NationStates Jolt Archive

For two decades Presidents Derek Igomo and Robert Mugabe maintained an uneasy peace between their newly created African republics, Igomo never able to get far beyond his opposite’s racial concerns and what Mr.Derek called his, “victim syndrome”. Where Igomo’s Social Progress Party threw-off 1st world oppression by taking a leap of faith into currency-free socialist economics and mobilising a united front for public works, to the south Zimbabwe seemed to Igomo to be attacking itself.

The recent Lusakan coup that removed the Igomo Social Progress Party brought a change in the temperature of international relations. General Theodore Tendyala’s Lusakan United African Nationalist Party revitalised dialogue with the UARL’s least hostile southern neighbour, initiated several rounds of talks, proposed new treaties, increased trade, and carried out a number of initiatives. Lusakan observers retroactively ‘confirmed’ the legitimacy of Zimbabwe’s last and controversial elections, and the inefficient weight of various educated experts without tasks in the increasingly poor post-Igomo Lusaka were frequently ordered to Zimbabwe. These people, often trained with help from Igomo’s Soviet bloc allies, over-saw a range of programmes in Zimbabwe, including many projects long awaiting completion since sanctions and somewhat self-imposed isolation ravaged the nation.

The latest rounds of Lusakan-Zimbabwean talks, held in Old Lusaka (formerly Lusaka, the Roycelandian East African provincial capital for East Zambia), closed yesterday and were followed by this morning’s public announcement of the bilateral African National Pact. Lusakan Secretary of the Republic Mini Sinkala (replacing the renowned Livingstone Miyanda) made the announcement but explained relatively little, analysts believe, of the treaty’s true implications.

It is known that some amount of Lusakan military equipment is to be transferred to Zimbabwe. The equipment may include T-56(L) and T-62 tanks, Mi-28 helicopter gunships, and LS-8 AFRISAM air defence systems no longer viable in Lusaka’s cash-strapped post-Igomo military. Continued increase in trade between the two nations is also quite certainly part of the ANP agreement, along with final demilitarisation of the border. One central item would seem to be the agreement to establish an African nationalist military reaction force meant to deal with local issues before outside intervention can further threaten binational interests. Examples may be the division of Gabon, threatened by the 1st world, the endemic instability in West Zambia, recent anarchy and competition in Angola, and perhaps even issues such as Al Khali aggression directly against Lusaka.

Some fear that, in light of the end of Igomo’s almost paternal watch over smaller Zimbabwe coupled with land reform policies corrupted since Tendyala’s rise to power, the ANP agreement may spell more bad news for Zimbabwe’s white population and opposition parties.


(I’d put some sort of disclaimer to the effect that Mugabe never had dealings with Lusaka and this is of course a fiction, but then you'd have to be a bit thick to believe that the UAR actually exists, and also, who cares what Mugabe thinks, anyway?)

Interesting indeed.

Now the question is did Mugabe ever actually get the chinese fighters he wanted? IRL it is doubtful but in SSA/NS?

(I don’t know the real details beyond talk of 12 Super-7/FC-1s, but a good idea is a good idea, so it has been agreed to run with it :) )

Lusakan diplomats have this week been denying that their nation is engaged as a transit point -almost a laundering service- for arms destined for widely blacklisted Zimbabwe. Reports of a dozen FC-1 Xiaolong multi-role fighters being transferred to the Air Force of Zimbabwe have surfaced, with communist Beth Gellert being implicated as the source nation. The Igovian Soviet Commonwealth received ex-service FC-1s from Dra-pol (North Korea) as part of a deal that sent Igovian jets to that nation after it became apparent that Dra-pol would not be able to acquire spare parts for their East Islandian-provided FC-1s following a souring of relations between those states.
According to reports dismissed by New Lusaka City as, “absurdly far-fetched”, the history of the aircraft has them designed in China and Pakistan, built in East Islandia, sold to Dra-pol, transferred to Beth Gellert in an exchange deal, re-exported to Lusaka, and then sold on to Zimbabwe at cost.
The jets would be a viable counterweight to South African JAS-39 Grippen ordered from Sweden, and if the reports are true they would probably be armed with a mix of weapons available from Russian, Chinese, Drapoel, or Beddgelen sources at the very least. It would also follow that similar aircraft might be acquired and kept by Lusaka, since they are designed to replace the exact sort of aircraft (F-5 and F-20) used by the Lusakan Air Force. City continues to deny all allegations and suggestions to the effect, and foreign observers may doubt that the UARL actually has sufficient funds to replace its still credible light tactical fighters.

OOC:
i think the whole FC-1/JF-17 thing turned out to be totally false (considering reports were putting delivery times as before either china or pakistan woudl have any) it was later clarified to involve J-7Ps IIRC but in the end it doesn't amtter the SADF lightings still own them ;)

OOC: Anti-Igomo coup, eh? When the hell did that happen? I must've totally missed it, 'cause otherwise the UWA would've raised one hell of a stink.

Ooc-

Who cares if he gets the planes, no African air force could stand up to a European air force, and pilot for pilot, Europe so outclasses Africa, it isn't funny. Even the South African air force, once the best in Africa and on par or slightly better than some European Air forces, has slipped into below mediocrity.

I personally believe Mugabe did indeed get his 12 fighter planes though.

(OOC: Why in the world would southern African air forces care how they rate against European air forces? If Zimbabwe wanted the new fighters it was to offer a counter-weight to South African Grippens, if they are delivered, not because they want to achieve air superiority over Switzerland.

Of course African air forces are inferior to European- most African nations have economies producing barely a thousand puny USDs per capita, I really don't see the reason for pointing that out, it's self evident.

Anyway, Strath/Crook, in our crazy NS universe, the FC-1 is flying all over the place, so it's back to a did they/didn't they situation Re. Zimbabwe.

As for the coup, a couple of threads have mentioned it:
- http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=359512 ISPP crumbles after generation in power
- http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=353854 some of the things that've happened since.
Now, back to the thread!)

ANP to deploy security forces in West Zambia

Northern Rhodesia’s independence in 1964 was further kindling for the growing flame of Lusakan revolution, not properly ignited until more than a decade later. The former British territory in question became West Zambia (East Zambia being a province of Roycelandian East Africa), and struggled with just a few hundred thousand inhabitants to find its feet. When REA collapsed before Derek Igomo’s revolutionary forces in the late seventies and early eighties, West Zambia suffered a bleed-off of instability with which it was ill equipped to deal. Things only worsened as Igomo’s UAR Lusaka, risen from the ashes of REA, developed its copper mining industry more rapidly than little West Zambia could afford to. WZ long relied on aid from the UARL and often looked to it for protection, which Igomo’s Social Progress Party was happy to afford.
Igomo’s fall was yet another blow to the west, and the already puny economy tumbled further as conflict, poverty and disease remained the norm.

Long persuaded by Igomo to pursue economic policies similar to those of more able Lusaka, what passed for a WZ government has in his absence begun for the first time to privatize its copper mines. As yet this brand new process has yielded no major results, and the nation remains in its sorry state, with 90% of the population firmly below the poverty line. Debt to Lusaka is high, but had previously been deferred by the Social Progress Party, which under Igomo the African crusader was keen to see WZ recover itself to some degree.

Today’s announcement of ANP intent cites both these outstanding debts and the on going extremity of West Zambian poverty and chaos as conditions necessitating deployment of multi-national security forces. UARL Defence Secretary Terrence Dato spoke of a Lusakan-lead African security operation initially involving around two thousand troops, 240 of which are to be provided by Zimbabwe. The rest are expected to be Lusakans trained under President Igomo for peacekeeping operations, and may include veterans of Ghana and Gabon. West Zambian security forces are thought to number only a few hundred, and ANP spokesmen have talked of their hope that these men and women will assist in securing the country for the long-term. Mr.Dato has indicated Lusakan intent to educate further WZ troops as they did Burkinabe fighters in the past, and to do the same for the officials and professionals who will lead the recovery.

The Lusakan ambassador to the African Commonwealth has meanwhile assured Kinshasa that security worries on the West Zambian border will become a thing of the past, leaving AC free to deal with the Angolan situation. Lusakan peacekeepers assemble in the Lusakan half of the Copperbelt under the shadow of soon to be privatized WZ mines. Coincidentally.

(A bump for sufficient views before anything else happens)

Government Palace, Kinshasa

President Ndelebe was not pleased to say the least. "Mugabe is a LOON! This beggars belief, guys!". "Yesum, President." The minister of foreign affairs(little known LFU man Booker Mbeki) said, then spoke again. "We can only hope...". "What?" Ndelebe snapped. "Yes! Speak! If there is any hope to be gleaned from a stupid situation, I for one.." "..That they turn their attention towards other countries when they grow strong.".

Ndelebe fell silent, letting this sink in. When he finally spoke, he did so with the conviction of afterthought. "Then they could very likely decide to gobble up Angola. No doubt a hard target by any standard, but it is not yet Commonwealth land and our military presence there is provisional, if that.". "Still, Mr. President - No doubt the CAF will defeat this alliance if by terrible, terrible coincidence they should ever attack Angola or us." "Don't delude yourself, sweet friend. You are no military commander, and as one I can tell you they are enough do deal us damage and no mistake. The African Commonwealth people cannot stand more death now. They want their borders protected, with professionalism and force."

"But sir..." Booker sighed. This was going to be a long night.

Much later, from Kinshasa

Secretly concerned with the developments, the List for Unity nonetheless congratulated Lusaka with its newfound defensive stability. Military buildup on the Lusakan border(most of which sure as h*ll is still not Lusakan, according to grumpy Commonwealth cartographers) had never been lighter(at least, "lighter" according to CAF standards) anyway, but the current forces remained in place. As far as Lusakan military scans and intelligence can discern, this consists of:

One improved Mig all-purpose fighter regiment, a first-line mechanized infantry division and several artillery batteries with 66mm and 155mm indirect fire systems. The presence of ACA special forces and or the Manus Nigra could never be confirmed, but could not be ruled out either; particular in the case of the latter, almost all-pervasive, force.

The Army of Lusaka, since the end of Igomo’s era of continent-wide intervention and peacekeeping and the collapse of the economy, had been reduced significantly, possibly in an effort to preserve the viability of its better units and equipment. The African People’s Volunteer Army, which was initiated under the Social Progress Party to resist the Al Khali invasion, was a concept retained by LUAN. It meant that Lusaka could at least call-up thousands of its subsistence farmers on short notice, their families granted tokens towards lost agricultural output, redeemable from the nation’s commercial farms. Now, with army down-sizing, they had a reasonable stockpile of arms and munitions on stand-by. But on the face of it, with this organisation inactive, Lusaka’s army contained perhaps sixty-odd thousand soldiers. The Al Khali border was protected by just a few thousand, as had been the case before the invasion in which said forces were over-run in hours, because City did not credit the tiny Arab state with serious deep penetration abilities and was prepared to over-extend any second invasion. The Strathdonian border too was relatively lightly protected along most of its extent, as the military heartland near that nation’s northwest was believed to provide sufficient counteroffensive potential to deter aggression. The Roycelandian frontier was a different matter, sucking in more than the previous two combined, along with some of the Army’s best formations and equipment including a large portion of the Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps established specifically to fight the Roiks. Gabon’s free republic contained a couple of hundred Lusakan military personnel, now feeling rather isolated. With the withdrawal of troops from Zimbabwe’s border, Lusaka was able to match Commonwealth deployments with at least a combat capable force. It was certainly outnumbered and outgunned, but represented an ability to resist that had not been deemed necessary under Igomo, and it was concentrated between lakes Mweru and Tanganyika on soil that had caused the still unresolved border dispute that flared-up some years ago.

City was still primarily focussed on limiting the need for such deployments by talking of the security operation in West Zambia as something that would also benefit the Commonwealth, and constantly referring to Angola as a Commonwealth concern.

West Zambia

Word of the Zimbabwean deployment reached Lusakan forces after a delay of a few hours, which was reckoned to be pretty terrible, really. A couple of hundred troops had passed the roar of Victoria Falls and entered Livingstone as planned. Far north the Lusakan deployment began as the 107th Battalion crossed the Kafue quite near the Commonwealth border, at Kitwe, and swung north, their BTR-152K and OT-62B APCs, BMP-2 ICVs and Zil-131 trucks bearing them towards the western extent of Chingola.

Chingola lay just across the Kafue River that here marked the border between the UARL and Republic of West Zambia, and was to be entered from the northeast across said river. The 82nd Battalion was given this task, while the 107th was due to arrive a couple of hours later from the opposite side, which may have looked a bit like a tactic of war rather than policing, but oh well, whatever, as the Lusakan attitude went.

At the head of the 82nd, atop the only deployed Olifant L-2 battle tank in the theatre, rode on General Theo Tendyala.

“No, no!” He bellowed through his loud hailer. “Don’t go all the way across! If you’ve cleared it, get back over here!”

Tendyala’s tank of course had to be first across the bridge, engineers be damned.

As the lanky frames of those Lusakan engineers turned about-face to head back into Lusakan territory a shot rang out from the southern side, felling one of them in the middle of the bridge. A wide-eyed Tendyala dropped hurriedly out of sight inside the turret of his massive tank as the 82nd’s guns crackled in retalition, nobody picking a target as such. The sniper, clad in brilliant green fatigues and a beret adorned with a golden vulture, crept away through the town to alert his comrades.

Absent (campaigning with ANP forces) Tendyala accepts new title to recognise true scope of hero’s achievements, critics almost lost for words.

“He’s never been anywhere near Mecca.” Said one Lusakan from Zanzibar, now living in London in support of Derek Igomo’s exiled government. “He just put that Al Hadji bit in there to ward-off further Al Khali aggression.”

“If you ask me” Said another ex-patriot, “that part’s meant to impress the Libyans. He’s not going to stop his axis-building at Zimbabwe, you know!”

His Excellency President for Life General Al Hadji Doctor Theodore ‘Theo’ Tendyala, Vulture Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the Roycelandian Empire in Africa in General and Lusaka in Particular remains unavailable for comment...

CAF air and artillery power appears to have been removed from the Lusakan border, in favour of boosting numbers in Angola, likely much to the delight of Tendyala.

Imperial Palace, Port Royal, Roycelandia

"Your Morning Paper, your Majesty."

"Ah, excellent. Thank you, Wiggles."

His Majesty's Aide nodded and left. He'd given up protesting at being called "Wiggles", after discovering that the Keeper Of The Imperial Wardrobe had been nicknamed "Togs".

After Wiggles had left, His Majesty turned back to Foreign Minister Jeff Lebowski, The Honourable Duke of Dorque Sir Duane Dibley, Commanders Sword and Blackadder, Air Marshal Bigglesworth, Admiral Crichton, and the new Managing Director of Imperial Armaments, Sir Arnold Rimmer.

"Would someone care to explain how we missed this?" His Majesty asked in an all to reasonable voice.

"Well, you see..." Lewbowski started...

"We fucked up spectactularly" Sir Duane finished.


"Don't tell me..." His Majesty said. "You need more money? It's always money, isn't it?"

"Well, if you're offering..." Air Marshal Bigglesworth began, only to be interrupted by an elbow to the ribs by Sir Duane.

"For once, I've already made a decision. We're going to use the Gabon approach on this one. I want some Foreign Legionnaires paradropped into West Zambia, ready to ensure that the Lusakans have a VERY hard time taking the country. And offer anyone in West Zambia who's interested a refugee visa."

Before anyone could object, His Majesty picked up a sheaf of papers.

"Next item on the agenda: Upgrading the Imperial Air Force."

There was a stunned silence.

"As fond as we are of our airforce, we all need to accept that it's... not as sharp as it could be." And it hasn't been since about 1983, he didn't need to add.

He passed around some folders. "I've taken the liberty of going over Sir Arnold's head and talking to some of the lads at Imperial Aerospace. These are some suggested designs for the Jetfire II Fighter and the Spitfire II Ground Attack Aircraft. I think you'll agree that they will ensure our dominance of Sub Saharan Africa's skies for years to come..."

New Lusaka City

“...ANP operation is going well, with all the signs pointing to increased stability ahead for West Zambia as local authorities, such as they are, being most helpful."

Near Chingola, West Zambia

“It’s the 82nd.”
“With tank support.”

The next sounds were those of grumbles, curses, and clucks from the men assembled around the little fire, before one forcefully stuck a knife into the earth and spoke up.

“Well, they aren’t that good, yeah, yeah, I know, they’re experienced” he said, gesturing for quiet, “but if anything that makes them almost as jaded as the rest of us, given the situation.”

“I dunno, I heard they got paid this month.”

“Listen, shut-up a minute... we’ll take them, Mwari’s section can fall back on the Luswishi for round two. You hear that, Lieutenant-Colonel?”

The town of Chingola, shortly there after

The Lusakan 82nd Battalion had been in town for a couple of hours by now and the light was almost gone. With his tank parked in the main street, His Excellency President for Life General Al Hadji Doctor Theodore ‘Theo’ Tendyala, Vulture Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the Roycelandian Empire in Africa in General and Lusaka in Particular was engaged in a round of bellowing at his officers. Where is the 107th? Does their commanding officer have elephant shit for brains? You know, we’re not waiting much longer if they don’t turn up, and so on and so forth.

Suddenly, a communications officer called out, he’d received some radio traffic from the 107th Battalion... it sounded like they’d encountered some sort of hostility, nothing was clear.

At that moment the rush of two rockets sounded in the dusk, followed seconds later by a series of explosions all around the 82nd’s positions. West Zambians were as shocked as the Lusakan Army soldiers as rifle grenades and RPGs crashed all around them, apparently originating from locations all around their town’s outskirts.

The next morning, Tendyala’s tank, stained by rockets and grenades but undamaged, and its occupants, the man himself one of them, along with the majority of the town’s original population were left alive in a scene of exceptionally precise destruction, most of the 82nd effectively cut from the body of Chingola. No attackers, alive or dead, could be found anywhere about as some few Lusakan survivors searched under the cover of the Olifant’s cannon.
Several miles outside the town , the destruction was less one sided. Amongst the burnt-out hulks of no small part of the 107th’s mechanised strength lay several bodies uniformed in slight difference to the unit’s own. Unfortunately for the 107th, which had run into an unsuspecting Lt.Col. Mwari’s infantry section and engaged in a heavy exchange of almost blind fire that it survived better than the properly targeted 82nd, the battalion would not survive long enough to tell General Tendyala that the 17th Division had escaped to West Zambia after Olongwe’s post-coup arrest. Mwari’s section had suffered casualties, but not so many that it was not able to re-join with the section that struck the 82n and to carry-out a second strike at dawn, leaving nothing of the 107th. City would have a job covering this up.

Within hours of the attack, the Roycelandian Broadcasting Corporation World Service was beaming news of the event across the planet, and more specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa...

Meanwhile, the IIS was hard at work finding out who was responsible, and trying to co-ordinate a Foreign Legion insertion into West Zambia.

"Do they even have a Government?" Governor-General Fry was heard to ask at a recent dinner in Port Imperial, much to the delight of newspaper gossip columnists...

In Lusaka and Zimbabwe, the attacks on ANP forces in the north of West Zambia have been portrayed as evidence of the depth of the country’s chaos. Tendyala’s miraculous escape as one of four survivors from two battalions drawn mainly from primarily Zanzibar Arab and the more affluent districts of Lusaka has been called both lucky and the will of God, but never suspicious or the result of cowardice.

Fresh Lusakan troops have been drafted to restore strength and continue the security operation, and the Lusakan Red Cross and Red Crescent, both established in a more prosperous time under Mr.Derek, have begun to cross the border.

The West Zambian Air Force has been secured, in part by a detachment of light infantry from the unstable nation itself on the advice of Lusakan officers concerned by the upsurge in, “bandit activity”. That term was last used –by Igomo- before the annexation of previously semi-autonomous Bukoba Province. Zimbabwean troops have been stationed at the air base in Livingstone, while Mumbwa –protected by WZ infantry- may be shortly occupied by Lusakan transport and reconnaissance aircraft. It is not actually clear whether any of the tiny nation’s air force, believed to be less than two dozen airframes strong with unarmed transports and trainers included, is actually airworthy.

West of Chingola

“Four dead, seven hurt.”
“Eleven and eighteen.”
“Jesus! I thought our guys weren’t going to get shot!”
“The 82nd was full of fundamentalist whack jobs, and well, your show was a bit of a cock-up, wasn’t it, Mwari?”

The Lieutenant Colonel hung his head. “Yis, boss.”

“Well, anyway, we’d better get clear of the Copperbelt. It’ll be crawling with SAMs before the week’s out, and nobody’s going to think about flying in anything useful... I don’t see how we expect anybody to do it anyway. Not anybody who’d want to, unless Ndelebe has a sudden change of heart.”
“Don’t see why he would.”
“Right. Well, come on, get the uniforms off and we’ll drop the wounded off at... God, are we going to have to take them to Solwezi? Why the hell’d you have to go and blow-up those trucks, Mwari?”

The Colonel walked away from the group, muttering about the worst operation in the history of the division.

“Take a step back, the big picture’s still clear, boss!” Shouted one lanky recruit with a mouth full of corned beef.

Over coming days, these men continued to make light contacts with advancing Lusakan ANP forces in the north of West Zambia, though casualties were light all around and little equipment was damaged.
Most West Zambians continued with life as before, farming to feed themselves and little more, but tiny opposition movements around the country saw their more enthusiastic members spirited away by men and women recruiting for the People's Militia Organisation which was consolidating almost entirely in the north, possibly because this was the Lusakan area of focus and the Zimbabweans were seen as a mere supporting act.

Foreign journalists who dare (even care) to set foot in West Zambia are confronted by propaganda posters and fliers supporting the PMO, usually torn down or confiscated by authorities (where such bodies exist).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/communist_party_poster.jpg

West Zambia

Smoke rose from another scene of destruction near the banks of the Zambezi, not far from the Angolan border. As near its tributaries and especially the Kufue further east, advancing ANP forces had been ambushed yet again, apparently by the rag-tag forces of the West Zambian People’s Militia Organisation.

Near the Kufue, a quartet of Lusakan Mi-24 Hind-L gunships had, since the ambushes, put paid to many of the WZ-PMO’s few vehicles –mainly Toyota pick-ups with machineguns affixed- using guns, bombs, and in some cases deadly Mokopa guided missiles. Lusakan air defence guns and missiles were beginning to arrive in the eastern part of the little state. Unlikely to help the nation’s internal security problem as per the ANP excuse for deployment, these were evidently supposed to protect against meddling by foreign governments wishing to help the PMO.

