracy, the Cobalt Square officially disbanded on April 17th. The Republic of Charnea, formally declared on the April 4th, would take shape more concretely following the May elections which established the new Agraw Allolan popular assembly and voted Khyar Aziouel the first chief of state of the new Republic. In this first month following the revolution, many would be freed from custody including all imprisoned members of the Cobalt Square, the thousands of protestors which had been arrested over the course of the demonstrations, and further scores of dissidents and political prisoners interned in the Charnean prison system many of whom were unrelated who the military uprising and the Cobalt Square movement. Many records and classified documents of the previous regime were made public by the Aziouel government as part of a concerted effort to garner support and legitimacy for the new regime by revealing the crimes of the old, including many disappearances and extrajudicial killings of protestors involved in the Muttay Ajamhuryin at the hands of state security forces.