Third Asemese Civil War
The Third Asemese Civil War was an Internal Conflict within Upper Asema from 1993 until 2002. The conflict killed roughly 500,000 people and saw intense international peacekeeping efforts in an attempt to stop large scale crimes against humanity. The conflict ended with the Nelson Peace Accords in 2002, however many scholars see the 2003 Asemese Remobilization Crisis and the 2003 Asemese Coup d'état as continuations of the war.
After the end of the Second Asemese Civil War President Sylvester Alyhé would preside over a period of relative peace, ALINU would reform into the Upper Asemese National Army and continue Counter-Insurgent operation in the countries far east. Rebel forces who were allied to former President Blaise Jeannot Blé would reform in the Far-East where Blé's political base was strongest. This loose coalition of armed rebels would broadly support Timothé N'zwou, former Army Chief of the Upper Asemese Army under Blé. These verious forces would mobilize in response to the Bohobohé Massacres which saw several thousand ethnic Minga, Kinsà, and Gregbasa killed by Government forces under the auspice of Alyhé's anti-Rebel Policy.
Between 1993 and 1995 Rebel forces would sweep through much of the eastern and southern departments. Placing the capital Jacqueville undersiege. But an Army victory at Jacqueville in late 1996 would break the siege and diminish the rebels tactical possition. One of the deciding factors in the Siege of Jacqueville was the use of Mai-Mai. Initially used to donate independent community defense forces. The term came to be used more broadly to describe militant forces which acted at the local level, broadly apolitical and chose sides based on tribal, community, or economic intrests. Many Mai-Mai were in urban areas formed from local criminal gangs, while in rural areas the term Mai-Mai could be used to describe Bandits and hyperlocal community defense forces. Mai-Mai forces would be utilized by all sides in the conflict and would also act independently.
In 1995 Rebels affliated with the Mosquito Squad would assault a government convoy transporting President Alyhé. The Mai-Mai would and dismember him with Machetes, a local media team who had been allowed to film with the Mosquito Boys caught the event on film, smuggling it out of country where it would make international headlines. With the death of Alyhé, his Vice President Jean-Pierre Dweh would assume the presidency and continue to fight the rebels.
Operation Lionne would see government forces make ground deep into rebel held territory, attempting to liberate the city of Symphoreville, However the governments elite troops, the 100th Air Cavalry Brigade would defect, doing so because the units soldiers had not been paid in nearly a year. this mutiny was led by Colonel Jean-Évangéliste Belehyi. The soldiers would rename themselves the Kobra Kommandos and would switch sides to support N'zwou. this stalled the Operation. Rebels would counter attack in 1997 and would reverse most government gains in the east during Operation Coup de Marteau.
Belehyi's forces would prove important for changing the tide of the war. the Kobra Kommando's would help push government forces closer to Jacqueville, leading to the 5th Siege of Jacqueville in 1998. In the North, N'zwou's NULT forces would strike, forming an alliance with the NCAPDGb, as well as establishing the Bataillon du Petit Peuple to take over the city of Sinké-Pacifique. This led to the Purification Campaign, a series of mass killing which depopulated the city of much of its non-Gbenende population, one of the largest cases of genocide during the war.
a large peacekeeping presence would be sent to Upper Asema in the aftermath of the Purification Campaign in Sinké-Pacifique, with N'zwou using child soldier's to combat Peacekeeping forces. However N'zwou would be killed in fighting near Gnaka later that year. Belehyi would take over as the dominant rebel force. Dweh and Belehyi would meet for Peacetalks in Nelson, Thalassic Federation sponsered by them President TBD. These Talks would lead to the signing of the Nelson Peace Accords in 2002, which would establish a powersharing agreement between the rebels and government and set a framework for demobilization of the Mai-Mai as well as setting a road map for Elections and transitioning former rebel groups into political parties.
This would be the last Widescale conflict in the country, however unresolved issue like Gbaysian Autonomy, Neo-Mai-Mai rebels in the hinterlands, and unresolves socio-economic grevinces in the Dzogonda Department would lead to a series of smaller conflict's. Dweh would remain President and Belehyi High Commissioner until Belehyi would oust Dweh in a Coup d'état following the 2003 Asemese Remobilization Crisis. The conflict saw major Human Rights Abuses up to and including genocide. nearly 50,000 children between the ages of 7 and 15 would participate in the war as Child Soldiers, The conflict also saw institutionalized Sexual Violence used as a weapon of war. Mutilations were common with nearly 75,000 people having their hands, feet, or other body part cut off as a way to prevent then from continuing to fight. Anthropologist and historians have describe it as "one of the most devestating conflict in recent history" for the level of society wide destruction it brough.