In the far west, the burning vehicles were indeed still Lusakan. This made relatively little sense to some observers, as the PMO wasn’t supposed to have any military-grade armaments at all. The West Zambian government was on side with the ANP nations of Lusaka and Zimbabwe, and its negligible military strength was accounted for in joint security operations. The rebels should have had slings, spears, machetes, bludgeons, and if they were lucky perhaps a few petrol bombs and archaic firearms. Maybe they’d stolen small amounts of mining explosives, but most major concentrations of those had been accounted for and ‘protected’ by the ANP.

But survivors, where there were any, spoke of automatic weapons fire, grenade blasts, carefully placed mines, and expert sniping in the ambushes carried out against them. They rarely even saw their attackers.

Zimbabwean forces in the south meanwhile had only faced the expected sort of trouble from a minority of malcontents with stones and bottles in hand.

--

A cluster of dirty faces smiled in the moonlight as they looked over the haul from the last ambush in the west. Over four thousand rounds of useful ammunition, a few pounds of familiar rations, an 82mm recoilless rifle as lifted from the twisted remains of an OT-62B APC, and fuel enough to drive it around on a truck for days on end. A few of the thinner armour plates were even torn from their carriages for application to civilian vehicles.

WZ-PMO posters such as those previously seen in the nation itself were now beginning to turn up in other African nations as somebody called for arms smuggling to augment fighting spirit and captured weapons. The Lusakan-lead ANP forces were running out of steam, and the collaborating West Zambian government forces with them, and that party of smiling comrades were on the move again by next morning.

Port Imperial, Roycelandian East Africa

As Sub-Saharan Africa's largest Armaments Supplier, it wasn't long before word filtered to the Roycelandian Government that the West Zambians wanted arms.

More importantly, they were fighting the Lusakans, which immediately put them at the top of the list of People To Give Guns To.

Discreet enquiries were made, finding out what sort of weapons the WZ-PMO wanted, and how they could be shipped to them...

Border regions

In the southwestern parts of the Commonwealth, several corrupt militia leaders would probably be more than happy to supply AK-47 rifles, SKS carbines, RPG-2/7s and other stuff that the CAF has now phased out of use, to whoever will pay them, well, anything at all. That goes for both Lusakan commanders wanting additional firepower or Zambian resistance fighters, however.

From Kinshasa and Luanda

On an(almost) unrelated note, the CAF announced it's future plans for a pact of it's own today. The Greater Angolan Defense Initiative(abbrev. GADI), would stand ready, at least in a premature form, in Ultimo January 2005 at latest.

The GADI is alledgedly formed to "consolidate Angolan-Commonwealth defense cooperation" and to "counteract insurgent activity in several of the more unstable Angolan provinces", according to the joint release from the Angolan and Commonwealth ministries of Defense.

Outlining the plan briefly, they stated that the most important parts of the plan would be as follows:

- The formation of a local defense militia in every Angolan province, with regular troops loyal to Angolas legitimate government, and trained as well as outfitted by the ACA.
- The creation of the Angolan Air Force to replace the inept and unfit Air and Air Defense Forces, with a rotary corps supplying helicopter gunship support to Angolas ground force and ground attack jets for anti-invasion and strategic strike capability.
- The integration of the Marinha de Guerra(the Angolan navy) into the Commonwealth Naval Defense.
- A rise the Angolan militarys number of combat-capable regular troops to provide Angola with front-line infantry divisions deployable against any kind of foreign agression; or to provide troops for joint Angolan-Commonwealth operations inside Angola.
- An integration of the above initiatives under the Commonwealth Armed Forces Integrated Command Structure, effective placing the CAF in charge of the Angolan armed forces.

President Ndelebe and president Santos is expected to sign the initiative and to seal the deal next week.

The situation in Zambia was perplexing for Roycelandia. Half the Imperial Defence Command wanted to ignore it and focus on Angola, and the other half wanted a 50/50 resource split to deal with both situations at once.

IFL troops are reportedly on the ground in Zambia, undertaking reconnaisance, but it would appear the Roycelandian involvement in the Zambian Affair is limited to arms supply at the present moment...

Baghdad, United Elias

..."You let what happen?" The President paused, his fierce brown eyes staring down his intelligence and military chiefs along the table, prepared to launch into a half hour diatribe, he realised it would be a wasted effort. Instead he would have to act, "Who responsible for us not even having any policy to stop Lusaka annexing West Zambia?" His voice was measured and calm, but the tone still conveyed enough venom that the room fell quiet.

The President rose from his position at the head of the mahogany conference table, causing them all to stand bolt up right, he then walked pursposefully around the table to the most junior person in the room, The Foreign Affairs Ministry's Southern Africa chief who's job it was to co-ordinate between intelligence and the military as well as recommending courses of action. The man turned around to face the President, bowing his head in shame "Sir, I apologise profusely, we didn't see the need to burden you with this issue, since all of our attention seems to be turned towards Cabinda and Angola."

"So you do not think its important that West Zambia has been annexed, with the assistance of Zimbabwean troops, showing that the UAR is expanding and trying to increase its sphere of influence, well you must be stupid as well as indolent then. We have no room for bureaucrats running our Africa policy, you are dismissed."

The man picked up his briefcase and left the room, and the President returned to his chair, pasuign theatrically before speaking, "Will someone please find General Krieger and drag him out of retirement, I want to see him at his earliest personal convenience...screw his convenience, just get him here." Major-General Krieger the commander of the Gabon invasion force, had been forced into early retirement as he was the one who had ordered the MOAB attack which vapourised Bouee, and although that had been a tactical success, the controversy surroudning it placed too much pressure on the Army and at least one head had to roll. Now it was time for him to return and takeover the Africa policy team, to reverse a cycle of errors and half-hearted ventures and give a new direction, a firm direction.

The United African Republic of Lusaka

Here, as in Zimbabwe, the West Zambian crisis was not such big news as one may have expected. It got some coverage as state media spoke of the good that was being done, but the slight economic recovery was headline material, modest though its extent may have been. People had still been better off under Igomo’s Social Progress Party, but at least things were better than they had been a couple of months ago.

But on the streets, volunteers were handing out independent newspapers and pamphlets criticising the LUAN Party for its over-all poor management of the economy, its allowance of Zimbabwean atrocity and its treatment of the white population at home, and its blundering in West Zambia. Not to mention the original coup itself, which many had been content to accept or even support at the time.

Near West Zambia, Commonwealth militia leaders have enjoyed a roaring trade in arms, and believe themselves to have been selling to Lusakan ANP soldiers, after having been approached by tall men in Lusakan uniform (or at least parts there of), speaking in Lusakan accents. When, later, more ANP troops arrived in the border regions to question militia leaders, officers were surprised to hear that their men had, apparently, already been here.

The WZ-PMO was by now seriously pressuring ANP forces in country and making territorial gains against them, usually held back only by limited Lusakan air power. The death toll on all sides had by now reached four figures.

Lusakan Combat units would also find themselves facing WZ-PMO irregulars armed with Roycelandian weapons. Oddly, the weapons weren't new, suggesting that either Roycelandia had learnt NOT to give 3rd world guerrillas shiny new guns, or else the arms were coming from somewhere else...

*Attempt to interact with SSA from AMW*

IC:

The Hindustani government, a major supporter (at least in their own minds) of Derek Igomo, is caught totally, although far from uncharacteristically, off guard. After all, for a nation with next to no human intelligence assets save the BBC world service, what could you expect?

The government knows at least that it supports the African Commonwealth and Strathdonia, and doesn't terribly mind Roycelandia. After all, the Hindustani air marshall is currently en route to Port Imperial aboard a container ship along with an Antonov biplane.

So, all in all, it is decided to get in contact with the few friends (more or less) of Hindustan in the region and find out what is going on.

(Just saying sorry again for the delays here. This will continue in a bit, but is waiting on other, seemingly unrelated threads. If I posted now, it'd just be more waffle about isolated engagements or the personal reactions of completely random people, which you can imagine for yourselves anyway.

If anyone's really out of the loop and wondering, Derek Igomo was seriously stressed after two decades in charge of a struggling post-colonial nation that he'd helped to independence from Roycelandia, and the brief Al Khali war tipped him over the edge and he suffered two strokes, the first of which was covered up, while the second left him in a wheelchair. He left for Britain, hoping to negotiate arms deals for the defence against Al Khals, and was called weak for being sick and for being out of the country during a war. Young General Theo Tendyala, Lusaka's most promising military leader, lead an African nationalist coup while Igomo was in London. He had the army behind him, of course, as he was their little star, and got some popular support not by promising to deliver utopia as Igomo was trying to do, but to prevent nightmare in Al Khali invasion, the return of the Roycelandians, the greed of Lusakan whites, the collaboration and imposition of Lusakan Arabs. Igomo was essentially dictator because he was a nice guy and played on human desires for association, community, and prosperity, while Tendyala is dictator because he's a tough guy and plays on human fears of division, loss, and subjugation. Igomo kept Zimbabwe at arms length because he wanted to integrate Lusaka's races, but Tendyala sees ZANUPF as a natural ally in his divide and rule agenda. Now Lusaka and Zimbabwe are engaged in 'multi-national security operations' in tiny West Zambia, which is home to less than a million people, and the Lusakans are getting hammered, purportedly by a tiny rebel group, the West Zambian People's Militia Organisation, which may have received slight Roycelandian aid, which doesn't really account for the force's size or efficiency.
Of course, not all Lusakans took Tendyala's LUAN Party coup lying down...)

Just a totally OOC comment here- With Igomo now out of the way, the Roycelandian attitude towards him has changed markedly, and it's even rumoured that Imperial Pharmaceuticals might be supplying him with medicine for next to nothing. He's shown in a good light in the Media, and seems to generally be regarded as "A good sport".

Odd how public opinion can be so fickle... ;)

Well, Mr.Derek has great potential as a lovable rogue, and a none-threatening one now that he's clearly wearing his military cap more to cover-up a receeding hairline than to convey strength, and is bound to a wheelchair. Since his strength started to return just a little, and he started planning to join the great air race, Igomo will probably have been appearing often in front of BBC cameras during his time in London, giving his distinctive belly laugh and rambling on about the good old days.

Oddly, he hasn't used the attention to campaign very hard for international intervention against the LUsakan African Nationalist Party, though he has made it clear that, in his opinion, things are a lot worse in Lusaka without him.

In truth they're worse still in West Zambia, but that doesn't really seem to have caught the world's eye in light of conflict in East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

The Hindustani government has, even in light of the massive conflict in Asia, expressed interest in sending a team of diplomats to Lusaka to meet with the new leadership and determine its viability for trade with the subcontinent.

Secretary of the Republic Mini Sinkala, appointed by President General Theodore Tendyala following his Lusakan United African Nationalist Party (or LUAN) lead coup against Igomo's Social Progress Party, extends (New Lusaka) City's willingness to host a Hindustani delegation.

They will be shown the sights. The international airport, built by an ambitious SPP government that never fully realised its ambitions, but which did handle a good deal of Igovian trade if nothing else, will be superficially tidied-up, and Igomo's Soviet-era limo cleaned of Tendyala's excesses in fast food.

(The still only twenty-something year-old General allowed in the first ever Quinntonian and Nicobarese fast food outlets, largely for his own use, and, as with other enterprises that otherwise would not survive in poor Lusaka, where most people do not use currency, periodically orders that they be granted cash subsidies to keep them in country. A new foreign chain store or native knock-off pops-up from time to time when Tendyala gets a new flavour of the month, or finds that he'll have to spend time in a remote town with no amenities, and imagines that he'll fancy a burger or an afternoon at the cinema while he's staying there.)

New Lusaka City is still not a terribly bad looking place, by post-colonial African standards. In parts it easily rivals Strathdonian towns in most ways, and its lay-out is fairly easy to negotiate. It was built from almost nothing inside the last twenty-five or so years, and so could be planned quite efficiently. The latest additions went up less than a decade ago when the main road was properly surfaced and new tower-blocks were erected by the Igomo government to replace crumbling twenty-year old developments obviously built on the cheap just after the bloody anti-Roycelandian revolution of the late seventies. There are more hospitals, schools and colleges, governmental administration buildings, military bunkers and checkpoints, and public facilities from pools to museums than one would care to shake a stick at, but going in to most of them would reveal a poor state of repair and extremely limited use of the rest, usually by LUAN Party bigshots and their favoured friends and families. Even the army facilities tend to be empty, as Lusaka slips, according to a recent UN report, from fielding once the largest army in Africa to only the second largest per capita in Sub-Saharan Africa, and continues to decline while the once small police force goes in the opposite direction.

Mrs.Sinkala will blame a criminal element in the migrant West Zambian population, and go so far as to accuse remaining white Roycelandian colonials -only a few thousand strong since alleged but largely unrecognised Mugabe-like persuasions* on land reform- and pro-Al Khali Zanzibar Arabs of encouraging inequality and crime. Thus the police presence is required, and the army down-sizing is held as evidence of more peaceful intentions since Igomo's fall (while his supporters, where they can get away with it, claim that Igomo's army was required to prevent Roycelandian invasion and to defend African nations like Gabon from Roycelandian and United Elias imperialism, which Tendyala would, they say, allow to go relatively unchecked).

Where poverty is impossible to hide, LUAN will claim it as evidence of the need for trade with Hindustan, but will try to avoid talking about Beth Gellert when looking for sympathy on the drastic drop in international aid since Igomo left.

*At least one shallow mass grave containing the machete-hacked remains of fourteen ethnic Roycelandian farmers lies undiscovered near Mpika in the Muchinga mountains of Lusakan Zambia, under land now worked by native subsistence farmers.

The Canberra touches down in Lusaka city without much fuss, and the team of four diplomats steps out from what would usually have been the bomb bay.

All in all, it shouldn't be difficult to get Hindustan to distribute very cheap medecins for AIDS and the long list of diseases that ravage Africa yet are very treatable by western standards. However, the diplomats will probably note a shift towards a bureaucratic police state type of situation. This will probably make the Hindustani government quite uneasy.

(OOC: Hee, now this has been in the offing for months, and I got impatient and decided to jump ahead and get to it. This takes place after the Roycelandian-organised air race, and if that still ends up being RP'd as a stand-alone thing I'll happly go back in time to take part, though ultimately the Lusakan contribution is already decided. A few parts of the RP are already arranged, but far from all of it :) )

West Zambia

The PMO had stepped-up its campaign during recent weeks, hitting ANP forces hard with more conventional and large scale attacks. They were clearly encouraged by early success against primarily Lusakan forces in the north.

Tendyala's reaction was fairly extreme, however. It took days in coming as the Army of Lusaka struggled to shift forces scores and even hundreds of miles with fuel stocks almost entirely depleted; roads, rails and rolling stock unmaintained since the coup; and army vehicles falling into disrepair.

Eventually, West Zambia was infused with several thousand Lusakan infantry, ordered to carry out acts of total war against the WZ-PMO and those associated with it. In New Lusaka City and Harare this was presented as a pre-planned snare to catch the rogues and terrorists destabilising West Zambia, and a great act of regional responsibility on the part of the two ANP governments. The PMO looked doomed as the truly minute nature of their numbers was revealed. Probably not more than a couple of hundred West Zambians -if even more than a few dozen- were up in arms against the African National Pact's several thousand troops. Still, there were continued incidents in which seemingly superior ANP forces were apparently led up the garden path or simply out fought, which was a mystery to everyone observing the conflict between soldiers trained in better days under Igomo and a tiny rabble of subsistence farmers with only as many guns as they could loot from the enemy. Over all, it did not look good for the resistance.

Life in Lusaka continued to get worse, too. Everything continued: the collapse of poorly kept soil, people survivng by growing vegetables on top of public buildings and in the streets, orphan children sheltering in sewer outflows and growing tomatoes in the filth, formerly Social Progress Party-funded programmes and enterprises shutting down. At least there was a class of happy people, now. Those close to the LUAN Party leadership had taken-over hotels and the like in the absence of high-class housing in the equal republic that Igomo built, and were fast running up the previously controlled national debt and sinking more than half of any received aid and trade revenues into building and buying second homes in Lusaka and abroad, usually in South Africa or the African Commonwealth.

Eastern Gabon wasn't having fun, either. A small number of Lusakan troops sent by Igomo had provided the independent republic with security, but neglected by a disinterested LUAN government they'd received no pay and few supplies in months and had begun to degenerate into more an ill-disciplined army of occuptation than a force for protection.

Over Lake Victoria

Daniel Seswe's teeth were almost chattering with nerves, in stark contrast to Derek Igomo's giant grin as the Lusakan pair flew far away from the designated course, dropping low in an effort to evade radar as the deposed president chattered away about countermeasures and such.
"Lusaka!" Cried Igomo, looking from window to charts and gauges and back to the window again. "Lusaka!" Seswe joined, his voice cracking slightly.

The REA/Lusaka border had seen increasing numbers of Refugees trying to get out of Lusaka and move to REA, where there's actually food and shelter and work (OK, it's usually crap work, but it pays pretty well and there's free healthcare).

His Majesty was pleased with this development, as he usually was with anything that made Lusaka look bad...

The Hindustani government, previously concerned with Lusaka's welfare, and now altogether horrified at its present condition, makes it known to Derek Igomo that he will recieve Hindustani support, as much as it can be, in the event of a return to power.

Without much of an intelligence service, Hindustan relies on foreign agencies and international reporters to report on the goings-on of planet earth outside India. Therefore, there might be several enterprising freelance journalists on Hindustani payroll.

It is not impossible that some of those might be in West Zambia reporting on the conflict there.

The Indian Ocean (AKA The Igovian Ocean ;) )

The Creiddylad cruised at a little over five hundred kilometres per hour -somewhat better than three hundred and twenty miles per hour- her Traedycawr turbofans keeping the five thousand tonne dragon several metres above the water as the great wing-in-ground-effect vehicle's maiden voyage (trials aside) took her ostensibly towards Roycelandian East Africa in part of a good will tour half-heartedly discussed between Roycelandia and the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth.

Probably, the Roycelandians hadn't expected the Red Dragon to be mounting TLACM's, anti-shipping missiles, torpedoes, and SAMs; nor to be carrying 11 Commando GSIC's twenty-one hundred troops plus over five hundred tonnes of supplies and equipment. Nor, one suspects, did they imagine that the Igovian vehicle would skip past their territory and on to Lusakan waters... or skies... whichever was applicable.

But that's exactly what she did, just minutes behind Derek Igomo's plane as it left the course of the Roycelandian Great Air Race and hopped into the United African Republic.

"Zanzibar ahoy! Comrades, ready!" Brigadier-General Ariamnes Jones-Jones-of-Killiveddy (pronounced unfortunately partly by Tamil and partly by Welsh conventions, causing most foreigners to choke on their own bile before approximating the proper sounds) spoke into the Dragon's internal communication system. Moments later, with several missiles loosed in who knows how many directions, the huge contraption had splashed down into the water and then raced up on to the beach, probably trapping herself in the process but properly delivering over two thousand of the world's best fighting men and women on to little Zanzibar Island in an operation co-ordinated with pro-Social Progress Party sympathisers and timed to co-incide with Igomo's weapons drop to the so called "West Zambian People's Militia Organisation", which in truth was.. exactly that, and not the seventeenth division of anything fled since any coup drove anybody out of any other country in the words of one Civil Servant who wouldn't dream of divulging any information just to make himself look cool by association.
Moments later and GSIC commandos were forcing the gaolbreak of one Livingstone Miyanda, and handing to him the Igomo-designed flag of gold vulture on green field and red band...

Zanzibar Island

The little garrison hardly resisted the Beddgelen landing, being completely shocked by the on rushing ekranoplan, something the likes of which they had never before seen. There was no point trying to fight after that- if the two thousand commandos had come ashore in rowing boats they'd probably not have met much opposition. Miyanda looked tired and even thinner than usual, but his great height provided ample platform for the flag he proudly received before taking control of the island from its LUAN Party governor, who soon replaced him in prison.

West Zambia

Here it was already over. Igomo's Preston landed, the crates of surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles unloaded and put in the hands of men following Tanko and Mwari, those giant men in Lusakan fatigues as described by arms dealers on the Commonwealth border, those men responsible for turning West Zambian farmers into crack guerrilla fighters- armed in part with Roycelandian-donated weapons. These men had soundly thrashed the ANP forces of Tendyala and Mugabe, and had followed up with a thrust into Lusaka-proper, leaving Zimbabwe to her own devices. Alone they may have been halted by large Lusakan army formations, but with Igomo landed in the United African Republic, those forces were far from interested in a clash with the Revolutionary Alliance Corps' infamous 17th Division, and joined the counter coup almost without exception.

New Lusaka City

"Lusaka, Lusaka, Lu-sa-ka! Lusaka, Lusaka, Luuuu... [Crunch! Crunch!]"
Thousands chanted, one might say howled, lungs filled with free air and busting with pride; the crunches being result of machete hilts, rifle butts, and spear shafts struck against the hides of traditional shields kept by many Lusakans as scant tie to pre-colonial times -something encouraged by the revolutionary SPP and nationalist LUAN alike- or else made in recent months by men too desperately poor to acquire complicated or modern arms and reduced to making the absolute most of their dying livestock, and if not that then against makeshift shields of scrap taken off the streets and on improvised drums.

It was epic. Some parts of the world -Korea, Eastern Europe- had recently seen massive mobilisations for war, putting one in fifty, one in twenty people into the defence of a nation. In Lusaka, perhaps five million men, young and old, were risen with nothing to lose and in defence of not just a way of life, but a means of survival... under LUAN they were starving, and their saviour of old -Derek Igomo, revolutionary leader and martyr of Roycelandian arrest come good in Roycelandian public opinion- was home. The people were leaving nothing when they picked up army-issue rifle, disused ex-service machinegun, revolutionary Boxer-Henry .45 (and a bayonet, with some guts behind it), molotov cocktail of stolen fuel, sling or hide shield and spear of idle unemployed construction, or machete of farm work. If they left to fight for change, what would happen? The economy would collapse? Their families would go hungry? This was already so! It was the reason for their rising! The African People's Volunteer Army meant that most had access to some sort of weapon, even if it was obsolete and in poor condition.

All Luska rumbled with chants, foot stompings, shield beatings, and war cries not sounded in anger or on such a scale since the Roik redcoats first arrived five centuries ago. Mr. Derek was arisen, Miyanda was free, and both Tanko and Mwari returned with the torch of resistance they'd nursed in West Zambia- the real PMO revealed as the 17th Division Vultures, Africa's elite, never surrendered to the anti-Igomo coup, and the true reason for Tendyala's campaign in lawless West Zambia.

