Second Mabifian Civil War
| Second Mabifian Civil War | |||||||
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 Mabifian Democratic Republic |
Front for Unity and National Salvation Mabifian Patriotic Movement Supported by:  Union of Khazestan and Pardaran | ||||||
The Second Mabifian Civil War was a conflict in Mabifia from 1972 to 1978 between the Mabifian Democratic Republic and various rebel groups.
Prelude
In February 1972, just months after Pierre-Julien Onziema's state funeral, a disturbance took place at Iboïambou when a pirate radio station which broadcast banned songs by artists such as Honorine Uwineza was raided by the ANDR during a special broadcast to celebrate the singer's life 5 years after her death. The station was live as the raid occured, meaning that despite the best efforts of the secret police to make the raid discrete the operation was broadcast across the nation. As the studio was raided, radio disk jockey Farhad Nsengiyumva began to make inflammatory remarks and called for resistance against the socialist government. Nsengiyumva and the other members of the radio crew were eventually arrested and taken away in an unmarked military truck for trial. However, unlike other disappearances of opposition figures which usually involved a quiet abduction and retained an aura of untouchability for the state, this operation had been broadcast to the nation and had been very messy, in a way exposing the vulnerability of the regime. As rumours spread, the local police department claimed that Nsengiyumva and his colleagues had been arrested for counterfeiting, an obviously faked charge which did little to quieten discontent. Media in Garambura and other countries picked up the story, putting pressure on the Mabifian government to release the radio station's personel. "La musique n'est pas une crime!" ("Music is not a crime!"), the headline which appeared in the Gaullican newspaper Le Monde on the subject of the raid, was carried on placards outside Nsengiyumva's trial. Feeling threatened by the protests, which had attracted upwards of a thousand participants, the mayor of Iboïambou deployed military forces in the streets and put in place a curfew. While this temporarily stopped protests, the Nsegiyumva affair had been a sign to many dissidents that the regime was starting to falter.
Following the Nsegiyumva affair, disturbances and anti-regime protests became more widespread. While these remained largely peaceful, they continued to gain momentum as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with the economic downturn which was affecting the state. Food shortages were becoming widespread following poor harvests on the collective farms, and despite the propaganda of working towards a classless society, people noticed that members of the Mabifian Section of the Worker's Internationale were more able to get food than ordinary workers. In March, a protest in Kangesare over bread shortages turned violent after the Unités de mobilisation populaire, the MSWI's armed wing, opened fire on crowds in an attempt to suppress the protest. This triggered a riot, in which several symbols of the socialist government were defaced, and over 200 protestors were killed during the suppression of the unrest. Two days later, State President Soleïman Keïta declared a state of emergency and martial law for the entirety of Mabifia.
This news was heartening for opposition groups such as the Pan-Bahian Democratic Party and Organisation of Mabifian Irfani Brothers, which had been forced into exile by the socialist regime at the end of the first civil war. Several of these groups had military capabilities, and operated training camps in neighbouring countries. In June 1973, the leaders of these groups met in Port Fitzhubert and agreed to work together to depose the Keïta government, forming the Front for Unity and National Salvation. While this announcement was met with outrage from the Mabifian government, who accused Rwizikuru of being an agent of the imperialist powers, it gave hope to many Mabifians that change was possible. President Soleïman Keïta went overseas, visiting other socialist nations in order to shore up support in case of a civil war. While the border with Rwizikuru along the Purple Line was highly militarised and guarded by Community of Nations peacekeepers, Mabifia's long borders with the Union of Khazestan and Pardaran and Yemet were lightly manned and almost impossible to guard. Rebel forces began to cross the frontier, setting up advance bases within Mabifia's northern provinces. This took place in secret, allowing for a considerable buildup of rebel troops.