Dodoma

In Doddie the chants were all of one word, "Derek!" Mr.Igomo himself was in town and standing proud- supported by two walking sticks and risen from his wheelchair with confidence enough to make one imagine he'd been able to do it for weeks [cough cough], and just timed his recovery really well by some supernatural coincidence.

It was not all wonder and unity, though. Many of the militiamen who stood accused of supporting General Tendyala's coup or of driving whites and Arabs off their land were now being chased through the slums that'd sprung up under Theodore's dictatorship, most doomed to be torn apart by mobs infused with Igomo-fever, though the man himself was certainly not openly calling for such measures to be taken.

Gabon Operations Tactical Command (GOTCOM), West Gabon

The conference room buried deep inside the mostly hidden complex was covered in documents for his review, each showing a very different Gabon than the one General Krieger had left, right after the cease-fire. Opposite him was the Governor of Elias Gabon, Hamid Amir and Lieutenant-General Zahid, commander of all military forces in the region. As the new overseer of all Africa Policy, General Krieger had been flown in as soon as the news broke, barely hours before.

No longer located in central Libreville, but in a mostly underground concrete fortress away from public view, a hectic staff ran around the operations room, seperated by a plate glass panel from the conference room. TV monitors, radios and phones blared out information that Derek was back, only not really, that Beth Gellert had invaded Lusaka, only not really. The situation remained unclarified, the only thing that was certain however was that the UAR was confused, confused enough.

The meeting in the conference room broke up, each official had signed off the relevant paperwork. General Krieger appeared, declaring in a booming room that silenced the building, "'Just Eviction' is a go! Execute Op Order!"

Fire Base Anvil, On the Ogouee River

As dusk descended and the landscape shrouded beneath darkness, the men of the 11th Light Mechanised Brigade, part of the 2nd Expeditionary Infantry Division swung into pre-planned action. They would be the spearhead, and their LAVs would make short work of the distance to Makokou, hopefully without firing many shots. With Tendayla ambivalent to this country and facing a coup, the Vultures busy, and with the government fof the African Commonwealth suitably incentivised to ignore it too, the operation was designed to be peaceful, after all West Gabon, even with the oil exports was still a financial liability, and the huge amounts of investment would be of more use to a united territory.

While final preperations were undetaken, less than an hour after the order, radio messages were being broadcasted all across Gabon, messages from the people of the West to the peoples of the East. The words 'forgotten problem', of course referring to the African powers reluctance to assist their 'African brethren' in East Gabon corresponding nicely with 'fortunate citizens of a prosperous land', backed up by hundreds of statistics showing quite how much the huge Elias investment had improved the quality of life for those in the West. Ironically citizens of West Gabon enjoyed some privilages not enjoyed by those in Elias, universal healthcare and even a system of social security for the unemployed. It was toned down socialism without the punitive tax rates, as the funds would simply be pumped in from outside.

Simultaneously all across the frontier, four divisions prepared to cross the demarcation line within minutes of the 11th LM Brigade, with the ability to call massive artillery barrages down on any resistance that still existed, only as a last resort though. Close to midnight the tanks, armoured vehicles, trucks and troops start to roll Eastwards, with the intention of securing the other half of this country in less than two days. As the operation began the radio messages quickly started to give instructions to the people of East Gabon, they were to remain in their homes, stay calm, and under no circumstances go outside with a weapon. If they followed these steps re-unification would be painless.

Port Imperial, Roycelandian East Africa

"They did WHAT???" exclaimed Governor-General Fry at the news UE was "Annexing" Eastern Gabon.

A communique was prepared asking UE High Command for an explanation, or at least a friendly "Heads Up" next time, whilst G-G Fry considered expanding the Roycelandian bit of Gabon in a similar manner...

Meanwhile, the Colonial Guard posts at the Border were strengthened, and Roycelandian citizens on "Non-Urgent Business" were advised to leave Lusaka immediately. None of these developments were good, and many beleived it was only a matter of time before the shooting started...

Dodoma

There was almost no opposition to Mr.Derek's announcement of a restored Social Progress Party government in the big city, the local army units inspired to see Igomo's return in similar light to his revolutionary war leadership, marking out the once militarily popular Tendyala as the evil empire. Igomo was keen to make sure Lusakans understood who was not the enemy- the West Zambians, the Roycelandians -he held up a couple of magazines from that nation, featuring his face on the cover and completely free of photoshopped devil horns and the like- even the Zimbabweans.

New Lusaka City

In the capital, where Igomo's presence was not a direct factor, nor Miyanda's or even the uncovered Vultures arriving from West Zambia, Tendyala had gathered around him loyal elements of the army and private security teams. It was not a good position to be in: even the remaining soldiers may yet waver, and the General did not trust the mercenary security officers to stick by him if the situation became desperate. He was trying to call in a helicopter, but finding little co-operation from a military comprised of units either disinterested in his fate, absent from their posts in light of celebrations at his pre-supposed fall, or just in so poor a condition that they were unable to respond.

Eventually, one helicopter -an Mi-24- did lift off from a base east of the capital, and soon appeared in the skies over City.

The Republic of Gabon

Only a few hundred Lusakan soldiers remained stationed in eastern Gabon, and they hadn't been well looked after by City. But they were not Gabon, they were not even Gabonaise. The locals were free to run their own country as if the Roycelandians and Elians hadn't even invaded Gabon to begin with. They'd had to adapt to a reduced interest in the fuel economy, but Igomo, before his fall, had begun to help the locals to set-up their own restored means of production, and -for a tiny African republic- they hadn't done too badly. There'd been no reason that they should, and trade headed through Camaroon, the Commonwealth, and Equatorial Guinea.

The Elias forces crossing into the Republic would be met by Gabonaise forces on the border -representatives of an army not more than a couple of thousand strong in light of the tiny population- armed with what little they had before the invasion and with the personal and crew-served weapons supplied while the Lusakan trains were still running into Gabon.

(OOC: I don't really know what to do about Gabon. I've been treating eastern Gabon as the Republic of Gabon, what remains of the real life nation, and as a none player controlled nation that happened to have some Lusakan troops on hand to deter invasion by player controlled nations. I don't really speak for Gabon or anything.)

The Hindustani government is very happy at the reinstallment of Derek Igomo, and numerous Hindustani foreign service 'tourists' show up at pro-Igomo rallies, snapping pictures and writing.

One such tourist, Fedor Panjeev, finds himself in Dodoma and heads out to meet Igomo, carrying news of a force of 2,000 Hindustani paratroopers that can be airlifted very quickly into New Lusaka City, should he desire any help in ousting the military leadership. The Hindustani paratroopers are probably not as desirable as the Igovian commandos, especially since they would look more at home in 1945 than 2005, but they are useful in a pinch and carry plenty of firepower.

(OOC: Lusaka, where is the Capital of this Republic, and who runs it?)


Gabon

The Relatively sparsely populated 'Republic of Gabon' was putting up little resistance to the Elias forces, some of which had reached Makokou and Okondja. It seemed that while a relatively large minority of the natives seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of unifying their country, it was mostly those who wanted to see relatives in the West, or those who were extremely poor and wanted the oppurtunities for work that West Gabon offered. The rest, were either ambivalent, by far the most commonly held view or an even fewer number who opposed it. Of these even fewer were ready to die in the face of such a large and powerful force.

However, the Republic's excuse for an Army had, in the first moments of Operation 'Just Eviction' managed to destroy some Elias armoured vehicles, taking a total of eleven lives. However, as soon as artillery had been called in the enemy appeared to fall back and disperse, throughout the rest of the night conducting sporadic but at times effective ambushes along the main roads inflicting another few casualties. For this reason the advance had been slowed to allow the supply lines to be consolidated, and to allow West Gabonese security personnel, namely police and civil guard to be brought in to patrol the cities, temporarily until locals could takeover their job.

At GOTCOM, a comminique was sent in response to Roycelandia's, informing them belatedly of UE's intentions, and saying that at the current time their assistance would probably be, due to the political and diplomatic consequences, counterproductive. On the other hand if the situation was to escalate militarily, United Elias would request that Roycelandian forces become actively involved.

The Roycelandian Imperial Guard in Lastoursville are pleasantly surprised to see UE forces advancing on the town, but the Garrison Commander points out that Lastoursville is in Roycelandian Gabon, and whilst UE troops are always welcome in Roycelandian territory, waving guns around and generally acting like they're invading is liable to cause misunderstandings at best, and get people accidentally shot, at worst... ;)

(argh, ok....edited, forgot to check the map...)

Lastoursville Regional Command, Roycelandian Gabon

The Imperial Foreign Legionnaires who returned from their foray into Eastern Gabon reported that the situation in Eastern Gabon was indeed getting worse.

The thought of a "Pre-emptive armed humanitarian mission" was floated, but put on the back-burner for the time being. There were quite enough problems in Roycelandian Gabon without invading Eastern Gabon as well...

Lusaka's recent turmoil was unmatched since the Social Progress Party's stormy birth during the revolution of the late seventies, and calm seemed always to be finding new ways to stay just out of reach in spite of massive progress.

The success of the so called West Zambian People's Militia Organisation in resisting Lusakan and Zimbabwean African National Pact forces had been explained by the revelation that they had been lead in their actions by Colonel George Tanko and Lieutenant Colonel Mwari of the famous Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps 17th Division Vultures, who had fought without success in defence of Igomo's Presidency during General Tendyala's coup and later escaped into West Zambia, provoking Tendyala's invasion of that little state. The Vultures were now driving into Lusaka-proper in support of risings inspired by Igomo's return from London, leaving the actually modest WZ-PMO to restore order in their land with the benefit of captured Army of Lusaka equipment.

Tendyala's support had melted away in the face of corruption and of economic folly that might have been more wisely checked by foreign aid and investment that did not materialise after the fall of oft-demonised Igomo. Mr.Derek himself had achieved unprecedented foreign support during his exile, reportedly even winning some sort of admiration in Roycelandia of all places, and the Lusakan public has turned heavily back in his favour, often referencing his first rise to power in the liberation war as if it applied directly to the current situation. Many army units were supporting the counter-coup after massive downsizing under General Tendyala, a man once seen as one of their own who had since abandoned Igomo's policy of humane interventionalism in Africa, making the military seem useless. This was a mistake that Igomo would attribute to Theo Tendyala's fairly extreme youth for a man of his position.

The Beddgelens had assaulted Zanzibar Island after arriving in the region under the pretence of a Roycelandian tour to celebrate perceived liberalisation of Imperial laws, and had taken the island without serious resistance, freeing former Secretary Livingstone Miyanda.

Derek Igomo's well timed return after deviating from the course of the Roycelandian Great Air Race was coupled with his partial recovery from a second stroke that had left him crippled, the icon tenderly standing before admiring countrymen and supported by two walking sticks but smiling broadly.

But now the reactionary imperialists had taken advantage of Lusaka's struggles, invading the sovereign nation of Gabon as Lusakan protection was at its lowest.

Gabon

The small Lusakan contingents in Gabon had barely begun to celebrate news of Igomo's return, hopefully speaking of payment in the near future, or even of relief from months of duty. The outbreak of war was absolutely the last thing they wanted, and it pretty well pissed them off. They were deployed approximately one platoon to each of the Republic's few small towns: Makokou, Okandja, Mékambo, Belinga, and near Ovan and Booué. Those near the latter two were of course cut-off by the initial Elias advance, and unable to resist or withdraw, but like those further back, the somewhat distressed men stood too, refusing to allow the attackers to tred on their positions. They were not so brash as to open fire on the evidently superior forces approaching, but with hope looming over Lusaka they were not keen to be trampled back down or even captured and disalowed from sharing in their nation's possible recovery.

Radio reports sparkled with descriptions of Mr.Derek's warm smile and his defiant rising from his wheelchair, describing him in saintly terms, and some of the Lusakans in Gabon had acquired Roycelandian magazines from across the border, and turned pictures from friendly articles on Igomo into posters adorning their basic living quarters, a practice some had begun to encourage in any locals apt to see Igomo as a black African crusader for the unity they desired- one voluntary and African in opposition to force as applied by the foreigners (or the corrupt Tendyala).

(I'm not sure what would be the Republican capital. Officially I'm sure it's still Libreville, but in practical administration I'm not sure. I'd assume one of the eastern towns, close to the border across which Lusakan aid was originally flowing and far from the fighting that initially threatened to over-run all the Republic, so maybe Belinga,
Mekambo, or Okandja... I can hardly remember the war.)

Dodoma

Mr.Derek Igomo met the Hindustani with enthusiasm, the familiar grin never seeming to leave his gradually strengthening face, though his eyes perhaps continued to hint at an under-lying tiredness as he fought to hide the strain with which he kept his upright posture while away from his chair. He said that he would not want to ask Hindustanis to risk themselves in the resolution of Lusaka's internal divisions, but that he did fear terribly for the Gabonaise people and their democratic republic without Lusaka's protection. He thought that Roycelandia and United Elias would not be so kind as India in light of Africa's many troubles.

Fedor tells Igomo that Hindustan will do its best to solve the Gabonese situation, and also says that plenty of economic aid can be expected in the months and years to come. Igomo is probably Hindustan's favorite African leader currently, and it is not difficult to assume that Hindustan might also want Lusaka to annex Mozambique.

The United African Republic of Lusaka

This land was once again living up to its title as Lusakans came together behind Mr.Derek, his perceived softness in the face of Al Khali aggression forgiven and after Miyanda's rough treatment even seen in a new light of relative wisdom. Most Lusakans even appreciated their first President's ability to win international support as they swapped stories of the fantastic vehicle aboard which the Beddgelen Marines had arrived on Zanzibar Island to free the never really unpopular Miyanda and saw Igomo meeting with Hindustanis promising to support Lusakans and help to end hardships.

Miyanda hadn't managed to win any new allies even amongst the imperialists that had opposed Igomo, despite the fact that he'd removed Derek for them. After decades of Igomo's continent-wide crusading for African liberation and unity, Lusakans weren't the world's greatest isolationists and hadn't appreciated being so isolated.

For now, Miyanda was still running, a tiny cadre of loyal soldiers and co-conspirators with him, but already Igomo -returned to the Presidency- was speaking of forgiveness for young Theo's mistakes. Mr.Derek spoke of the remarkably young General as, "the boy" and implied that it was easier to do good things when he was a young man and it was obvious what had to be done (reject Roycelandian authority).

In truth, General Theodore Tendyala had fled across the border... to Zimbabwe. He would shortly present himself to Mugabe and begin to seek support for a second attempt on the Lusakan presidency, already trying to hire mercenaries from across southern Africa, to be paid with money stolen from the treasury before he fled and later with spoils of any victorious campaign.

Igomo, meanwhile, was being asked to accept a version of Tendyala's old, long-winded title, and was said to be considering the matter.

Large sums of money empty forth from the coffers of Hindustani foreign aid and land at the feet of the Lusakan people. Money to establish modern infrastructure and money to feed the hungry. The popular congress has offered to send advisors to Lusaka if need be, skilled engineers and craftsmen who can be used to either build or teach Lusakans. It is hoped that the sum of aid sent to Igomo's state will be more than enough to replace what Tendyala purloined.

Also, the popular congress again offers to deploy Hindustani paras in Lusaka, in an advisory or combat-ready role. It is hoped that the presence of a significant force of Hindustani troops will be enough to discourage various less-progressive elements in the region.

http://www.dday-overlord.com/photos/pgb/pgb30.jpg

A group of typical Hindustani paras, probably photographed in the mountainous border region with Afghanistan. Note the unusual Sten Mk. VII SMG, a modification of the second world war-vintage Sten that was not widely adopted.

Kinshasa

Overjoyed to see Igomo's return to power, Mr. Ndelebe profusely praised the foreign powers backing Derek's return to power; taking time out of several conferences dealing with the French take-over of Algeria. Not only would half a million dollars worth of Commonwealth credits be allotted to rebuild Lusakan cities, CAF commanders were also discretely given the go-ahead to "ensure solidarity with the Social Progress Party" in the contested Lusakan areas near the southeast Commonwealth, should any anti-Lusakan militia remain.

Okondja, eastern Gabon

What few Commonwealth peacekeepers remained inside Okondja peacefully submitted a communique to the advancing UE contingents as to whether they would consider CAF militiamen hostile. In case this was so, retreat would be immediate by airlift.

While considered a "yellow" move by most observers, slighted CAF commanders swore revenge on the United Elias in their bunkers, reviewing plans for reconnoitring the Gabonaise air and ground for weak points.

Even His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I was privately pleased to see "Mr. Derek" back in charge in Lusaka, and had apparently offered construction materials and technical advice to help rebuild some of the areas affected during the Al Khals/Lusaka war...

Prime Minister Chaffin has stated his willingness to broker a peace settlement in Gabon, and suggests that in return for Elias forces moving back across the demarcation line, and the removal of all foreign African forces from East Gabon, the UK would be willing to deploy troops to maintain the security of East Gabon, and act as a buffer between the two states. Due to us maintaining relatively good terms with both sides, we believe we are in a unique position of neutrality and can prevent any further conflict in this area.

In an unrelated move, and as part of a long planned exercise to improve military co-operation between NATO states, the Royal Air Force will be deploying aircraft to Roycelandian East Africa. This includes 14 and 617 Squadrons equipped with the Tornado GR.4, 43 Squadron equipped with the Typhoon F.1 and a pair of VC-10 tankers detatched from 101 Squadron.

Prime Minister Chaffin has stated his willingness to broker a peace settlement in Gabon, and suggests that in return for Elias forces moving back across the demarcation line, and the removal of all foreign African forces from East Gabon, the UK would be willing to deploy troops to maintain the security of East Gabon, and act as a buffer between the two states. Due to us maintaining relatively good terms with both sides, we believe we are in a unique position of neutrality and can prevent any further conflict in this area.

In an unrelated move, and as part of a long planned exercise to improve military co-operation between NATO states, the Royal Air Force will be deploying aircraft to Roycelandian East Africa. This includes 14 and 617 Squadrons equipped with the Tornado GR.4, 43 Squadron equipped with the Typhoon F.1 and a pair of VC-10 tankers detatched from 101 Squadron.

With a sizable contingent of paras deployed in Lusaka, the Government makes it known that Hindustani troops would be available as peacekeepers in East Gabon. The government restates its commitment to international development and would very much like to see East Gabon in a reasonable state.

Meanwhile, Paras continue to help round up the members of the old Junta. Many of Tendyala's men find themselves facing down an R. 130 rocket launcher or an FV101 light tank, and are promptly cuffed and lead away into one of the Hindustan Airborne Forces' Mahindra Islamabad jeeps.

In response to the British offer, United Elias sends out communiques also expressing sentiments for reconciliation. It is made clear that the priorities of the UE government is to maintain its toehold in Africa that is safe from external threat. The President is firmly committed to drawing down troop numbers in the Gabon theatre, for the reason that it is quite uneconomical to keep such a large presence so far away, in somewhere so small and comparitively impoverished.

Therefore, UE would agree to removing all its military forces back to the West of the previously agreed demarcation line, under the following terms:

-East Gabon becomes de-militarised with the exception of the agreed third party, the UK who would be responsible for internal security, and to prevent aggression on either side (we would accept Hindustanis only as observers, after all you did just help Igomo).

-The agreed third party state guarantees the peace, and automatically is at war with any belligerent party. Each of the signatry parties (UE, Roycelandia, Lusaka and AC) would sign non-aggression agreements with each other covering the Gabon area.

-The demarcation line ceases to be a closed border, allowing free passage and trade between East and West Gabon.

-As a sign of good faith, the African Commonwealth should significantly decrease the number of military forces on the Gabon-AC border.

Roycelandia has indicated that it will sign the Gabonaise Non-Aggression Treaty, and points out that the border between Roycelandian Equatorial Africa (South-West Gabon) and Eastern Gabon is more or less open anyway...

After a significant period spent deliberating, Parliament decides to offer HNS Zanzibar, a Zanzibar class monitor, to UAR Lusaka.

The vessel will not be completely free (after all, they did cost a pretty penny to build), but will be available at a heavily reduced cost. The Zanzibar class is something of a controversial series, even with the third example not even in the water. While they all carry heavy guns, capable of taking on Roycelandian dreadnoughts, they are very weak in ASW, AA, and AsSW equipment. As such, the Lusakan MoD will be given the option of having the ship refitted, should they take the offer. A likely refit would remove the big 15" turret (the very weapons system that the Zanzibar was designed for), and replace it with three 4-missile Sea Eagle box launchers. The aft 6" will likely be retained, but SR. 2 ASW rockets will be added and an improved SAM system will be fitted as well.

Word is that another vessel, the Timor, could be offered to Strathdonia if Lilongwe ends up with a deep-water port. The same refit option would be included in such a purchase.

The third (and as of yet unfinished) Zanzibar class monitor might not see service as intended. It is quite possible that the hull will be used to accomodate a large mine warfare vessel instead of a gun-armed monitor.

The last time I checked, a Monitor was a small ironclad boat about the same size as something like a US Coastguard Vessel, with a couple of small-medium guns on it.

There is no way that a Monitor could go toe-to-toe with a Roycelandian Dreadnought and have any hope whatsoever of winning... hell, an MTB or an Air/Sea Rescue Launch could expect to come off pretty well against a Monitor.

Unless Monitor in this sense is referring to something else, in which case I'm clearly mistaken.

Its along the lines of a ww1/2 coastal defence/bombarment monitor, like the Uk erebus (SP?) class, basically a single battleship turret mounted on a destroyer sized hull, basically all guns and armour and bugger all engine.

OOC: In that case, yes, they might be able to do some damage to a Dreadnought. I'd still put my money on, say, the IRNS Ernst Blofeld over the LNS Zanzibar, however...

Well a monitor would likely have problems agaisnt anything of battle criuser size and up.
mind you thats on thier own, mix them in with a huge scale boghammer attack and loads of missiles and it is a whole different ball game.

OOC: In that case, yes, they might be able to do some damage to a Dreadnought. I'd still put my money on, say, the IRNS Ernst Blofeld over the LNS Zanzibar, however...

OCC: I was basing the Zanzibar on the Erebus class monitors, so they're not that poorly armed when it comes to guns. They've got a very low profile to boot, but aren't very fast.

The HDF has more or less realized its mistake in building them and has decided that other countries might benefit from them more than Hindustan. The monitors weren't ever intended to attack battleships one-on-one, mind you. They were built to fight the French Cherbourg vessels as part of a massive combined arms assault...in essence to keep the French guns busy as more lightly-armored ships launch missiles.

New Lusaka City

The Social Progress Party government is inclined to agree to peace in Gabon, since that has always been the Lusakan position: the United African Republic had no major interest in Gabon until it was violently attacked by United Elias, which is a fact repeated several times at every consultation on the matter. This theme continues to be expressed as Baghdad attempts to dictate terms that could not be more hypocritical if designed for it.

Still, Lusaka has only a couple of hundred military personnel in Gabon -which, Secretaries will point out, never posed a threat to Elias interests- and as such has little to lose by withdrawing combat assets (though medical staff, teachers, diplomats, and other liason officers employed by the military are planning to remain). Igomo's government makes a big fuss about how it is prepared to make such a move in good faith even though it is fighting on the side that has been repeatedly attacked without cause by a superior force. This must be recognised and appreciated in relation to the rest of any treaty, says City.

This is largely raised in relation to the apparently scathing dig at Hindustani neutrality compared to the UK -Roycelandia's NATO ally and traditional friend of United Elias- since Hindustan has never commited an act of aggression in Gabon nor supported such acts. It appears that Igomo's restored government is now sure enough of its domestic position for the big man to begin moving back towards the African crusader status that he formerly wore so well. Lusaka is now less prepared to give-up the Gabonese people to an extra-African rightist conglomeration.

Secretary Colin Olongwe has decided to put the UE proposal in context by placing a Lusakan equivalent on the table, thus allowing the really neutral to understand the situation. It should be noted that the Lusakan ideal would be for the Republic of Gabon to be restored and for free elections to be held under multi-national supervision from volunteer organisations and established democratic governments (which of course would exclude the dictatorship of United Elias). Still, the proposal put by Olongwe is meant to mimic the spirit of the UE proposition from the opposing standpoint:

-All present foreign combat forces withdraw from Gabon, East, South, and West.

-Hindustan or other willing 3rd parties -ideally a multi-national security force- provides short-term security in Gabon

-Under this supervision, the internal borders should be opened

-Free elections be held in each sector, under multi-national observation and with 3rd party security arrangements

-Some time following the completion of such elections, referenda be held in all sectors on the issue of eventual reunification as a confederation

-Olongwe also proposes that the Gabonese administrations in each sector be disallowed from forming military organisations while under 3rd party protection; this is to prevent in-fighting by factions with differing views on reunification, and to avoid subversion of foreign demilitarisation by arming pro-UE/Lusaka/Roycelandia militant formations.


Zanzibar

Once a Commonwealth naval base, the island's east coast was now home to no small part of Lusakan naval command: an authority that controlled four ASW helicopters, three aged corvettes, and an under-equipped light patrol frigate. At its height, the navy had been... well, slightly less rusty and plus one corvette.

Needless to say, Igomo's return and the possible start of another trademark Lusakan economic turn-around -as corruption went on the run, aid-doner confidence rose, and public works kicked in along the copperbelt and elsewhere- meant that the nation's rather limited naval tradition was in line for a bit of a boost.

Olongwe, Igomo, and Miyanda had already been approached about the possibility of operating a Nibiru Class assault carrier with Commonwealth assistance, apparently as part of a wider programme to make Roycelandia think twice about crossing the Soviets. This project wasn't looking all that likely to become a reality, seeming generally too ambitious. But the Lusakans were much more hopeful over the recent announcement of the sixty-strong Hound Class D/E submarine's phasing out of Soviet service, and it appeared that the UARL was preparing facilities to accept submarine operation for the first time in its history.

A low-key public announcement saw Olongwe declare that the nation's four surface combatants were to be brought out of service, some broken up for scrap and others possibly used for rare target practice and sunk as artificial reefs in the nation's fairly significant environmentalist efforts.

The Defence Secretary also spoke of his hope to maintain Lusakan military spending greater than two billion Quinntonian dollars yearly as he discussed hopes to see the old surface assets replaced with two or three of the new Indian joint multi-role corvettes, though he was not clear enough to distinguish between the Bengal and Gujarat configurations. It is evident that Lusaka's current armoury has more in common with Soviet than Hindustani arrangements. The Lusakan Navy would also look into acquiring lighter fast attack craft and missile boats in greater numbers, and saw other issues as unresolved.

Amphibious capability seemed something worth considering, as the Republic supposed that any conflict with Roycelandia would be fought on the enemy's terms unless REA territory could be penetrated to some degree, if only by significant commando forces, which would acquire avoison of major static defences on land; and that greater deterrance was now required in future Lusaka/Al-Khals relations after the latter nation's failed invasion of the former. The Navy is considering acquisition of small numbers of tank and utility landing craft, and fast personnel insertion craft.

With these things said, it is still not absolutely confirmed that the UARL will not acquire its first aircraft carrier, though it does look highly unlikely, but with this probability in mind there may be scope for the entry into service of a Hindustani-built monitor. Certainly this would be a significant prestiege item for the long-suffering Lusakan nation, and potentially a mark of confidence in and for the restored Igomo government, though it would require that the SPP live up to all its best expectations or risk being accused of unwise... showboating. It might discourage a Roycelandian gunboat policy, though there are in the modern world other ways to carry out such strategies. More likely it would be a good platform from which heavy guns might disrupt Al Khali coastal thrusts towards mainland Zanzibar, and might have limited potential as a disruptive gun platform towards the northern border, too. These things all mean that it is unlikely that the Republic would be keen to see the 15" guns removed, as they would arguably un-man such a Lusakan Navy's centrepiece.

With the UARL's requirements coming in, the Daman arsenal quickly covers up the fact that it had already begun removing Zanzibar's 15"s, and with equal speed reinstalls them.

The monitor is quickly finished up, and Lusakan navy officers are invited to come and see it for themselves. The 15" guns are considered quite a piece of work, being the largest naval armaments produced in Hindustan ever. While they aren't quite up to the standards of a Bedgellen 16" or comparable Roycelandian rifle, they can lob big shells upwards of 35 kilometers inland. The 6" secondary turret is a handy piece of equipment as well.

As for the aquisition of a few Joint Indian Corvettes, it will certainly be possible. After all, the program was initially intended to encompass many more nations than it eventually did, so there are surplus production facilities. It is suggested that the UARL go with the Gujarat, a slightly more well-rounded vessel than the HDF's Bengal. Well, it has a bigger main gun anyway, bigger than the Bengals' 35mm.

The Defense Committe anxiously awaits the Strathdonian response, and also considers selling the New Britain to The African Commonwealth, although it looks like the HDF will be keeping at least one monitor for itself.

Kinshasa

After a prolonged silence on matters outside the Commonwealth, treaties were deliberated on. Ndelebe was keen to sign the Lusakan non-agression treaty, both for it's apparent reason in maintaining African unity, but likely also to spite the Elians and their proposal. African Democratic Union and African Right concerns are on the rise in the face of the presidents non-compliant attitude, citing the gruesome costs of the last war, and the president will likely be forced to follow their conformist path if he wants to stay in office. Of course, the opposition racously oppose any treaties, and especially the christian democrats and Nwabudike James' Secular party are calling for open defiance of Elian and Roycelandian presence.

On the naval front, chief admiral Zekes Mendenagabe of the Commonwealth Naval Force expressed great interest in the New Britain. The CNF was the least prioritized of the four armed branches in the Commonwealth, but given the staggering defense budget(even after the defense grants were slashed drastically at the formation of the new democratic government, Defense still remains the main priority of the AC economy, along with commerce and law enforcement) the CNF still had a rather large allowance it had not used yet. However, it would be ideal if the monitor vessel could have its communications and guns upgraded before the CNF overtakes it. If not, it's all good, the Commonwealth can upgrade it themselves if necessary.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry quickly use back channels to inform both the African Commonwealth and the Lusakans that a complete withdrawal from Gabon was quite simply not an option. It would be restated that the intitial offer stands, although Baghdad would be willing to make concessions as to the makeup of the security force in East Gabon (i.e 50% UK, 50% Hindustani), if this would lead to a resolution on the issue. In other the words very much expressed the sentiment that What's mine is mine, what's yours is negotiable.

The diplomats remind Lusaka, and AC, that such an agreement would make future conflict in Gabon very unlikely, and mutually beneficial. Also, it should be noted that within the Elias controlled sector, some elements of democracy will be introduced, and that standards of living in that part far esceed pre-war levels.

Teh Stradonian Enthusiasm for the aquisition of a monitor has notably waned over the past few months. With negotionations over the future of Quelimane still far from settled it is unlikely that the proposed "Coastal Boat Squadron" will have any form of major home port and operating base int he near fuutre. An arrangement with the revived Mozambique govenring bodies to provide a joint coastal security task force and organisation is still thought possible but it is deemed that such an task group would have the scope to use such a vessel.

OOC: in short i would love one but can't see a viable way of feilding it.

OCC: Are you really from Zambia. I also Zambian, I lived in the Makeni rural area. I is good that a Zambian is on NationStates. Make me proud I served as a Zambian Guerrilla.

OOC: I'm afraid not, RR! I just thought that Africa seemed to be under-represented on Nation States when I arrived, or that it was only ever played when some American/European/Arab-style nation decided to build an empire, so I thought that somebody should stick up for the under-dogs, and so Derek Igomo was born :) It seemed like there were no native African societies... maybe I'm not best qualified to do it, but that hasn't stopped me trying.

OOC: I'm afraid not, RR! I just thought that Africa seemed to be under-represented on Nation States when I arrived, or that it was only ever played when some American/European/Arab-style nation decided to build an empire, so I thought that somebody should stick up for the under-dogs, and so Derek Igomo was born :) It seemed like there were no native African societies... maybe I'm not best qualified to do it, but that hasn't stopped me trying.

OCC: I still want to give you props for using Lusaka. Well, Carry on with your thread.

Parliament, not wishing to inflame tensions with United Elias, doesn't try to push too hard for the Lusakan agreement, but does voice its displeasure over Elian policies, even going so far as to call them imperialistic and corrupt.

Gabonese self-determination is advocated, but at the same time Parliament is not keen to see too much friction develop between Hindustan and UE. After all, the HN's not exactly a world-beating service, and is only effective when not fighting a competent, powerful navy.

On the navy front, former-HNS Timor is readied for sale (at a heavy discount, although slightly less than that awarded to Lusaka or offered to Strathdonia) to The African Commonwealth. The ship's systems are already pretty advanced, although compatibility with existing types could be a problem. HDF doctrine calls for reliability, maintainability, and modularity, so conversion shouldn't be incredibly difficult, but it would be helpful to know just what the future operators are looking for.

OCC: Strath, I'll post in Winds of Change soon. We can talk about some kind of Strathdonian/Mozambiquian coastal patrol there.

(Hey, for the record, Hindustan, BG hasn't got any 16" guns. The Gull Flag Class ships carry two triple 11" mountings and three single 6", while Bodkin Frigates carry a single 6" and Gujarat Corvettes a single 3", and I think that's about the sum of our navy's big guns. Lusaka will now have bigger guns than the Soviet Commonwealth.)

(Hey, for the record, Hindustan, BG hasn't got any 16" guns. The Gull Flag Class ships carry two triple 11" mountings and three single 6", while Bodkin Frigates carry a single 6" and Gujarat Corvettes a single 3", and I think that's about the sum of our navy's big guns. Lusaka will now have bigger guns than the Soviet Commonwealth.)

OCC: Oh, I thought your Gull Flags had 16-inchers. Well...erm...

Taking time out from their busy semi-professional music careers ( ;) ), President Derek Igomo and Defence Secretary Colin Olongwe have laid out the likely future shape of the Lusakan Navy. Though the Navy's three commands combine to form a force that still seems modest, it compares well to a historical high of just over five thousand tons total displacement for the Navy that was smaller than its neighbour's coastguard.

The intended form of the navy is specified below, though deliveries are not yet complete.

Indian Ocean Fleet:
Chwaka Bay, Zanzibar Island; Tanga; Dar es Salaam
1 Zanzibar Class Monitor
2 Revolution Class Multi-Role Corvettes
3 Mamba Class Diesel-Electric Patrol/Attack Submarines
7 Mbu Class Missile Boats
3 Twiga Class Mine Countermeasures Vessels
2 Kiboko Class Landing Craft Utility
2 Dai Class Hovercraft Assault Vehicles
4 Ka-32BG Super Helix Anti-Ship/Submarine-Warfare Helicopters
3 Preston Anti-Ship/Submarine-Warfare-And-Patrol Aircraft

Lake Victoria Fleet:
Ukerewe Island
3 Mbu Class Missile Boats
1 Twiga Class Mine Countermeasures Vessel
1 Dai Class Hovercraft Assault Vehicle

Lake Tanganyika Fleet:
Kigoma
2 Mbu Class Missile Boats

Total:
4 Ka-32BG Super Helix ASW Helicopters
3 Preston ASWAP Aircraft
3 Mamba (crocodile) Class (Hound) D/E Patrol/Attack Submarines
1 Zanzibar Class Monitor
2 Revolution Class (Gujarat) Multi-Role Corvettes
12 Mbu (mosquito) Class (Mogi) Missile Boats
2 Kiboko (hippo) Class (Inch'on) LCU
3 Dai (vulture) Class (Cholima) Hovercraft Assault Vehicles
4 Twiga (giraffe) Class (Rapier w/dual-14.5mm MG) Mine Countermeasures Vessels

In conformity with Hindustan's policy of not concentrating all too heavily on the military front with regards to international aid, Mumbai inquires into Lusaka's and The African Commonwealth's needs when it comes to infrastructure projects, medicens, and monetary supplements.

Hindustan has plenty to give when it comes to such subjects, thanks to the relatively small size of the HDF.

Perhaps Lusakan shipbuilders and breakers might want to take some of Hindustan's likely large share of retired Igovian Hound submarines?

General Theodore Tendyala Arrested in Zimbabwe
Defence Secretary Terrence Dato, Secretary of the Republic Mini Sinkala remain on the run

Young star of the Army of Lusaka and newly deposed dictator of the United African Republic, Theo Tendyala has been on the run since Igomo's return met with popular support and the elite four thousand strong Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps moved to back the returning President. Intervention by three thousand Soviet Marines and two thousand Hindustani Paras made certain the end of the Tendyala Junta, but the General himself escaped via helicopter and has lately been hunted by multinational forces after his vehicle was discovered at a military base disused since the General cut forces down: supposedly leaving room only for those he could count upon for support. For months the only related arrests made by Republican and multi-national forces were of low-ranking officials and soldiers who'd associated themselves with the corrupt junta, while the General and most of his government continued to evade searching soldiers and citizens in the UARL and neighbouring West Zambia.

Last night, Tendyala was arrested in Harare, where he had fled owing to his LUAN Party having made -he thought- friends in Zimbabwe.

It now appears that ZANU-PF is more concerned with gaining support with a legitimate face than in staying loyal for the sake of honour... in retrospect, that seems hardly surprising. Igomo has already hinted at this idea when calling Tendyala naive, a term which he more recently has used in an apparent attempt to deflect the harshest criticism of his would-be usurper, whom others have called much worse. Mr.Derek continues to be famously warm, even before his opponents!

Parliament is quite happy over the capture of Theo Tendyala, and Hassem Al-Ahzad, a Parliamentary functionary, is soon on the way to Harare with the purpose of checking on Lusaka's biggest criminal and discussing things with Igomo's government.

In addition to delivering a congradulatory case of scotch whiskey, Al-Ahzad will likely ask the Lusakans about if they would be interested in acquiring some of the HDF's recently retired hardware, specifically the spares from the HADF's trimmed Jaguar fleet.

Meanwhile the search continues for other fleeing members of Tendyala's junta, and Hindustani paras are no doubt at the forefront of the effort.

If any of Tendyala's entourage get as far as REA, they're likely to be detained as soon as they cross the border...

Roycelandia is of course further commended for its cooperativeness concerning the issue of Tendyala's former officials trying to escape and all, a move that co-incides with a quantity order of Lanchester machine pistols and other Roycelandian-made arms of various national origin.

The Roycelandian Government is more than pleased to fill Hindustan's Small Arms Order, and is even more pleased to announce that three of Tendyala's functionaries were apprehended trying to sneak into REA on false papers.

They are currently being held in a military base in Uganda,whilst the Colonial Office contacts Lusaka to ask what they would like done with them.

The United African Republic extends rare thanks to Roycelandia for, in the words of Secretary for the Republic Livingstone Miyanda, "declining the opportunity to abet men and women guilty of crimes against the African people".

It is subtly suggested that the prisoners be handed into Lusakan custody at the major border checkpoint near Lusaka's Mount Kilimanjaro, which is prepared to receive them.

Later, President Igomo even referenced the arrests and his satisfaction with the progress of events so far in the pursuit by, "Lusakan, Zimbabwean, West Zambian, Beddgelen, Hindustani, Roycelandian, and other governments" of members of the junta that over-threw his administration during his absence.

Meanwhile and with less public coverage, Harare was desperately trying to ingratiate itself to the recovered Social Progress Party by using General Tendyala -still only a young man of twenty-something- as something of a bargaining chip, or at least as honey in a diplomatic flytrap. It was hard to say whether Igomo would remain critical of Mugabe's human rights attitudes or stick-fast to his identity as an African crusader.

The three Tendyala functionaries were curtly informed that their application for asylum was denied and that there were being deported forthwith.

They were escorted to the REA/Lusaka border in the shadows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and simply prodded across the border at bayonet point.

The fact that Lusakan Security Forces were there to receive them was simply appalling luck on their part, but hey, they should have thought of that before sneaking into REA on dodgy papers.... ;-)

TV Tanzania, Lusaka's Second-Largest Independent News Network

It must have been worth thousands of dollars, and certainly it reached thousands of Lusakans, but the network was first to break one important story. Stagehands could actually be seen pulling away the cardboard shutters that acted as wipes between shots while the studio's only camera was prepared to take a new angle. The prettiest young lady that [TVT's] money could buy brushed something off her synthetic jacket, which was supposed to be Lusakan green but actually seemed to be giving off a little bit of radiation, and smiled a cheaply-braced smile, looking several times down at the papers in her hands before starting to speak in a heavy accent.

"Yis, hello, Lusyaka!" she squeaked in a voice made for the (silent) movies, stopping to look down at her papers a third time, though her smile never dropped for a moment. "Dis is... theee news!" her shoulders bounced a little and she looked happy with herself. "The banana merchants at Doddie markeet have been... fined four tousand new kwachas for unfair business practices. Spokesmen for the merchants said that there would be a peel..." this went on for some time as viewers learned that a new kind of fish had been discovered kicking the shit out of a different kind of fish in Lake Tanganyika, a few gallons of petrol had become available at the following filling stations if you were quick about it, the government was going to try growing crops traditionally found in the Roycelandian home islands, four people had been shot in road rage incidents at some unlicenced petrol vendors during the course of this report, and so on.

"...trading at no less than a ZPU-23 for one sack. That concludes theee grain exchange report for central and north, now is Africa and national... news!
"Theee LRAC 17th Division and Hyindoostani par-as have been fighting with unknown gunmens in the south. They [the gunmen] have run away... to cross theee border with Zimbabwe. Victor Chipungu asked a local constable what has happened in the south... Victor?" the young lady finished with a widening of her smile and an increase in the pitch of her voice though both would previously have seemed impossible, and one was left with the impression that she liked Victor. Victor appeared on camera after another manually-operated screen wipe left the camera pointing a different direction. Viewers were invited to believe that Victor was on location near the Zimbabwean frontier, though they could see a signpost behind Victor indicating, coincidentally the name of the street on which TVT's studio was located, and, as the camera wobbled at one point, they might even have realised that Victor was in fact sat indoors with an open window behind him in hopes of appearing to be out in the field.

"Oh, yes, Sauda, very big news! My friend the Constable has tell me that the Vultures came through here with some of the Indians, say, asking, 'Where is Data? Where is Sinkala?' and then somebody started shooting from across the border" Victor, by now, was gesturing, making gun shapes with one hand while holding the microphone in the other (the same microphone moments earlier seen fixed to Sauda's desk, 'hundreds of kilometres' away), his face quite, quite serious. "...and the police had to take cover while the Vultures and the Indians shoot back. The shooting stop, [said] my friend the Constable, when the people run off Zimbabwe, he say, they are working for the General!"


New Lusaka City

This was the city that Republic built. That Africa built. The United African Republic of Lusaka still had all the old cities, but on some level still saw them as colonial scars. New Lusaka City was hardly more than twenty years old, and had risen to the design of one man. Well, it had risen part of the way, at least, before copper prices fell and the USSR made collapse look like a trend, and the Lusakan economy followed suit.

The Social Progress Party was in the process of giving the half-done job a lick of paint. Tendyala's junta had ruined most of the government's old offices, judging them too poorly appointed for themselves, and now the restored SPP was getting a bit of revenge. The franchises that the General brought in for his own satisfaction, more colonial blights on the Lusakan earth, were being co-opted as new government headquarters.

Lusaka's first and only branch of the Roycelandian UberBurger* chain resonated with hammerfalls over which SPP officials attempted to be heard. As the meeting went on inside, workers on the outside were smashing down the resteraunt sign and preparing to hoist up a banner reading, "Temporary Republican H.Q: Burgers must go, half price, inquire in rear carpark" while the four staff of the morning shift stood in the street and looked on, slack-jawed.

"But, all this nonsense about cross-border raids, that doesn't make sense even if they [i]don't want to hand him over!"

"You are saying, my friend, that it makes sense for them to... not want to hand him over?" Said Igomo, adding that, no, he didn't want fries with that and screwing-up his face at the taste of the soda he'd been handed. "But I have planned it all along, since London. We will get him back, the people will be happy with Zimbabwe, I will give him full pardon, he will go to North Africa for us, we will keep the African National Pact with Zimbabwe and invite Libya and Gabon, Mozambique, Algeria, Saharawi free governments..."

Mr.Derek was running out of steam, the forceful hand movements becoming weaker with each step in his plan, and he trailed off, seeming drained and confused. His secretaries looked amongst one another, uncomfortable as ever with their President's almost fatherly affection for his favourite young General in spite of his betrayal, which Igomo seemed to have half forgotten since his stroke.

Little progress was being made over the difficulties being encountered in getting Harare to surrender Tendyala, and now reports were indicating tensions along the border as some secretaries and officers suggested that Zimbabwe wanted to keep the highly rated General for herself. Some even felt that the increasingly confused and sickly Igomo, briefly deposed and half reliant on Indian muscle, was losing favour with other African leaders and that Mugabe was amongst the first to sense it and move to break with the SPP.

(*Yeah, I can't remember whether there's a chain called UberBurger or whether it's actually a burger at a chain called [something else], but I remember that name so I'm going with it!)

While nobody in Parliament is about to condemn the African National Pact, most in Hindustan think that Derek Igomo should have taken a much harder line in dealing with General Tendyala. Men such as the ex-dictator should not be taken lightly, says Mumbai, and it would be best to send him off to prison for a few years.