Conflict
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The civil war openly began in October 1972, when a convoy of Mabifian soldiers was ambushed by rebels in the Fersi desert near the border with the UKP. The FUSN claimed the attack, declaring via Radio Mabifie Libre that their forces had killed 30 government soldiers. The news came as a surprise to the MDR's military command, who had vastly underestimated the strength of the opposition forces. Smaller attacks took place across the Boual ka Bifie, as small insurgent cells began to take up the rebel cause. In response, the government called for the mobilisation of almost 100,000 reserve soldiers and began operations to seek out and destroy rebel emplacements in the country's north. The violence remained low level, but was escalating rapidly as rebel attacks grew more and more open. By the end of November, rebel forces controlled several significant border towns on the Pardarian border, allowing for a far easier supply route. It is alleged that Pardarian volunteers such as the Black Hand were involved in these operations, though this is denied by the Zorasani government to this day.
In early 1974 a new front was opened in the conflict, as covert shipments of arms made their way into the hands of dissident cells within the Ahirengeïe. These militants began an urban guerilla campaign, targetting government and military emplacements in Iboïambou and other cities. These actions lowered confidence in the regime, which was already sagging, and though the urban cells were mostly defeated by mid 1974 the damage they did to the morale of much of the regime was large. During this time, the rebels had made significant progress in the Fersi desert and the Boual, to the point where the regime's control was weak outside of urban areas. However, in late 1974, the unity of the opposition took a major blow when the Mirite-led People's Coalition for Makanian National Sovereignty broke off from the FUSN in its goal of seeking independence for Makania. This led to a three-way conflict in the north of the country, slowing the rebel advance and allowing the central government to paint the rebels as a destabilising force who sought to divide Mabifia under colonial interests.
The situation took a turn for the worse for the socialist government in May 1975, after a large group of rebels who had been trained in Rwizikuru managed to cross the border and get into the jungle of the highlands. These rebels were difficult to track due to the dense and difficult terrain and began to initiate offensive operations in the mountainous areas of eastern Mabifia. This presented a significant threat to the regime, as these rebels were close to many of the regime's key urban centres. Many from the cities left their homes in order to join the rebels, swelling their numbers and allowing them to mount increasingly large offensives. Zandou, the capital of Masamongo department, was the first significant urban area to be taken by rebel forces, a key propaganda victory. Defections in the armed forces became increasingly common, especially among the volunteer troops, leading the regime to lean on the more strongly partisan Popular Mobilisation Units. The war was brutal on both sides. Known members of the Mabifian Section of the Worker's Internationale were often shot without trial by rebel soldiers, while suspected rebels often faced the same fate. By the end of 1975, the rebels controlled swathes of territory in the northwest and east of the country, while the Makanian separatists held the bulk of Makania. Despite this, the regime still held most of the core urban areas of Mabifia.
1976 is often referred to as the year which broke the Mabifian Democratic Republic. As the rebels advanced across the Boual ka Bifie, they neared the city of Kangesare. Kangesare was the second largest city in Mabifia, and the largest in the Boual. In May, Lieutenant-General Hassan Babangida, who was the head of over 60,000 soldiers, announced his defection to the rebel cause. With his defection, the rebels were able to quickly take Kangesare by July, and began marching inwards towards the regime's centre in Gollobesare. While factional skirmishes occurred over political rivalries between rebel groups, the government was unable to take advantage of these rifts, and began fortifying the southern urban centres in expectation of attack. Throughout 1977 the rebels continued their advance on the capital, and by the end of the year the socialists controlled just the capital city. Fighting between the different rebel groups was sporadic but constant, as while the leaders of each group publicly supported the united front, they secretly hoped to be the sole ruling group at the end of the conflict. The kingmaker in the dispute was to be Babangida, who appeared with the leadership of the Mabifian Patriotic Movement and pledged his support for the return of democracy.
By 1978, the socialist government controlled only Gollobesare and was starting to lose hope. Keïta called for negotiations, but was rebuffed by the rebels. On the 13th of May, Keïta and several other key regime figures fled to neighbouring Dezevau with a large sum of money. The MDR collapsed in on itself, with officers across the country laying down arms and surrendering to the coalition. Rebel troops entered the capital and began to tear down visible symbols of the regime, wantonly killing functionaries and plundering shops. A transitional government was announced, with the heads of the major rebel factions serving as a collective leadership, and the Community of Nations were invited into the country to help restore order and build a new government.