Apprehensiveness dominates Mumbai's attitude towards Lusaka's close ties with a still-independent Zimbabwe, especially with Derek Igomo's mental state in decline and Robert Mugabe as charismatic as ever. Parliament wastes no time in criticizing ZANU-PF's human rights record, one Parliamentary delegate even going so far as to call Mugabe "Ian Smith's bastard child." While the official line is somewhat softer, Hindustani voices advocate at least a high degree of caution in putting ZANU-PF in a position where it could gain very much prominence in government. Some Hindustanis blame the whole situation on Lusaka's reliance on a single revolutionary leader, but Derek Igomo is or was by most accounts hardly the worst person to be leading a nation, and under him Lusaka became in some areas a much better place.

Despite that apprehensiveness, Mumbai continues to try and offload its surplus Jaguars to Lusaka...

It was an odd thing to see Mr.Derek so jumpy and easily tired. He was only 48, born in 1957 near Lake Rukawa in what was then part of a truly massive Roycelandian East Africa covering probably more than four and a half million square kilometres. As soon as Derek could walk he was able to tower above and over-power older children. In his teens he was a semi-pro wrestling champion in Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Aged just 21, in March of 1978, he was prepared to sacrifice his freedom for African liberation, allowing himself to be arrested in Lusaka, provincial capital of REA's Northern Rhodesia province, and he had started a revolution. Less than two years later he'd defeated the Roycelandian Empire, and by twenty-three years of age he was elected President of the first republic to come from that empire. Igomo, having beaten the Roycelandian Empire, outlasted the Portuguese Empire, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, God knows how many authorities in Mozambique, defeated Al Khals in war, and came-back from a military coup against him. But his stroke, the weight problem he'd suffered since injury ended his wrestling career and sent him off to ponder revolutionary politics, and the constant stresses facing a genuinely conscientious and ambitious African leader were eating away at him like no single human foe could. That, and some of the treatments he'd tried.

The President appeared to have had a change of heart.

Gweru (Thornhill) Air Force Base, Zimbabwe's Midlands

A couple of Hunter and F-7 aircraft baked in the sun, enjoying their belated if unofficial retirement as the nation's economy remained firmly wedged in the toilet bowl. Quite suddenly there was activity as troops from the garrison were rushed off to investigate an explosion that had reported there as a worrying rumble moments earlier. Then, just as suddenly, almost two thousand pounds of high explosive bomblets ripped apart a large part of the facility. A third CPRD-supplied Hwasong-6 (Scud-C) landed at the far side of the complex, blasting structures and people in all directions.

There was no question of interception by aircraft from Gweru, the nation's only significant fighter base, as bright green F-5L Tiger raced in ahead of Canberra and Stratojet bombers flying the one mass sortie that Olongwe assured his friend and master the Lusakan Air Wing could manage. Across Mashonaland and the Midlands 57 and 80mm rockets, 250 and 500kg bombs, napalm, and 23 and 30mm cannon rounds reduced Zimbabwe's sparse, rusty, sleeping defences. Raptor guided glide bombs dropped into action, controlled by Canberra flying two hundred kilometres from target, and war was joined.

Mashonaland/Old-Lusaka border

The AFZ, Zimbabwe's tiny air force, was rendered virtually helpless by multiple Hwasong missile strikes on its primary base of operation. It started-out five times smaller than the air and air defence forces of Zimbabwe's northern neighbour, which made sense given that the UARL was three or four times more populace anyway.

The ZNA though matched the AOL in manpower. According to reports handed to Olongwe it actually, at 33,000 personnel, marginally outnumbered the Lusakan equivalent at 31,000, but this did not account for the LRAC's 4,000 volunteers.

The LRAC's 1st division was already in action, moving when its contacts reported the launching of the first Hwasong missile and falling upon the Kariba Dam to secure it and move on the town before cutting-off Chirundu. The famous 17th Division, with just 1,750 men, hurled its mechanised weight against Kanyemba, the entire LRAC storming across the Zambezi in BMP-2 IFVs and OT-62B APCs (though even this seemingly impressive feat was disguised slightly as APCs turned unloaded men on one bank before turning back to pick-up more, always covered by the BMPs).

The LRAC was driving into Mashonaland's heights while Zimbabwe reeled in confusion, no small part of it's regular forces -like Lusaka's- positioned to the west for the Zambian campaigns or further south and east against Mozambique's instability. The bulk of Lusaka's army was hardly quicker to react than was Zimbabwe's, and the Revolutionary Alliance Corps pushed on virtually alone.

Lusakan State Television

"Friends in Lusaka and all Africa!" Mr.Derek boomed, not quite so forcefully as in the past but with the same warm tone and jovial inflection. "The United African Republic, I can tell you, is continuing the great crusade, the great quest, the great mission for freedom. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has made a disaster! People are coming to Lusaka, saying to me, crying, our homes are gone, we have no food. Since I have been away, Lusaka too has run out of food, and we can not give Zimbabwe's refugees all they need. This is because Mugabe, who was my friend, is giving it all to China, and because his propaganda has confused young Lusakan minds like my friend General Tendyala.

"Now, Zimbabwe has done a terrible thing for fear of being whipped by Mr.Mugabe, for his Chinese masters and whoever else. Attacking West Zambia was a very bad thing, because I have sworn long ago to protect it. Like Germany attacking Poland, Zimbabwe has done this. The [Lusakan] soldiers who took-over while I was away have done the same thing, and we have chased them down. But Mr.Mugabe will not surrender the soldiers arrested in Zimbabwe, including the General, ah, Tendyala.

"To honour its responsibilities to West Zambia, to protect the food of the Zimbabwean and Lusakan people... from being stolen, to capture war-criminals and right the wrongs of ZANU-PF in making itself an enemy of the Social Progress Party, the United African Republic is compelled to act in Zimbabwe at the head of an African mission to settle African affairs before the Chinese... they are the new imperialists in waiting... and the Holy League come in and the Roycelandians and British try to stop them... there will be world war in Africa if we do not settle this."

Most of his reasons were technically sound and understood by the people, but most of them had heard nothing of Chinese empire, and hardly heard a word ever of the Holy League, except those close to the few hundred servicemen deployed to Western Sahara.

The UARL, regardless of motive, was ploughing the last of its war resources into a totally unexpected campaign against Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe, happy that Al Khals was sufficiently distracted with revolution and exportation of Jihad to distant North Africa. As usual, Igomo was speaking of Lusaka as if it was just part of an African nation, that United African Republic, though it remained as difficult as ever to imagine what other societies were likely to follow him.

The Roycelandians, meanwhile, are astonished to find Lusaka fielding Aircraft against the Zimbabweans... His Majesty is also concerned at reports of Chinese Imperialism ("Shouldn't they be smoking Opium somewhere? Weren't we selling them Opium at some point anyway?"), but ultimately feels the Lusakans are doing Africa a world of good on this one- although word is that the Imperial Foreign Legion are already in Zimbabwe looking for Mr. Mugabe...

The invasion of Zimbabwe is strongly supported by Parliament, and a small infusion of money is transferred to Lusaka in order to partially cover the war's expenses. Derek Igomo is also offered the support of two HADF squadrons and an additional two battalions of light infantry.

Mumbai wastes little time in composing and approving a declaration of support for the Lusakan actions and affirming Hindustani recognition of Zimbabwe as part of Lusaka, even if it isn't quite that just yet. Since the invasion is only in its opening stages, the usual army of developmental advisors isn't flown out just yet, but money is scraped together from Mumbai's limited budget and set aside to fund infrastructure-building projects in the region.

Roycelandia is, again, praised for its cooperative behavior in the whole issue, and the opportunity to criticize Xiannese foreign policy is not passed up. Beijing is criticized for selling such a corrupt and confrontational nation as Zimbabwe modern fighter jets, and a commission is formed to look for the FC-7s that supposedly found their way into Mugabe's air force. This is presumably not to return them to China, and there is an Afghanistan that could use some modern fighters...

OOC: Is anyone RPing Zimbabwe at all? I ask because the Imperial Foreign Legion are currently en route to Zimbabwe, tasked with A) Whacking Mugabe and B) Causing as much havoc as possible (ie, sabotaging airfields, railway lines, communications, etc) and it seems a bit much like the AMW equivalent of "I pwn j00, n00b!" (or perhaps "All your base are belong to us", if you will) to go ahead and do all this without someone having the oppurtunity to RP the other side, as it were...

IC: As usual The Strathdonian intelligence agencies were caught completely unawares by events. The response of the Strathdonian govenrment is not as expressive as some in its support but more along the lines a quiet and reserved "bloody good show old chap".


OOC: I would intervene with a few artillry and airstrikes if i actually had a land border, which is a question, LRR/TCB seems to think that i included the Tet region in my offensive. To be honest i can't remeber if i did or not although i don't think so, but if i did and currently hold the region it might provide a jumping off point for some meddling...

(Strath, I think it makes for more interesting RP if you include Tete, which I had always assumed you had)

In Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, given the much too sexy acroynm of COBRA, the Prime Minister greeted the news of Lusaka's actions with what could only be described as fury. In his election campaign he had pledged to work on bringing down Mugabe and restoring democracy to troubled Zimbabwe, and now it would be Derek Igomo who would do it.

The MoD who had been for months preparing a plan for invading Zimbabwe, did not quite see the irony however, and were ordered in no uncertain terms to get some assets into place. With the Spanish causing problems, the British troops in Cyprus had been redployed to Gibraltar, leaving very little in the way of forces that could respond rapidly.

At RAF Lyneham, 24 and 30 Sqn are ordered to cancel all current operations and place their C-130Js on alert as the 1st Battalion of The Parachute Regiment gather up their equipment. Immediately diplomatic communications are sent out requesting the use of an airbase in Strathdonia. A message is also sent to Lusaka, saying that the United Kingdom would be playing a role in post-Mugabe Zimbabwe.

OCC: Quite right, Royce. TBF, want to RP Zimbabwean resistance? Or mabye The African Commonwealth? I'll do if it comes down to it, but then Hindustan would pretty much disappear from the story and play a wholly diplomatic role.

Neither TCB or the Free State claims Tete, so you might as well have occupied it. Better than the Free State having more people, anyway. ;)

IC:

It is, of course, rather too late when Parliament realizes that it does not support the absorbtion of Zimbabwe by Lusaka, but instead prefers the ousting of Robert Mugabe and the installation of a democratic government. That is not to say that Mumbai is in any way critical of the way things have been going so far, but many Parliamentarians, when approached about the issue, add "temporary" or "interm" before talking about the Lusakan occupation, while others come out in full support of 'incorperation,' as Parliament has started to term the subject.

But many more Parliamentarians boycott the debate altogether, saying quite reasonably that it is not an issue for the present time and it should be in the hands of the citizens of Zimbabwe to decide their fate. This more logical and more characteristically Hindustani approach gains the support of the vast majority of local councils.

The Roycelandian Parliament debates well into the evening on the "Rhodesian situation", with the Imperial Party arguing that the only way to bring order to Africa is for Roycelandia to go in and annex the place, whilst the Labour Party feels that the Zimbabweans told the Brits to clear off so it's basically their own fault.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I, however, points out that letting the Lusakans annex Zimbabwe is "Something best avoided", but is concerned about the PR implications of Roycelandia simply sending in the Imperial Guard and taking over the country.

It is decided that Mugabe has to go, and that a positive Roycelandian presence is desireable for regional security and prosperity.

Beyond that, the details are left for another time...

Lusaka-Zimbabwe border

The Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps had no trouble securing the south end of the Chirundu bridge, one of only five Zambezi crossings (others being at northern West Zambia and Angola and as such quite apart from the conflict, on the Zimbabwe-WestZambia border at Victoria Falls and firmly in Zimbabwean control with several hundred troops in the area, and in the Tete Province of Mozambique) since the Zimbabweans had no cause to expect a dash by armoured vehicles when it came, and couldn't destroy the bridge with their tiny airforce in pieces.

Unfortunately, the quartet of Olifant L-2 main battle tanks that the LRAC had deployed were more or less out of fuel just as soon as they'd crossed the bridge, their officers deciding that it was best to keep just enough to cross back over again and to manoeuvre in combat in the area where their advance halted. Apart from that, the massive air and missile assault that started the war had not translated into reliable close air support for the LRAC, though two Mi-28 Helicopters and three Mi-24 Hind were in fairly regular operation across the wide front opened-up by the two elite divisions. A flight of A-37C Dragonfly light attack planes -veterans of several conflicts- was seeing heavy use across the West Zambian border, where several hundred Zimbabwean troops were stationed as part of the African National Pact mobilisation carried-out in courtship with Tendyala's dissolved junta, but this wasn't really of great strategic importance as far as breaking the ZNA.

The problems faced by the Lusakans were put into a proper context -that of a sub-Saharan African conflict- by estimates identifying 55% of the ZNA's thirty-odd thousand recruits as HIV positive and likely to die within a year of schedueled discharge. Lusaka too had its troubles with the abominable virus, but the nation shaped by the Igomo Social Progress Party was both better educated and, according to Lusakan propaganda, more compassionate: victims of AIDS in the UARL -and there were hundreds of thousands of these- were less likely to upold the attitude of the typical ZNA recruit apt to say, "why find out if I'm going to die anyway?" before accepting sex in lieu of monetary payment at a checkpoint and more likely to modify their lifestyle in a responsible fashion if stricken.. as well as being more likely to be diagnosed in the first place. Some in the AoL high command frankly hoped that the ZNA would prove too sick to fight at all.

Others, more common, hoped for renewed public unrest in Harare and elsewhere, and Igomo himself was now talking of the thousands of political prisoners taken in just the last half a year: he could identify with them, he said, having been briefly gaoled by the Roycelandians in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, the only existing plan for agitation to this end -that of rebellion against ZANU-PF- called for the firing of leaflets from 130mm cannons once the Lusakans were within a few dozen kilometres of the Zimbabwean capital, and nobody was really sure whether they'd make it that far, nor whether such howitzers would be available at that point. Why nobody thought to drop propaganda or supplies from the Canberra assigned to photographic reconnaissance over the Zimbabwean capital was hard to say.

UAR Lusaka

Mr.Derek was back on TV. This time he was talking about his Lake-Fish For Africa initiative, an ambition centred round his firm belief that Lusaka's great lakes, especially Tanganyika, had sufficient fish stocks to end famine on the continent. This seemed odd to viewers expecting to hear about the rather unexpected outbreak of war. Many Lusakans spent a day or two thinking that the Republic was at war with United Elias, or that Roycelandia was invading again.

Igomo eventually got around to talking about pet projects with a little more relevance. The African People's Volunteer Army accounted for the UN's frequent reporting on Lusaka's disproportionate militarism. An Igomo-backed attempt to legitimise and organise the countless popular and county militias existing since the revolution, the Volunteer Army was normally an inactive body consisting of civilians primarily engaged in subsistence farming. Igomo was informing the nation that he intended to activate the force, "to protect the gaps opened-up by the Revolutionary Alliance Corps and guard against infiltration and sabotage in the nation at large". Tokens would again be issued to families of farmers called to duty so that they might be recovered against the output of the UARL's commercial farms, those subjects of ethnic dispute so frequently reposessed and donated.

Without the President's say-so, Secretary Miyanda was looking primarily to the Hindustanis to back-up Lusaka's grain output with increased food aid, hoping to apply some of the tokens to aid grain, apparently fearing that the commercial farms would not be able to take-up the full slack after the turmoil that had afflicted them. (Essentially, Livingstone wants to quietly suppliment commercial farmers' output with Hindustani or other grain, and to distribute it based on tokens given to families of APVA fighters without really making it known to the public or the president: the commercial farms had been given by Igomo to Zanzibar Arab businessmen in order to secure their loyalty in the Al Khali conflict, and they were then the subject of violent land reform by Tendyala, who's coup was based partly on resentment at said redistribution, and now Igomo's siezing them back from pro-Tendyala managers, and so in the end they're not doing much better than Zimbabwe's farms right now, but Igomo -because he doesn't see that he's done anything evil like Mugabe has- doesn't seem to recognise this shortfall.)

Armed with Mosin-Nagant carbines and Maxim M1910 machineguns supplied to the low-priority revolutionaries by the USSR in the late 1970s and with Enfield rifles and Vickers, Lewis, and Bren guns left behind by the Roycelandians in 1980, the barely-trained irregular rabble of aged revolutionary war veterans and inexperienced victims of late 90s army downsizing, the almost entirely unmechanised APVA is an historic throw-back to the bushwarrior tradition that defeated the Roycelandian Empire and briefly over-ran Nyasaland (now Strathdonia).

(OOC: Sorry for the disorder, but I figure that at least it's in keeping with the IC conditions! As to who's playing Zimbabwe, well, initially I was just making my own assumptions, but if other people get involved (which seems likely and would be swell) I don't mind who it is.

Zimbabwe's air force of about four thousand recruits, which had only one really significant base (plus some transports and helicopters near the capital and a few dirt strips here and there) is in a bit of a state thanks to Scud attacks and air strikes, and really wasn't up to much anyway, but one would assume that a couple of Hunter and Chinese MiG-21 variant fighters might still be airworthy... their facilities are a mess and they were only about two squadrons strong even before getting smashed.

The Army has thirty-odd thousand rectuits, half of them are well on their way to a premature death without even being shot at, and a lot of them are forced to police against insurrection after riots in Harare and elsewhere in the middle of this year. A few hundred are in West Zambia, fairly close to the border and the potentially significant railway bridge at Vic. Falls. I believe that the army total includes the main militias consumed by it.. the party thugs, you know? There are, of course, other party thugs but not such as are prepared mentally or materially to face-down soldiers.

One thing that Zimbabwe potentially has going for it -apart from the fact that the Lusakans currently control only one bridge across the Zambezi (another at Vic Falls, and a third in possibly-Strathdonian-controlled-Mozambique) - is that Lusaka handed-over quite a few BMP-1 IFVs, T-62 MBTs, and even a couple of Mi-28 Havoc helicopter-gunships when Tendyala purged the military. Whether they are in operational order can't be directly inferred from RL conditions, of course. I suppose that would be up to whoever RPs Zimbabwe's main defences. There's only a handful of each item, anyway.

If nobody strongly objects, I'd like to continue RPing away myself on some level, and others getting involved, I think, should be allowed to responsibly RP some of the local conditions and reactions, but if anyone wants to control the ...strategic level Zimbabwean reaction, that'd be good.)

IC:
The Strathdonian Govenrment have passed on permission for the British Armed forces to operate from bases within Strathdonia and have opened facilities for them.

In terms of actual action the SDF has deen little than redeploy a fair precentage of the Tete/Zambezia stabilization force (polite term for the occupation forces) onto the Zimbawian border and deploy both an artillery regiment and Mirage squadron into the southern province.

Feelers have been made towards Derek igomo's administration abotu wether any support that might possibly required but any messages have been extrodinarily discreate.

Mozambique praises the Lusakan intervention in Zimbabwe as well, calling Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF "woefully incapable of good governance." Public opinion is also supportive of Derek Igomo, or at least the Derek Igomo who brought down Roycelandia and Portugal if not so much the aloof and erratic Derek Igomo in the here and now. A CoMDF-A battalion is offered up for use in any potential peacekeeping operations afterword, and parliament releases its obligatory statement calling for the establishment and maintainance of democracy and self-government in Africa.

Office of the Defence Secretary, New Lusaka City, Mbeya

Defence Secretary Colin Olongwe was enduring the awkward task of updating the Secretary of the Republic, namely Livingstone Miyanda, on the progress of Igomo's Zimbabwe campaign. He'd got past complaining about how much paperwork was involved in the prosecution of a war, and was now trying to explain the location of the front line.

"Err." He said. "Err. The [Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance] Corps has advanced quickly and taken all of its day one objectives. Unfortunately, since the war did come as something of a surprise to the War Department, we have not got any day two objectives."

"What? Taken no day two objectives, yet?"

"N... well... when I say that we haven't got any day two objectives... err..."

"You... don't know where you're going?"

Olongwe puffed out his cheeks and offered no response.

"It's all right." Said Miyanda, with a sigh. He was as much in the dark about the conflict and other of the President's sudden and radical policy changes.

The report advanced slowly, which, as it happened, was appropriate given the speed of Lusakan mobilisation. This was said by Olongwe to be comparable to Zimbabwe's own response, which was sad given that Lusaka had initiated the conflict. The LRAC was, apparently, driving quickly through Zimbabwe, destroying targets of opportunity and marching an increasingly difficult number of prisoners along with it. The rest of the Lusakan Army, however, was still activating north of the border, and hadn't got any ground assets into Zimbabwe even two days after the LRAC crossed the border.

Olongwe felt that the issue of the war's outcome now depended on who could mobilise the bulk of his military first, Igomo or Mugabe. The Lusakans had an opportunity to consolidate the gains made by the elite vanguard, which looked unlikely to be troubled by Zimbabwean resistance, and the Zimbabweans had the opportunity to cut-off the LRAC, close the gap, and force the Lusakan regulars to start from scratch without their best units.

Other information considered important pertained to the air war. Lusaka appeared to have won it in the opening hours of conflict, damaging Zimbabwe's primary air force base, at which were stationed all of its fighters and strike planes, and wrecking many of those assets where they sat. The general leaning of most neighbouring states towards Lusaka's cause probably made matters even worse for the normal operation of Zimbabwe's aircraft. But The Lusakan Air Wing's bomber command had used most of its ready air to ground munitions and all of its allocated share of aviation fuel, and the artillery's missile command had used no small portion of its SRBM stockpile in the first strike. If the rest of the army didn't make good time and catch-up with the LRAC, take charge of its POWs, and resupply it, allowing the Vultures to press-on to key bases, Olongwe feared that the Zimbabweans might scrape-together enough air assets to pose a renewed threat.


(OOC: Again, if anyone else wants to take-charge of Zimbabwe's forces, say so! Otherwise I'll keep going as-is and other people can just get involved however they see fit.)

At customs houses on the Zimbabwe-Commonwealth frontier, the usual border police are reinforced by CoMDF-A regular units. In addition to the Webley-toting Border Counstables, the 90mm guns of AML-90 armored cars serve to warn away any prospective cross-border operations on the part of ZANU-PF guerillas, a very real possibility given FRELIMO's presence in the southern portion of the Commonwealth of Mozambique, a small presence but a presence none the less. And when a Zimbabwean SF.260 cuts a bit too close to the border, a Strikemaster is scrambled from Inhambane to escort it, arriving rather too late and not even managing to sight the offending airplane (thanks to extremely poor air-ground coordination and the Strikemaster not having much in the way of radar), but still showing that the Commonwealth isn't about to be bossed around by Zimbabwe.

Of course, any real strategic effects are secondary priorities to displaying support for the Lusakan intervention.

OCC: I'll RP the Zimbabweans if you want, Lusaka, but firstly, how many planes did your airstrike destroy at Gweru? Even if all the FT-7s were done in, or at least couldn't take off, the SF.260s could still operate, perhaps the Hawk T.Mk.60s as well.

Just thought you might have overlooked the potential threat posed by Zimbabwe's veritable swarm of SF.260s with rocket and cannon pods.

New Lusaka City, The United African Republic of Lusaka

City, as it was typically known to nationals of the Republic, was inarguably a place of great significance. It was the purpose built capital of the United African Republic, now home to one million Africans but just a few years earlier nothing more than a dirt track through neglected fields. It was a pivot in the centre of Derek Igomo's imagined African desgin, and its specifics were the creative product of his deputies, Livingstone Miyanda pre-eminent amongst them.

The city today was draped in green. Plants, flags, sheets, streamers, and by night a small number of fireworks. African green with a few smatterings of revolutionary red and promising gold flecks.

In the streets the Lusakan Army was mobilising, and the African People's Volunteer Army as well. BTR-152 and OT-62 armoured personnel carriers, UAZ cars, Ural-375 and Zil-131 trucks, AT-T heavy artillery tractors including some pulled-out of the national economy to haul 130mm M46 and 100mm TG-5 guns, T-62 and T-56(L) tanks, ZSU-23-4 Shilka, SA-9 Gaskin, FROG-7B, and over all many thousands of men on foot brandishing military machetes and Mosin-Nagant M77L rifles and more than a few sagai spears. It was in truth a great swan of an event, glorious to behold, effortless and impressive, distinctive, but kicking furiously under water just to sustain its momentum. Nobody had any ammunition with three kinds of 7.62, a 9, 12.7, 14.5, 23, 30, 73, 100, 105, 120, and 130mm shells and bullets in demand along with rocketry, mortar bombs, and any number of other often redundant devices.

But the African People's Volunteer Army, cheered on by thousands (and equally, but naturally quite unreportedly, ignored by many more), marched forth none the less, driven on by Igomo's urging for it to take to the wing in search of African liberation. Amongst the APVA's ranks -comprised mainly of subsistence farmers freed-up by vouchers promising supplies to their families from state and private 'commercial farms' and from international food aid- were new faces in new units.

The African People's Volunteer Army amaViyo were companies comprised mainly of foreign fighters, volunteers and soldiers of fortune, new formations arranged by Olongwe and kept small for a reason. They were from a few dozen to a couple of hundred men strong, meant to create the impression of a large number of formations comprising a vast army of keen foreign volunteers (for they were attached officially to the APVA) symbolic of the continent's desire to free itself, and to share in Igomo's vision. Of course, they weren't all from the continent, a good few certainly being Indian, and likely others besides. Already one iViyo had been dispatched to the front aboard a handful of BTR-152 and soft-skin trucks. The fact that some came with their own arms really didn't help the terrible supply situation as the newly-formed and unfamiliar foreigners were flung into the race to consolidate the LRAC's gains in Zimbabwe.

OOC:
Would it be too much to assume that anyone looking in the right places might notice the distinctly small sizes of ammo and supply stockpiles? particualrly if they were Strathdonian Intel officers specifically tasked to look inot this sort of thing, If so then i might have an angle to winkle the SDF into the action.

IC:
As the Zimbabwe situation continued to escalate the Strthdonian High command Have finally decided to take some sort of more significant action, well deployment. Orders have been created to deploy Number 1 Brigade, The Heavy Divsion, 1st Free Niassa Divsion, Numbers 2, 7, 9 and 14 Regiments Horse Artillery and assorted supporting infantry and engineering battalions into the Tete porvince. Officially these forces are there merely to provide additional border security but it should be asked why the premiere offensive units amoungst the SDF has been deployed...

Additional SADF deployments have been unforthcomming although the Border Wardens have been transferred an addiontal BN-2 Defender to aid in border patrols.

OOC: Probably it wouldn't be difficult, Strath. The Lusakan military, government, economy, everything is pretty well torn-open at the moment thanks to the coup, Tendyala's purge, and Igomo's counter-offensive against the conspirators. If anyone cared enough to infiltrate, investigate, and whatever else, the last year or so couldn't have made it much easier (though there's always the risk of getting caught in the crossfire, so to speak).

I'd imagine that there's a lot of popular myths around Lusaka and its military. In the 1990s, Lusaka's army was several hundred thousand strong, building its own composite-armoured 120mm-gunned tanks, switching the source of its technical support from the defunct USSR to India, and had a tactical missile command; the air force had its own strategic bomber command and developed modern surface-to-air missiles; and at the end of the decade and the start of the C21st the navy rose from almost nothing to a force that contains a 15" gun monitor, a couple of modern guided-missile corvettes, and three submarines.
Now the army has massively downsized and tank production halted, the airforce has lost a couple of bombers and turned-down several good offers from Hindustan on providing more fighters et cetera, and the monitor has never even completed sea trials for the Lusakans.

Recently hospitals were growing food on their roof tops and Zimbabwe-like land reform was threatening to bring on famine, but then Igomo declared a single year of intensive fishing of his vast lakes to avert this while farms were restored.

Lusaka is back and forth, up and down like no other nation. Popular myths may cloud issues and confuse the public and politicians alike, though professional military agencies will likely not find it hard to see that the Lusakan Army is lacking command experience and logistical organisation, the air force is low on aviation fuel and concerned over airframe fatigue in light of slashed procurement budgets, and the navy looks nice but isn't prepared to do much more than that.

OCC: As Zimbabwe.

IC:

Inside the headquarters of the Zimbabwe National Army, a handful of generals and staff officers ponder over maps laid out on card tables and listen in consternation to the uniformly bad reports coming in from units in the field.

"We have sited Lusakan Olifants in the area, and are pulling back," comes the report from Chirundu, radioed in by a leftenant who hadn't come within ten miles of the fighting but none the less has the presence of mind to save himself and some portion of his command while its still possible. "Requesting air support," continues the leftenant before his radioman, a fifteen-year-old recruited en route, folds the aerial and jumps into the back of the leftenant's jeep. They don't bother to give coordinates.

In fact, all along the front between Lake Kariba and the Mozambique border, ZNA units are falling back, either by cause of real defeat at the hands of the better-trained and better-equipped LRAC or in the interest of keeping the ZNA's line constant. Lusakan amphibious assaults across the lake itself, despite their limited scope, cause many of the ZNA's quite few tanks to be diverted that way, and the Lusakans are probably able to hold onto areas of the south bank for some time.

Meanwhile, a pair of SF.260s take off from Harare International Airport, survivors from the devastating attack on Gweru, each one armed with two rocket pods. They make their way towards Chirundu Bridge and the Lusakan Oliphants near there, intending to destroy them and the bridge.

"Tiger 2, check your nine o'clock!" says Tiger 1, as he watches a flight of A-37s pass dangerously close by. "Thank god for that. Alright, I'll come in from the southwest and draw their fire by making a run on the tanks, and you hit the bridge in the meantime."

The two SF.260s of the ten survivors from No.6 "Tigers" squadron, arrive near Chirundu after a tense and very nearly fatal trip from Harare and look for targets.

"I see the bridge! I'm going in for my attack run!" says Tiger 1, making a diving pass over the bridge and catching sight of some manner of vehicle as triple-A erupts from the Lusakan side. Tiger 1 banks and lines up on the Lusakans arrayed on the north side of the bridge while Tiger 2 flies up and launches all ten rockets at Lusaka's main crossing point. Most of the rockets miss, and Tiger 2 certainly isn't keen to stick around and see if any hit, so one of the SF.260s turns back towards Harare just as Tiger 1 takes an unfortunate 12.7mm round to the engine block.

OOC: first off sorry if this over stretchs the mark, feel free to smack me down for being sneaky...

Zimbabwe/Strathdonian Tete Border.

For Chiwa Henderson the posting to the Changara pocket was perhaps one of the more frustrating experiences in his career with the Border Wardens. Sitting in the watch tower at the Mutoko road border crossing he watched morosely as his Zimbabwean counter parts bullied and threatened the stream of refugees attempting to leave their country. There was little he could do, occassionaly he would pick one of them out in the sights of rifle and mime pulling the trigger, but it was an empty gesture, if he was stupid enough to actually fire it would cause all sorts of chaos. Occasionally he would cheer inside as a group of refugees managed to make it past the gaurds and onto Strathdonia soil. Not that achived much.. While the Govenrment would never return any of them to Zimbabwe, it certainly wasn’t going to let them run free for fear of aid getting through to the various former Simba sympathisers who even still caused trouble. Hence everyone who made it was herded into the large camps not far from the border. Chiwa reflected that the camps were perhaps a good symbol of international cooperation what with the Qunintonian missionaries and Hindi aid workers mucking in, heck he had even heard that there were some FRENCH! Doctors helping out.

As he muled over his thoughts Chiwa detected the noise of an incoming aircraft, at first he assumed it was the daily Patrol flight but quickly he realised that the sound was not that of the twin turbo props of the Warden BN-2 Defender but rather the much rougher sound of fast moving jets. As the noise grew he recongnised the distinctive sky ripping roar of twin Ardour engines, that grew to an almighty scream, that sent refugees scurrying for cover holding their ears. Chiwa almost ducked as two Jaguars suddenly roared over head as low as they possibly could and headed into Zimbabwe.

“Fuck!” was all he could utter before chaos took reign, the Zimbabweans opening fire on, the Strathdonian position and on what ever refugees were caught in the cross fire. Chiwa ducked as a swarm of bullets hissed around his head, but his training took over and he camly began to line up targets, “payback time!”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After Crossing the border the 2 jaguars flicked off their IIF transponders and turned on their EW pods. Flying low they hoped to evade most of the Zimbabwean air defence network, using what ever gaps, ELINT birds had detected. Under each aircraft hung the deadly shape of a MUPSOW air launched cruise missile, after mere minutes of entering Zimbabwean air space each fighter launched its missile and turned and headed back, acting for the world as if they were merely lost and not engaged in any sort of offensive manoeuvre.

AS the fighters headed home the Missiles stayed low roaring over the countryside before reaching their target: Harare Airport. Over the airport the missiles detonated releasing their payload of sub-munitions that rained down sending shrapnel and flame ripping through any soft skinned target out in the open and tearing a multitude of holes in the runway.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Later that day the Strathdonian government Apologised for the accidental violation of Zimbabwean airspace, blaming the failure both the communications and navigation systems of the aircraft involved and offering to court marshal the pilots. The Government also denied that the aircraft had deployed any ordinance while within Zimbabwean airspace and pointing out that the Zimbabwean government was already at war with a nation that was able to use PGMs. The cross border fire fight was largely glossed over with a brief mention of regret for the mortar bomb that destroyed the Zimbabwean border facility.

OCC: As Zimbabwe.

IC:

As cluster bomblets rain down on the last remnants of Zimbabwe's airforce, at least the part of it able to conduct offensive operations, and ineffectual streams of 12.7mm AAA fire spit at the heavily armored Jaguars, by now well out of range, the surviving pilots can only scream a torrent of curses at the Strathdonian pilots.

At Harare International were, in addition to the vast majority of the SF.260s, four Hawks with 30mm cannon and cluster bombs, and a C-212 kept at the ready in case Robert Mugabe decides to make a run for it. After the Jaguars are through, the only SF.260s left in airworthy condition are Tiger 2, currently airborne, and three others in the south of the country. The Hawks suffer complete destruction, and the C212 reserved for Mugabe is peppered with shrapnel.

While the Zimbabweans could probably manage to hold off the Lusakans if they got their act together (rather unlikely, given the undisciplined character of the entire force and its general unpreparedness for the situation at hand), the Strathdonians are another story entirely.

Eventually a civilian-registered Jetranger stops by to collect Robert Mugabe and deposit him conveniently close to the Botswanan border, and Tiger 2 is instructed to land 'wherever possible.'

Charles Prince Airfield, several days before

Several days before all hell broke loose in the capital, a Pilatus PC-12 touched down uneventfully at the small private airfield just outside of Harare. The aircraft registered in South Africa and with a flight plan seemingly from Joh'burg, there was little for the authorities to be concerned about. As the turboprop whined down, the airstairs dropped and a few men emerged from the cabin. A mixed group of white and black, young and middle aged, they moved quickly out towards the street after passing a wad of foreign currency to the pair of eager customs officials.

A few land rovers had arrived to meet them, driven mostly by white farmers who had long been quiet supporters of the party. After loading up bags full of pamphlets and other written material they headed off in several directions. The contingency plan for Mugabe’s downfall had been made almost as soon as the Free State had been established, and the first phase was now underway. The delegation from the African Prosperity Party (APP) as RENAMO had since been renamed, would soon be secretly holding meetings around the capital, mobilising its support base. Though Kurtz’s new economic agenda was somewhat troubling for some of the more traditional RENAMO hardliners, they hoped that the promises of what was being termed Associationism, or Neo-Distributism, would attract support from the overwhelmingly poor black Zimbabwean majority. By preaching what they did not all believe themselves, they would try and raise a popular revolt in Harare against the ZANU so that by the time invaders arrived, a re-branded, ideologically regenerated RENAMO party would have support from the masses.

Almost immediately the Free State had setup an AM radio station that was broadcasting these new political ideals in Shona, as well as advising Zimbabweans on how supporting the African Prosperity Party was the only way to ‘end their plight of hunger, disease and repression’.

Although the ZANU-PF leadership has rather more pressing matters to attend to, it isn't terribly long before an effort is made to locate the APP's transmitter.

Eventually it is found, on the property of a white farmer whose land had not yet been redistributed, and a police jeep motors up to the front gate, followed by a pickup full of paramilitaries. Freedom of political expression simply does not exist in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, and despite the Lusakan invasion the resources are found to perform a rather straightforeward operation like the closing of an opposition radio station.

While armed, and not at all unwilling to fight (especially with the white farmers), neither the police or the paramilitaries expect much trouble.

Before the APP's station is jammed, quite a few Zimbabweans hear it, and many agree with its message. But unless the APP has another card up its sleeve, a full-scale rebellion on the part of the Zimbabwean people is probably unlikely, especially if the Lusakans continue to make relatively little progress.

APP radio quickly aired a final message saying, 'due to the coercion of ZANU-PF secret police, we will be temporarily unable to broadcast'. The temporary part was true, there was every intention of setting up a new station, and perhaps several backups quickly. However, the guardian of the repeater station was not inclined to calmly to surrender to a bunch of thugs trespassing on his property. In the tradition of his ancestors he would protect this land with bullets and if necessary blood.

As the 4x4s rolled up the long dirt track, they came under AK fire. The owner of the ranch, his sons and his brother, all armed to te teeth with assault weapons, hunting rifles and pump-actions prepared to repel the government forces long enough for neighbours to arrive and reinforce them. For the first time in a while, Zimbabwe's minority were prepared to stand up for themselves.

When the two dozen or so police and paramilitaries hear the crackle of gunfire, it is collectively and quickly decided that the best option is not to continue headlong into the farm. The pickup leaves first, the driver not terribly concerned about people falling out of its overcrowded bed, and the police jeep follows very soon afterward. Both vehicles don't bother turning around and drive in reverse until the drivers are satisfied that they are out of the farmers' effective range.

At the end of the dirt road leading into the farm proper, a discussion gets underway as to what would be the best way to proceed. There is some argument over the actual strength of the opposing farmers, although the majority opinion holds that their number is small. Some think that the attack should wait for reinforcements, and with another band of ZANU-PF paramilitaries en route it is the obvious choice for everybody except the policemen. Refusing to believe that the white farmers are quite as dangerous as they likely are, the police push for the attack to go ahead immediately, reminding the skeptical paramilitaries that they have an RPD machine gun in addition to assault rifles while the farmers probably only have FN-FALs or Ak-47s.

In the end, it is decided to attack the farm with the force at hand...

Struggling into Zimbabwe, an operation that came as a great surprise to most Lusakan soldiers, the military and governmental leadership were faced with new problems. The idea of white farmers in Zimbabwe firing on government forces seemed more objectionable than the idea of Lusakans doing it. The United African Republic carved itself out of several old lands from one white empire and chose to disregard old native boundaries. It mixed black, white, and Arab populations, and more recently Indian minorities too, and didn't give much thought to minorities as a concept in that regard. But with attack by Al Khals followed by UE attack on Gabon and with the Roycelandian Empire refusing to finally die across the northern border, accepted attitudes of the revolutionary generation were being challenged by the Lusakan youth. Especially those who'd experienced the rule of Tendyala's junta as the most exciting event of their formative years, and had heard about or taken part in land redistribution.

Chirundu

No surprise the loss of Tiger 1 after the little aircraft attempted to move west before its attack run, putting itself on the Lusakan side of the river where Lusakan Army assets were still queued up around the escarpment, perhaps difficult to see but themselves alerted by the sound of approaching engines and the shouts of their comrades around the bend below. 7.62, 12.7, and 14.5mm fire rippled along the winding lines as the Zimbabwean aircraft approached, a young gunner atop a BTR-152 being credited with the eventual kill.

The bridge, ordered built by Mugabe using much foreign aid, was being crossed by T-62 and T-56(L) tanks and AT-T artillery tractors moving in single file when Tiger-2's rockets fell across it. One of the tractors, built in Lusaka based on old T-54 hulls and Russian designs, was crippled in the middle of the bridge, and those on hand were treated to a rare showing of success for Lusakan counter-measures technology as the so-called Lozd system mounted on one of the better furnished T-56(L) tanks engaged with apparent success, blasting at least one inbound rocket out of the sky several metres short of the vehicle itself. Whether it hit the rocket to which it reacted was hard to say, since another couple of the missiles struck the bridge itself in the vacinity of the tank and were not intercepted.

As smoke rose up on the bridge and radio calls brought two A-Darter-armed F5L Tiger fighters to bear from relatively near-by Old Lusaka City with the intent of chasing down and destroying the surviving offender before it got within a hundred miles of its base, one officer was already waving his unit away from the Lusakan side of the bridge, bellowing something about somebody called Otto Beit and pointing along the river: the Lusakans were going to use the decades old single-lane bridge to get men and trucks across, at least, though one hoped that somebody on hand realised that such monsters as the rare Olifant L-2 tank weighed in at several tons greater than the structure's rated limit... possibly they would be saved by an inability to fit on the old Chirundu bridge, anyway.

Chirundu

If any Lusakan soldiers bother to go looking for the wreck of Tiger 1, they will find it in reasonably good condition. Despite the engine end being all melted and charred, the result of catching on fire after being shot up by LRAC gunners, the canopy is open and apparently undamaged, and both seats empty. Upon further examination of the crash site, LRAC troops might locate Tiger 1's pilot collapsed on the ground several meters away, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound to one, perhaps both, legs.

If Tiger 2 knew what was after him, he probably would have been more cautious, but having already sighted Lusakan A-37s the little SF.260 is flown much closer to the ground than would be advisable in normal circumstances. Thankfully, the A-37 is as radar-less as the SF.260, and the Lusakan F-5s miss Tiger 2 by mere miles.

The strike on Chirundu bridge, all in all, isn't as successful as the Zimbabwean air force needed it to be, but is more successful than most expected it to be, resulting in the loss of only one of the attacking aircraft.

A follow-up attack is planned, with, unexpectedly enough, Tiger 3 and Tiger 4 being the aircraft assigned to the mission, but with the Lusakans wise to the Zimbabweans' SF.260 tactics it looks set to be a rather dangerous and perhaps foolish raid. Though with all of four SF.260s still in flyable condition, and those four comprising the entirety of the Air Force's combat strength, there isn't much that can be done.

On the ground, the Lusakans face very little opposition in their crossing of the Chirundu bridge, thanks to the mistaken belief that Lusakan sappers had built a pontoon bridge and deployed their Oliphants across the Zambezi already. Only a few snipers and air controllers remain in the vicinity, the bulk of Zimbabwe's regular army having pulled back closer to Harare.

APP Farm

Eight ZANU-PF paramilitaries advance on hands and knees up a ditch, supposedly headed in a flanking manouver to the back of the farmhouse. The main group crawls under a group of bushes several hundred meters away and sets up the RPD.

bump

With a couple of missile-armed supersonic interceptors active in the area, the Lusakans did not worry much about the remains of Zimbabwean air power.

The continued struggle to mobilise the Army was much more troubling. The UARL was certainly better placed than Zimbabwe when it came to activating a pool of trained reservists and distributing weapons: The African People's Volunteer Army was born from militias -which Zimbabwe had, too- and from the huge corpse of the pre-coup era military, which had been several hundred thousand strong before purges and massive cuts concurrent with economic decline; and it was from the army's disused stocks that weapons and munitions were lifted. The APVA plan had some provision for the economic survival of the families of subsistence-farmers called-up, though it was limited by the previous year's poor harvest. Still, things were looking better, this year, while Zimbabwe struggled with a smaller population pool with more sick people, a series of poor harvests, and less specific and evolved war plans than had the confrontational Lusakans.

There was still trouble with fuel, however, and mobility was seriously limited with just a few troop trains moving south. Spare parts were suddenly a problem too: in the past the vast material reserves had been picked at to keep the small regular army mechanised, which now meant that a great many vehicles were freed-up from the reserve but came with vital parts missing.

At the new Chirundu Bridge, where the Lusakans were struggling to clear a disabled armoured tractor (probably the worst thing that could have been hit!) and confirm that the bridge's structure was still safe, forces backed up on the Lusakan side were awkwardly shifting about as air defence units were planted firmly on the climbs of the escarpment leading down to the bridge. A couple of Shilka and SA-9 Gaskin were by now on hand.

Along the river at the old bridge, light elements were continuing to cross, having taken initial casualties due to sniper fire from the opposite side, which cut down a number of infantrymen and stopped dead on UAZ before the Lusakans collected themselves with the arrival of the first officer to move on the bridge since LRAC elements crossed in the first hours of the war.

Unfortunately, these light units lacked serious mobility and weren't likely to do more than establish a secure bridgehead and send forth a few on-foot and light truck mounted scouting expeditions.

The LRAC meanwhile was still progressing through the Mana Pools National Park, heading southeast towards the capital, still some hundred or more kilometres distant but looking barely a couple of days away if resistance remained low. The Revolutionary Alliance Corps moved with a handful of SA-9 and ZSU air defence vehicles, and some towed 14.5 and 23mm weapons that now seemed more likely to be deployed in the ground-fire role, but a much more significant number of OT-62B amphibious armoured personnel carriers, many mounting 82mm recoilless rifles that the semi-elite force used at every opportunity, often dismounting them for surprise attacks if bush scouts reported the approach of significant enemy forces.

The LRAC also had a good deal of light and vehicle-mounted mortars, and the lion's share of Lusaka's Susong-Po anti-tank guided missiles acquired from Dra-pol before the Neo-Suloist coup. Unlike other units, the LRAC -Vultures especially- were prepared to expend liberal amounts of ammunition when a target presented itself, their intent being to overwhelm opposition as convincingly and quickly as possible before supplies ran-out and -hopefully- more conservative forces caught-up.

Old Lusaka City

Most of Igomo's Social Progress Party leadership had relocated to the southern capital to, "be near to the liberation front". From here they began a campaign aimed at convincing Zimbabweans and West Zambians that joining the United African Republic was the way to go. They now began to cite the example of the West African Union along side the strength of the African Commonwealth and the unity in victory enjoyed by the disperate peoples of Roycelandian East Africa during the Lusakan war of independence.

Quite out of the blue, Mr.Derek's ambassadors to the Commonwealth and the WAU extended invitations to those states to send, "troops and security forces" to Lusakan East Zambia to assemble an independent African unity force in Zimbabwe.

The LRAC in Zimbabwe was sent -via helicopter and fast vehicles (very well, Toyota pick-ups)- a mountain of propaganda posters and other items worked up almost over-night, which they were to begin posting along their way. These would invite Zimbabweans to take a hand in their own liberation, as Igomo saw it, and contact United African Republic personnel about joining this pan-African force.

As yet one wonders just what facilities might even be imagined to vet and co-ordinate such an effort if it received any interest at all.

...some of the posters called on Mugabe to step-down gracefully and allow his people to take part in the greatest African movement in history, indicating that it was time for him to retire, and making no allusion to any hostile or legal intentions against his person or liberty on the part of the Lusakans.

Igomo was thinking of native Africa to the complete exclusion of all other interested parties, once again.

Meanwhile, the Roycelandian propaganda machine has been trying to convince the Zimbabweans that the Lusakans are a bunch of illiterate dopeheads who couldn't organise a drinking contest in a brewery, and that the way forward lies with Roycelandia, Strathdonia, and United Elias...

It may take a while to move in more radio transmitters and send down more brightly coloured paper for printing, but the Lusakans will eventually hit back with some simple charts comparing Lusakan and Roycelandian free education in a format that even a lumbering Roik could understand (;)). When it comes to the ultimate results of such education, the Lusakan propaganda will focus more on the African Commonwealth's better neighbourhoods as Igomo tries to blur the line between those African states regarded by the Republic as correct.

Congo

Considering the circumstances in List For Unity and Secular Party politics as of late, it is little wonder that the African Commonwealth agrees to support "African Efforts" in Zambia.

For one thing, the Commonwealth's modest publishing sector was injected with funding to produce visually impressive books and pamphlets about both Lusaka and the Commonwealth, as well as some affiliated regions such as Middle Congo and Angola. All show the nations in a good light, the social reforms that have worked well for Lusaka, the Commonwealth's modern health care, military strength and heavy industry; and the great natural beauty of "Central Africa".

Also, it is agreed upon to free the recently activated 15th Infantry Division for stabilizing operations in Lusakan East Zambia. Well disciplined, decently trained and armed with modern 5.56 Kalashnikov-101 rifles, they are to provide the peacekeepers with some backbone. It is implied that the 15th won't engage in offensive operations in Zimbabwe and elsewhere, and will be withdrawn once LEZ is a safe area once again.

Mana Pools National Park and Nearby Area

When Tiger 3 & 4 find themselves being chased by Darter AAMs, it is rather too late for anything to be done and the remnants of Zimbabwe's air force explode in two fireballs.

Once it becomes clear that the Lusakans hadn't already sent Olifants across the Zambezi, the handful of ZNA units still within the area are ordered to stage a counteroffensive. With most infantry brigades clustered around Harare and ravaged by desertion, armored units make the 'strongest' showing. T-59s and T-69s stagger towards Chirundu, their crews dreading Lusakan helicopters and A-37s enough to warrant constant stopping to replace camoflauge or post new aircraft sentries. Of the nearly twenty tanks and thirty armored personnel carriers committed to the 'offensive,' perhaps a quarter of that number has already dropped off with maintainance problems. Fuel, as with the LRAC, is the vital factor, but the ZNA's fuel shortage is even more acute than the LRAC's.

Inconveniently enough, the ZNA's first contact with a sizeable force of Lusakans from the LRAC's main advance comes close to nightfall. An EE-9 armored car from the ZNA's main column is set afire by a Lusakan OT-62, triggering a firefight in which four T-59s as well as numerous other armored vehicles are knocked out by recoilless rifles or heavy MG fire. Despite what is probably Zimbabwean numerical superiority when faced with Vulture advance parties, the sheer amount of fire that the Vultures prove able to bring to bear more often than not shocks the armor into retreat, not wishing to be on the recieving end of a recoilless rifle or Susong-Po.

But even if the ZNA manages to battle through the Lusakan advance guard, a situation that seems increasingly less likely as vehicle after vehicle runs out of gasoline or breaks down, to at least raid Chirundu, there are no strategic-level plans for ZNA actions as the army's command structure is in tatters. If the LRAC were to mount a second attack in the vicinity of Victoria Falls, the Zimbabwean defense would be done for.

Harare

The Zimbabwean capital is by no means in good shape. In camps surrounding the city, the ZNA's less-disciplined units wait for the Lusakans, and spend the time in between foraging for food. The police quickly prove insufficient to deal with the influx of young men, hungry in more ways than one, and an already-suffering city is stretched to the limit as far as resources are concerned.

Robert Mugabe, from his current headquarters in Bulawayo, radios the ZNA command in Harare with orders that the city be held to the last, but Mugabe himself is beginning to seriously consider accepting Igomo's proposal. After all, it would save his party and government from destruction and quite possibly boost popular support, waning in a serious way ever since the early 1980s.

In the end, Mugabe's HQ radios Lusaka and asks for a meeting.

Commonwealth Of Mozambique

Along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, units of the CoMDF-A deploy with armored cars and mortars in order to fortify guard posts and protect Zimbabwean refugees, steadily trickling into the Commonwealth. With the ZNA ordered to block any refugee columns, it is a miracle that the border has been free of firefights so far.

Eventually, the CoMDF-AF is ordered to fly a reconaissance sortie into Zimbabwe, mainly to assess the extent of Zimbabwean deployments along the border. Two Strikemasters lift off from Inhambane airstrip with camera pods and auxiliary fuel tanks, and head northwest...

LRAC commanders pushing their troops onwards at a fantastic rate thanks to good mechanisation in the tiny force, great surprise, and limited opposition had been finding themselves frustrated by the Zimbabwean withdrawal. Their half-considered plan entailed little more than an effort to cut-off large parts of the Zimbabwean army and prevent its retreat until the Lusakan army regulars could mobilise and the air force could be resupplied with fuel and munitions enough to cripple the enemy. Unfortunately this was a plan hatched over-night as Igomo ordered the invasion, and pre-existing planning for war with Zimbabwe was vague and years out of date. They didn't have much information on the pre-war disposition of the enemy nor on the specifics of infrastructure behind him, and were aiming for targets based on best guess work and out-dated information.

Though mechanisation was good, air support -fantastic on day one- was melting away as the enemy air force was subdued and high command looked to conserve fuel and airframes, not to mention an unhealthy desire to avoid losing planes and pilots that had parts of the air force under certain commanders bottled-up and useless by self-imposition like the German navy after Jutland or the Italians after Toranto. If they'd known exactly where to head and had just a few weeks to plan, many felt, they could have ended the war in less than a month, but now worried that it might stalemate within days and drag on for who knew how long...

But then the attempt at a counter-offensive on the Zimbabwean part brought the worried and hesitant Lusakan commanders back to life. With no useful information to consider they had been wasting their energy by pausing to think, and the Zimbabweans now left them no time to waste contemplating unsupported theories and ideas and forced them to fight like Lusakans. Ducking and diving in the long grass, expecting to be stopped dead at any time, winning the fight at hand rather than having to search one out, this was how the Republic's parental generation had beaten back the Roycelandians and the Al Khali surprise attack.

The ZNA counter attack's vanguard that ran into Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps units was tangling with the 1st Division, the larger portion of the dual-prong elite Corps, but the one with the least specific reputation: the 17th Division, known as the Vultures, had swung some way east and made less southerly penetration than had the 1st. That fact in itself was little compensation to the enemy, who found themselves facing the talons of an equally dangerous bird.

The 82mm recoilless rifle that disabled the first Zimbabwean armoured vehicle, like the troops who came rushing from the small area of woodland in which the dismounted weapon was placed, belonged to a formation (generously called a light battalion) that was not at the head of the 1st LRAC Division by chance. Its full title was Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps 1st Division, Moran Light Battalion and it consisted of Africa's aboriginal shock-troops, the Maasai's morani warriors, drawn from the north of the United African Republic along the Roycelandian frontier. As part of the LRAC these men were not bound to the rules of standardisation impressed upon the wider army, and many bore fully automatic weapons as opposed to the semi-automatic rifles carried elsewhere in the Lusakan army, but -like the SKS clone M66A1 that regulars used- the apparent Kalashnikov assault rifles used by many of the morani were of Serbian origin, because the Lusakans do love their rifle grenades. There was no more uniformity in their, well, their uniforms, beyond that all were obliged to present some bright Lusakan green. Many wore LRAC fatigues in that unnatural tint, but many more remained in their traditional garb, and all were clearly distinguished by the removal of a lower tooth and by their towering athletic frames, and most by some jewelry.

Olongwe once described Lusaka's co-operative Maasai (some few continued to spurn even Igomo's personal attempts at convincing them to put on pants and stop stealing his cows, and remained semi-nomadic quite outside Republican control) as the only warriors known to him who might stand-up to India's tribal warriors for more than an instant.

The Zimbabweans met by the Moran Light Battalion faced a veritable downpour of spigot-launched bombs landing atop their tanks and inside uncovered armoured vehicles from hard and soft cover hundreds of yards away before, with 7.62x54 and 12.7x107mm machineguns firing from advancing vehicles, dozens of morani came bounding forth, many visibly shaking and one or two frothing at the mouth in a scene that obviously hadn't been personally planned by politicians hoping to win-over the Zimbabwean people! Some sent RPGs racing ahead of them before dropping the launch units and sprinting ahead with spears ready to greet the enemy spilling out of wrecked or burning vehicles, while others bounced around, appearing almost to dodge bullets as they sprayed bursts of well practiced fire into the ZNA's representatives.

Still, as the smoke and dust drifted away or settled to earth, it was clear that not all of the morani had the frightening ability to evade incoming bullets, as several lay dead or wounded. The over-enthusiasm of vehicle crews keen not to allow the tribesmen all of the glory had also seen an OT-62 and two BTR vehicles blown-up or set fire by the Zimbabwean armour, and one UAZ had actually managed to capsize and wreck itself after zipping around in an attempt to cut-off the enemy's retreat.

Casualties such as these, where just a couple of Lusakan vehicles and a handful of men fell in totalling numerous enemy tanks and breaking counter-thrusts of potential tactical significance, seem perhaps insignificant and indicative of the Republic's qualitative superiority over its less well liked neighbour. But in truth the death of a few morani was hard to ignore, and the expenditure in single engagements of so many munitions by units so far ahead of support columns. These things would mean that the LRAC would almost certainly not get to Harare alone and would have to stop and await the huge weight of the APVA that was building behind it, hoping only to stagger the ZNA sufficiently that when the LRAC did stop, it would be with time to breathe and not on the eve of another enemy strike against it.

Victories in the sky, meanwhile, were being celebrated at home and, well, bigged-up in front of foreign journalists by smiling Social Progress Party ministers and military officers, keen to present this not as a war between two incapable backwaters, but as an over-whelming and professional operation by a modern union against a degenerate quagmire of a state. Victorious pilots spent an inordinate amount of time on television or at the focus of street parades, which in fact was partly due to the fact that Lusaka couldn't afford to put their planes back in the air...


(OOC: Sorry if that's a bit long without providing progress, I was warey of rushing over engagements without much description. There's another post on separate issues, coming.)

West Zambia

Four million people lived in West Zambia, more than previously maintained by most who'd guessed based largely on what Derek Igomo told them. They probably were enough to run a viable little nation, though landlocked and riddled with disease. After independence from the UK in 1964, when the name was changed from Northern Rhodesia, West Zambia actually started out pretty well, exporting copper for a good price and feeling safe from Roycelandian expansion due to the very recent nature of the split from Britain, which left most supposing that Roycelandia wouldn't dare tred on the toes of the UK by stepping in so soon. But as time moved on and Britons forgot about the tiny landlocked pocket of post-colonial Africa, the nation's situation worsened: copper prices began to fall, Roycelandia had gone a while without making a new colony, the Commonwealth was rumbling in the north, and West Zambia was sinking into poverty. It was perhaps protected from low-key annexation into a greater power only through the high-note struck by rebellion to the east as Derek Igomo and friends made the prospect of Roycelandian expansion the last thing on anybody's mind.

The victorious Lusakans took West Zambia under a benevolent wing, outnumbering them almost ten to one and enjoying more substantial international support thanks to their high profile military success. Protection and a bleed-off of aid and recognition thanks to autonomous association with the Social Progress Party made the allowance of heavy Lusakan involvement in the West Zambian parts of the Copperbelt a small price to pay given the market slump, and in truth the Lusakans weren't themselves overly excited about gaining extended access to the region.

Tendyala's coup and his aggressive pursuit of pan-Africanism saw a total Lusakan seizure of the copperbelt's main developments (maintained mostly with aid money meant for Lusaka and usually at a loss) but also resulted in the LRAC's retreat into WZ, where the revolutionary force was harboured until its victorious return to the UARL alongside Hindustani paras and Igovian soviet marines. Fighting between the LRAC with West Zambian volunteers, and Tendyala's forces, had further hurt the little state, which still had more than two hundred Zimbabwean troops in occupation of the Livingstone area, as nobody had got around to driving them out after the Lusakan pull-out (that, notably, was not inclusive of elements guarding the copperbelt) during Igomo's restoration.

City was now requesting that the West Zambians move to detain ZNA assets or prevent their evacuation, and if possible to secure the river crossing near Victoria Falls and prevent its destruction by the Zimbabweans. Igomo was now hoping to see African Commonwealth forces move to the area to back-up the West Zambians and in doing so cement the idea of the correct kind of pan-Africanism in the minds of all involved.

(OOC: Hey, AC (and some others) I'm thinking of starting a new thread for a hasty gathering of important figures to discuss, broadly speaking, Pan-Africanism. Initially it would be between the UARL and AC, and then we would hopefully convince the WAU to make a showing, then we might bring in delegations from WZ and, who knows, maybe even Zimbabwe, under significant Lusakan influence, and perhaps invite somebody from Mozambique's more agreeable half. I'll come back and link it ...soon :) )

Zambia

As the majority of the Rwandan regulars that made up the 15th Infantry Division started to move southwards towards Zambia through Lusaka in soft-skinned trucks and what working A60 APCs that could be scrounged up in the far eastern Commonwealth, it was decided to airlift several reinforced batallions into Zambia to get a feel for the situation as soon as a confirmation that the airspace in between was safe from enemy air power and flak could be obtained from the LRAC. While Lusaka as a general entity was trusted by the Commonwealth, their military authority was considered iffy at best, so the glowing victories reported would probably first be believed when seen.

Meanwhile, occupation troops in Angola were ordered at highest readiness if any hostile groups inside Zambia decided to view the Commonwealth as agressors. The commanders there decided that Angolas eastern border was too vulnerable against Zambian or Zimbabwean militants wanting to score an easy victory against Commonwealth assets, and as such irregular troops from Luena and Menongue were ordered to guard the many border areas; and the Hawk squadrons sent their lone Canberra RB-57 to photograph parts of western Zambia, although not daring to near Zambesi or other large cities just yet.


OOC>>

*steeples fingers* Excellent.

Many commentators had noted a lack of Roycelandian involvement in the war thus far... the unofficial word from Port Imperial was that Zambia's incorporation into either Lusaka or the African Commonwealth was a foregone conclusion and it would be a colossal waste of time, money, arms, resources, and lives to try and interfere at this stage.

Of course, once there was some dissent internally within the newly-occupied country, the arms and the support could be arranged for the Zambians, if they wanted...

But officially, Zambia was "Being monitored" by Roycelandia, nothing more.

Northern Zimbabwe

OCC: Lusaka, I'm wondering...did Robert Mugabe in AMW burn down the slums of Harare like he did in RL?

IC:

When ZNA tankers find themselves attacked by Maassai warriors, few waste any time in retreating. One more clear-headed seargent fires his T-59's machine gun at the advancing Lusakans, only to have it blown apart by an RPG. To the amazement of many onlookers, however, the seargent in question survives through being blown out of the burning tank by the force of the explosion. It is, though, up to the Lusakans as to whether he lives to tell the tale.

After the first few days of the ZNA's counterattack, most Zimbabwean movements can be found retreating southwest in the face of greatly more determined and committed LRAC troops, leaving a trail of disabled and abandoned armored vehicles. The tank units take the heaviest losses, being quite poorly trained and unable to effectively deal with Lusakan antitank tactics.

With the apparent collapse of what was only a half-hearted counterattack anyway, the ZNA leadership begins to see negotiation as the only sane way out of the mess at hand. Robert Mugabe, under pressure from most of ZANU-PF and the ZNA to play on Igomo's kinder tendancies and convince him to stop the invasion, radios Old Lusaka City with a request for a meeting at Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls

Unfortunately for the small garrison stationed at the Zimbabwean end of the Victoria Falls railway bridge, nobody bothered to tell them about Mugabe's second thoughts about the nation's continued resistance. While just as un-motivated and poorly-equipped as any other ZNA regular unit, the company-sized unit occupying a blockhouse and several sanbagged fortifications on the Zimbabwean side still saw fit to rig it with dynamite and tear up the railway tracks.

If the bridge is to be captured intact, the LRAC will have to act fast before boredom gets the best of the Zimbabweans and they blow the only crossing point into Zimbabwe on that side of Lake Kariba. And, what's more, a pair of T-59s and several EE-9 armored cars can be seen working their way towards the post, no doubt intent on crossing the bridge...

West Zambia

When war with Lusaka breaks out, the ZNA is in the enviable position of being in control of essentially a bridgehead in Lusakan territory. Due to the absence of any major LRAC units in the area, the several companies of ZNA troops around Livingstone move relatively quickly to build up defenses on the other side of the railway bridge. On the roads leading towards the bridge, Zimbabwean RPG teams watch for Lusakan armored vehicles and booby traps are set up, occasionally blowing up an unfortunate West Zambian in the wrong place at the wrong time. In between waiting for the Lusakans, the ZNA troops take food and, shall we say, pleasurable company from Livingstone and it can hardly endear them to the locals.

Nevertheless, the ZNA has heavy machine guns and bombs, and soon tanks in the area.

If you know + love Rage Against The Machine, this is your reigon. Al(l)ied Rage Against The Machine is a powerful, wealty region of united Rage Against The Machine listerners. If you haven't heard Rage Against The Machine, go somewhere like yahoo or iTunes and listen to Sleep Now in the Fire, Born of a Broken Man, or Killing in the Name Of.

Piss off.

Lusakan East Zambia

Under steady radar and plane coverage, the first three batallions of the 15th Infantry Division are airlifted into Lusakan-held territory by Iroquis helicopters, and a handful of APCs as well as four 88mm Artillery pieces are flown with them in a heavy lift "Halo" during the day.

Once the rest of the 15th arrives, it is the intentions of Commonwealth HQ to use the three first Batallions to aid in a reinforced offensive against the ZNA-held bridgehead; and this idea is aired to the commanding Lusakan officers in the area.

Outside Livingstone

"No! Stop that tank!"

A ZNA seargent runs up to the relatively inattentive commander of one of the T-59s sent to reinforce the Zimbabwean troops outside Livingstone just before it is set to run right over an antitank mine. Disaster is averted once he reaches the vehicle and orders its commander to stop, and along with the other T-59 it is led to semi-prepared positions by the more aware ZNA infantrymen. The tanks are eventually positioned on the sides of the main road leading from Livingstone to the railway bridge, and covered in foliage. To go looking for Lusakan forces in the open is deemed a suicidal waste, but their 100mm guns can knock out any Lusakan vehicle except the Olifant. Of course, actually hitting any Lusakan vehicles before being destroyed by RPGs or recoilless rifles is another matter entirely, and there's nothing saying that the tanks' crews will stay with their mounts when the situation becomes dire.

In the meantime, it is decided to launch a patrol into Zambia, using two EE-9 armored cars. After being led through the mines and booby traps by infantrymen, the vehicles are ordered to proceed into Livingstone and along the railroad tracks until they find Lusakan troops, which they are to attack quickly, and after that return to the bridgehead.

OOC: ignore this if it wrekcs the flow of things or soudns at all wankey.

IC:
Officially Hasani Banda was not here, officially Cpl Banda, No1 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, was a guest of the SDF's pleasure in D block Fletcher Military prison serving a 10 year sentence for numerous criems such as assaulting a senior officer and disorderly conduct.

Of course what was offically correct is not always what is, in reality, correct. Which was why Cpl Banda was not sitting in a nice warm prison cell but crouching almost totally surbmerged in the Zambeze river finishing off the final connections in a set of explosive charges affixed to the nothern msot support pillar of the Chirundu bridge.

Over head the constant flow of traffic and its constant rumble and rattle was begining to seriously give him a head ache, but he concentrated and finally the last connections were amde and the main firing device was primed, nothing fancy here: just a basic water proof clockwork timer that would have been familiar to commandos of world war 2.

Following a final check he slipped on his snorkel and mask and let go, letting the inky black flow of the river carry him away and into the night...

OOC: i'm a bit confused as the what the Chirundu bridge looks like, the japanese claim the new one looks like this (http://www.kajima.co.jp/ir/annual/2003/image/const-real-img07.jpg) but other sources seem to make it out to be a supension bridge...
I went with the japanese version as it is easier to attack but feel free to correct me.

OOC: Wasn't there a group of Imperial Foreign Legionnaires in Zambia as well, generally causing mayhem for the Lusakans by blowing up all the railways lines etc?

OCC: There might've been, Royce, but I'm not the one to ask.

It looks ok to me Strath, but then again if the Chirundu bridge were to be destroyed it would be the single greatest Zimbabwean victory of the entire decade...but even then OT-62-mounted Vultures could probably make a good attempt at Harare.

OOC: Any explaosion might not do the bridge in entirely but it certainly would take a few weeks to repair, i'm not entirely sure where the SSSS (S4) is going with this op other than to make thign s as difficult for the lusakan's as possible (but then why blow up the air feilds? ah wheels within wheels...)

As the focus of the Zimambwean military shifted towards the Zambian border as it intended to act as a speed bump to the Lusakan hordes, the African Prosperity Party continued to incite trouble in Harare as well as in Bulawayo and several other towns. Recruiting local agents through secretive propaganda campaigns and in some cases simple bribery, the aim was not so much to cause the ZANU-PF government to collapse, for that would simply make it easier for the Lusakans to occupy, but to create a loyal band of supporters to resist the occupiers and fight for autonomy once the war was over. In Eastern Zimbabwe, along the Free State border, incursions by RENAMO/APP guerillas became increasingly common, with irregular forces scavenging arms, setting up caches and recruiting as much of the peasantry as possible with promises and handouts of medication and more importantly, hand-powered radios.

Whereas it would have previously seen natural to want to retake power in the former-Rhodesia, the bastion of RENAMO type values, the APP was now more interested in maintaing some sort of buffer between Lusaka and the militarily much inferior free state. If a post-war Zimbabwe could be kept unstable enough, it would make it that much harder for the LRAC to swarm across and oust the Beira regime.

In Beira itself, Kurtz had started a new offensive, a diplomatic one. Overtures were made to the Strathdonian government, proposing some sort of treaty of goodwill and non-aggression, perhaps even paving the way for some sort of military co-operation in the future.

OOC: Erm, I'm sorry to be lazy guys, but I don't have the time to go through all the pages...what exactly is this war about?

OOC: It's good that it popped-up here just now, because I'd almost allowed myself to forget about it over the new year and with thinking more about the African National Pact and Non-Alignment Treaty.

I'll do a summing-up post here, if you don't mind reading one long post instead of several pages. I think that it'll help me to find my place, anyway.

The thread has come a long way, but the war going on now reflects the return to power in UAR Lusaka of the fairly popular Igomo Social Progress Party and the tragically reduced capacities of its leader, Mr. Derek Igomo.

The LUAN Party junta of General Theo Tendyala broke Igomo's long policy of distance from Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe, and began to carry-through harsh measures in Lusaka similar to those in Zimbabwe. The junta also invaded West Zambia, which was long an independent state with strong ties to Igomo's government, truthfully claiming that pro-Igomo militias were using it as a base to undermine the LUAN and ZANU-PF administrations.

When these militias -which turned out to be at their core [the four thousand] members of the Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps supported by weak West Zambian units- fought Tendyala's men to a stand-still, Hindustan sent [two thousand?] paras and the Igovians sent [three thousand?] marines to help topple the unpopular LUAN Party and restore the ISP Party.

Unfortunately, Igomo had suffered a stroke, his ill-health being one of the justifications used by Tendyala in taking power while Igomo was in London, and it is becoming increasingly clear that he is not the man he once was. Absent minded and prone to mood swings, fitful and apt to make decisions worthy of Yeltsin because of exhaustion and medication rather than drink.

Tendyala fled to Zimbabwe (which had joined in a limited capacity his invasion of West Zambia in gratitude for Lusakan military aid given from the vast stock-piles of equipment created by Tendyala's military downsizing (A.K.A. his purges)), but was reportedly arrested by a Harare fearful of provoking the Indians. However, in time, the Igovians withdrew part of their force [to fight France and Roycelandia?], and Mugabe refused to hand-over Tendyala, to withdraw his small contingent from West Zambia, or to return military equipment.

A sickly and understandably paranoid Igomo came to the questionable conclusion that Zimbabwe wanted to use its foothold in West Zambia, its Lusakan armaments, and the promising General Tendyala to invade the United African Republic and topple his government.

He ordered a pre-emptive strike to destroy the depots to which Lusakan military aid was delivered and to cripple the small Zimbabwean air force, and then sent the LRAC into Zimbabwe.

Major differences between Mugabe and Igomo -who himself is not known for organising frequent elections- are that, though they're both big on black African independence, Igomo considers most Africa-born whites and Arabs to be "Africanised" as a matter of course, and not just when they have something valuable to offer him, and of course that Igomo is generally less introspective and stretches personal and national resources to help anti-imperialist movements around Africa and promote solidarity in defiance of popular western myths about, "tribal conflict" that usually is nothing of the sort.

In truth, New Lusaka City is now conspiring with Kinshasa to unify shattered West Zambia and troubled Zimbabwe with the United African Republic, and to unite Middle Congo and Angola with the African Commonwealth, before -in Igomo's mind- moving on to liberate Nigeria and Western Gabon, unify Mozambique under the MozComs, and drive France and Roycelandia out of North Africa. This is, according to Igomo's sketchy plans, to be achieved partly by use of the potential Non-Alignment Treaty and heavy co-operation with Belgrade, for which he has already taken the further uncharacteristic step of committing espionage against Hindustan.

I suppose that the war is about a nationalist coup gone wrong, and a well-intentioned old soldier's heavily-medicated dream of Africa's impending golden age.

OOC: Who's RPing Zimbabwe? And are those the only major differences between Igomo and Mugabe? Meaning that, Igomo is also a Stalinist dictator? And I thought you said the Hindustanis withdrew...So why're they still posting in combat form? And what the hell is Strathdonia doing?

Oh, and if Igomo thinks he can take down Mubarrak and "liberate" Nigeria, he's got another thing coming! ;)

OOC: Er, Zimbabwe is sort of a free for all. It has long been associated with Lusaka, and Igomo and Mugabe even used to be friends, back in the day. But Igomo, not a very political man beyond his desire for African liberation, found support in more liberal left-wing friends than did Mugabe, and was forced to distance himself from the less popular leader. In time, as Mugabe's repression grew, Igomo grew to actively dislike him to some degree.

Igomo is a semi-dictator, I'd say. He has probably enough popular support to win an election, so doesn't bother holding any. Nobody's bothered him about it up to now, though, considering that he'd probably win, he might be convinced to hold a vote if he thought he was in danger of being attacked or isolated by the world for not doing, you know? He's usually a man with a plan, and doesn't want to be disturbed. Professionally they'd be enemies, but personally he might even get along with America's President. Economically he's controlling on a big level, and utterly disinterested locally, you know? Lusaka has a state economy for major services and utilities, and Lusaka has a black market that is allowed to do pretty much everthing else. Given that the police don't tollerate extortion and violence, one might argue that at a grassroots level Lusaka is a pretty pure free market. Monopolies get nationalised or broken-up, street traders get by.

However, I think you may be a little mistaken about Zimbabwe and Mugabe. I think it excessive to call him a Stalinist. He does what suits him. Enver Hoxha was a Stalinist, Robert Mugabe is an opportunist. I have Zimbabwean friends, and though they tend to be amongst the fortunate sections of society, they can still leave the country, contact those outside, and so on, though they do often see others in a worse state. Ah, but saying that, they tend to be the sort of people supposed to be ZANU-PF's most high profile victims (Igomo cares more about those turfed-out in Operation Clean Up The Filth or whatever it was called), and certainly would be the sort of people to fall in a Stalinist purge.

Urm, yes. I have played Zimbabwe to a degree, LRR in his various guises is mostly responsible for playing their defence at the moment (though we know he doesn't care for Mugabe, his main nation has also just been ripped-off by the Lusakans).

Strathdonia is... paying attention, I think. Their territory was over-run in living memory by the Lusakans, and they probably don't care for Mugabe either, so they've cause for concern. I think that generally they recognise that ZANU-PF is probably going to come off worse, and that it is disliked by Hindustan, and so they're leaning against Zimbabwe?

Finally, well, no, Nigeria looks a bit ambitious. But, ah, go and ask at Port Royal about what they thought of the unofficial Social Progress Party when it's roots took in the late 1970s... not much, I dare say! By the turn of the decade, the primary opponent to the USSR was retreating several thousand kilometres, to behind Lake Victoria and Mount Kilimanjaro! ;)
Igomo's main weapon is the whiteman's continued underestimation of his native African fellows.

Edit: I'm sorry, that post was incredibly messy. I'm tired!

OCC:

About the Hindustani paras withdrawing from Lusaka, I don't know...probably, since its always useful to have them fairly close to home should trouble spring up in the rest of India, but if Igomo thinks he needs them they will stay.

Parliament still doesn't have the slightest idea that their "good friend Derek Igomo" is ripping-off Hindustan, and is not entirely opposed to the non-aligned movement either. (Although, I must admit, a bit offended at the Lav's casual dismissal of Mumbai's good will).

"Sounds like a good idea, Mr. Igomo. Our advice to you is to be careful, but you have our backing," a Parliamentary diplomat might say. "Oh, and about those Dhruvs you ordered..."

I have been RPing Zimbabwe, but I don't think I've been too heavily slanted, er, have I?

What keeps the thing relatively sane, methinks, is that neither side currently has the ability to win unless one side or the other gives up. The ZNA is not a force to dismiss offhand, and old Raoul Domingos feared ZANU-PF almost as much as the Free State. But at the same time it didn't have nearly the same level of foreign backing in terms of money and equipment, and I daresay it is less motivated than the LRAC. Mugabe did, after all, displace a very large portion of the population in the previously mentioned operation something or other (on the BBC world news they said something like a quarter million people were out of a home), while Igomo has done nothing of the sort. (?)

Perhaps the ZNA should have put up more of a fight in the, well, let's call it the Harare front, shall we? Seeing that it had tanks and the Lusakans only had APCs, mabye the Zimbabweans buckled too easily. But would you want some Maasai warrior with a spear in one hand and an RPG-7 in the other rushing at your tank? I think not.

Eh, if you can make sense of that, quite good!

(I know this is somewhat sudden, but I haven’t logged on for quite a while, so this all happened during that period)

Over the preceding weeks, the Ministry of Defence, under constant pressure from No. 10 had been executing one of the most complicated and extremely rapid deployments of forces in recent times. What made it most difficult was that it all had to be done with some degree of secrecy. With permission garnered from Strathdonia, the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment had deployed to that country within several days, along with two squadrons of Harrier GR.9Z, one squadron of Typhoon F.1 aircraft a pair of Nimrod R.1 Reconnaissance aircraft and a pair of E-3 AWACS.

Apart from this, the entirety of 3 (UK) Division had also been ordered to Sub-Saharan Africa although under the pretext of going on a joint UK-UE training operation in Brunei. Using for the most part chartered commercial aircraft and merchant ships taken up from trade, massive quantities of military hardware had been flowing into Quelimane and then assembling in Tete province. At the same time a moderately sized naval task group was due to take position in the Mozambique channel.

It is likely that Lusakan intelligence would have had reports of British forces assembling in the Strathdonian controlled provinces of Mozambique for some time, but the extent of the deployments and the intent behind them would be unkown. It would appear most likely that the purpose of the British contingent was to provide a force to secure the borders of Strathdonia and the Commonwealth of Mozambique in case Igomo's expansionist plans included wider objectives.

With this significant military build-up almost complete, and with the ZNA nearing collapse, the moment for Great Britain’s entry into this conflict was coming soon. Communiqués were sent to all NATO states, United Elias and Strathdonia informing them that British forces would soon cross the border into Zimbabwe and attempt to secure the capital and hopefully deter the Lusakans from proceeding any further eastward. Without numerical superiority or indeed a substantial enough force to repel the Lusakan and African Commonwealth forces, it was assumed that the threat of engaging British and therefore a NATO force would be enough to make them see reason. They were also informed that the British forces would remain to oversee a real free and fair election for a new Zimbabwean government, protecting the country from foreign aggressors and internal rebellion.

It took some time for Igomo to get back to his one-time friend in Harare, but it was hard to be sure whether the delay was owing to Mr.Derek's flair for the dramatic and his desire to make the opposition sweat, or just to a break-down in Lusakan communications or the President's health.

Eventually, he did reply. If the ZNA would hold its positions, so would the LRAC advance pause (not because it was, coincidentally, running out of supplies!) so that the two governments could meet at Victoria Falls and discuss the situation. A condition was that Lusaka and the African Commonwealth should fly reconnaissance missions unmolested to make sure that the good natured pause of their advance was not abused by repositioning or digging-in of ZNA forces.

Mr.Derek was hopeful that the Livingstone situation could be resolved without more violence, and the West Zambians could be given the impression that their new Commonwealther friends were peace bringers like the Social Progress Party. He was thinking about bringing-up the renaming of Victoria Falls itself, possibly in some way pleasing to Mugabe, as a friendly tool for mood-setting, and because it really wasn't in keeping with his African Nationalist ambitions to keep the landmark so named.

Igomo very much wanted a peaceful settlement that could bring Zimbabwe and Lusaka together, and the power of Mugabe might make that possible if the old man could be made personally very happy... or failing that, sufficiently scared. Mr.Derek would go to Vic Falls himself, and expect the same of Mugabe, but he told Kinshasa of the possible meeting and said that he did not intend to let Mugabe leave until the ANP plan was satisfied...

Nigerian Deployed KGB agents are deployed to Nigeria to, in the traditional Russian manner, "get drunk and keep an eye on things."

OOC: Roycelandia has troops in Zimbabwe too, you know...

OOC: WHAT? Since when? How?

We've had the Imperial Foreign Legion in Zimbabwe since fairly early in the proceedings, blowing up bridges, sabotaging railway lines, and generally harassing the Lusakans in a mildly irritating but not really aggressive way... I'm sure I've made posts about it.

Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA)

Prime Minister Chaffin, the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and Defence, the Defence Staff and several other senior civil servants and military officers gathered around a conference table. The Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee was outlining the details of communications between Harare and Igomo's regime, intercepted several hours before by a Nimrod SIGINT aicraft. Having been decyphered relatively quickly by GCHQ, its contents suggested that peace talks between the two nations were imminent. An analyst from the Defence Intelligence Staff then put forward his assesment that these talks would lead to Zimbabwe being effectively absorbed into an enlarged African nationalist bloc.

The meeting dragged on as civil servants from the Foreign Office attempting their usual four step plan to avoid any sort of action. 1) suggest that there is no problem. 2) suggest that there might be a problem but that the government should wait and monitor the situation. 3) Suggest that even if there is a problem we shouldn't do anything about it and 4) Admit that there was a problem but it is now too late to do anything about it.
The Prime Minister would have none of it. In his manifesto he had promised to solve the issues of Zimbabwe once and for all, and not on his watch was he to allow it to be consumed by the likes of the Social Progress Party. Zimbabwe was to be his Falklands. Now however, he would have to act quickly, to act now would be seen as a bold move to force a peace, to act after an armistice would be seen as nothing short of an invasion. He turned to General Sir Reginald Wallace-Hall, "Can we be ready tonight? It must be tonight."

The Chief of the Defence Staff paused for a moment in thought and then nodded briskly, "Yes Prime Minister."

***

As the sun dropped beneath the horizon in Sub-Saharan Africa, a Royal Air Force C-130J-30 lumbered into the air from a Strathdonian airstrip and turned Southward towards Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, several flights of Typhoon fighters equipped for SEAD and Interception started to fly Combat Air Patrols, ready to respond to any hostile action.

Within an hour, Air Troop of the Parachute Regiment's Pathfinder platoon had performed a HALO jump 40 Miles North East of Harare to capture the bridgehead over the Marzowe river until it could be reinforced by a larger force in the course of the night. As the ground contingent started to move off from ready positions at the South Easternmost part of Tete Province, WAH-64D Apaches and Puma helicopters assigned to 16th Air Assault Brigade lifted off and flew in formation, landing troops from the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders at key border crossing positions. Supported by 155mm artillery from the 19th Field Regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and Harrier’s armed with Brimstone missiles and rocket pods, they hope to quickly overwhelm the ZNA frontier units and rapidly advance towards the capital. With tactical precision, using the fighting as a diversion, Chinook helicopters fly deep behind enemy lines to tactically insert SAS, land rover equipped deep reconnaissance teams.

At 3rd Division operational HQ near Blantyre, the commanders, having been forced from above to launch the operation several days ahead of schedule would have to hope that Zimbabwe’s shattered command and control network would not be able to organise a major counterattack before the British forces had secured their key objectives and heavier units of action could be brought to bear. Also, many doubted whether the moral existed in the ZNA to take on such a technologically superior force.

OOC: any more word on the bridge bombing, that old clockwork timer isn't goign to hold forever.

Bulawayo

Robert Mugabe radios Lusaka back, agreeing to submit to the APP's conditions, although the only way the ZNA units around Livingstone could molest any Lusakan fighter would be for it to land and for the pilot to bribe the Zimbabwean troops to use some of their quite small stock of ammunition on it.

Accompanied by Defense Minister Sydney Sekeremayi, one of the few cabinet ministers still in the country, Mugabe climbs aboard a Jetranger and flies towards the Victoria Falls railroad bridge just as the first few RAF aircraft appear in Zimbabwean skies. The troops at the bridge are told (as if they needed encouragement) not to shoot at aircraft and a general cease-fire is ordered while Mugabe and Igomo meet.

As far as Mugabe and Sekeremayi are concerned, it is entirely pointless to continue resistance against the Lusakans, since the ZNA had already largely fallen back to the outskirts of Harare and the ramshackle armored counterattack had been routed with heavy losses. With no intelligence capacity whatsoever, the Zimbabweans have no idea that the LRAC isn't having things as wonderfully as their combat performance might suggest.

The flood of radio transmissions from the border with Strathdonia are not heard in Bulawayo, and the commander at Harare doesn't bother to tell the post at the falls.

Border Crossing 8, Mashonaland Central Province

"Corporal, get those traitors away from the fence! Do not let them get away!"

A spotlight suddenly turns on a group of perhaps two dozen Zimbabweans trying to cut their way through the border fence to Strathdonia, meeting with limited success as their discovery indicates.

"Stop or we will fire!" challenges the sentry as he waves an SKS at the refugees, former citizens of Harare who were evicted in Operation Murambatsvina. Amidst all the excitement nobody notices the approach of an RAF Puma until far too late.

If the British are aiming to overhwhelm the ZNA border garrisons with "shock and awe," they find themselves quite able to do so. To say the least, the border guards were only recently contemplating the possibility of a serious Strathdonian threat, never mind the UK, so when the Highlanders land they find only scattered, disorganized, and quite temporary opposition. What few Crocodile APCs that have been stationed at border crossings are quickly dispatched by Apaches or Harriers and the British find the way open for them fairly quickly.

Harare

Although the immediate military problem posed by Lusaka had distracted the majority of the ZNA's resources, it still found the manpower to deal with internal security, and deal with internal security it most certainly did. The re-named and reorganized remnants of the Drapoel-trained 5th Brigade brutally crush demonstrations of any sort, and quickly prove willing to use grenades in place of tear gas cannisters.

The threat posed by the African Prosperity Party is taken extremely seriously. Demonstrators for their platform recieve even less mercy than the others, and whites especially are often rounded up in the middle of the night and taken to the Interior Ministry's new wartime headquarters outside the city. It isn't hard to guess what happens to them once brought to the former barracks complex, with its barbed wire fences and barred-up windows.


Maputo

The government is in nothing short of a state of panic when news filters in that the British intend to deploy to Zimbabwe. The ruling MPADE built its foreign policy on the premise of working peace between Strathdonia and its NATO allies and the African Nationalists headed by Lusaka, and with the UK provoking nothing less than all-out war with the African National Pact that effort looks like it might very well turn to naught.

Joaquim Chissano, an ex-FRELIMO man and an extremely capable assistant, gets straight to work. Within minutes of the closure of a special cabinet session, Chissano is at the door of the British embassy in Maputo with a briefcase full of reports, and Juan Fernandes, the Foreign Minister, is aboard an An-24 headed to Lilongwe and then Old Lusaka City. Leon Alberto is also expected to push the issue foreword for discussion at the non-aligned conference.

The Zimbabwe Crisis will probably make or break Mozambiquian foreign policy, so every effort is made to try and extract some kind of mutually acceptable settlement. Maputo does not want to damage its friendly relationship with the UK and Strathdonia, nor is it interested in becoming hostile to the African National Pact or the Non-Aligned movement.

Lusakan border airspace

Outside the cockpit the rain and wind splashed and howled, making the pilot of the Canberra planes job risky at best. However, a job was a job; and the RB-57 electronic intelligence officer fiddled away with his gear. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he dropped his ball-point pen with a clatter made totally inaudible by the weather raging outside the aircraft.

He picked it up, double-checked the reading he had just received, and then prodded the pilot to get down to an altitude where he could contact HQ. "Yes, this is rivet 2, I repeat, this is rivet 2. We've detected multiple unknown craft, possibly attack helicopters and a large transport plane - Whatever it is, it's big; and they're not Commonwealth, Lusakan, Zambezi or Zimbabwean." When asked for confirmation, he slowly detailed the reads. After an eerie whine of static, HQ replied again. "You have confirmation on these sightings, Rivet 2?". "Positive", the operater answered. "Return home, we have work to do.".

Kinshasa

The next day, Kinshasan high command was in an uproar. Lusakan and Angolan intelligence departments were contacted with the Canberra's recon information, to try and find out what nation would possibly send in the "big guns", so to speak. Likewise, Strathdonia was contacted and asked whether they had aircraft operating deep inside of Zimbabwe.

The Strathdonian High Command were currently ina abit ofa bind, yes they had been happily watching the british forces pile up thier equipment but they had noit reatt been expecting such overt moves quiet so soon. Of course the Strathdonians would never do anything as crass as complain to the British they were a little concerned about possible repecussions in terms of relations with the more African alinged neighbours.

And so the likes of Chiwa Henderson got to sit back and watch as what Zimbaweian borders forces there were got a serious kicking. officially no Strathdonian forces were involved yet but it was perhaps unsuprising that local commanders dispatched a few cross border patrols to see what mischeif they could achive without getting in the way of the British.

In the press the british operation is being portrayed not as any sort of overtly imperialist interventionist or anti african unionist move but merely the act of a benevolent power commign back to make up for its past msitakes.

As to the Enquiry from Kinesha (sp?) it is made clear that no Strathdonian aircraft are currently operating over the border, but nothing is mentioend about aircraft operating from Strathdonian bases.

Victoria Falls

It had taken longer than hoped (though not really longer than expected) for the West Zambians to respond to City's request for them to move forces on the ZNA at Livingstone and the important bridge area, but by now they were in evidence beyond Zimbabwean lines. The ZNA scout cars sent deeper into WZ territory would see them establishing positions with weaponry of primarily Lusakan origin, though they had bought arms under the table from African Commonwealth sources and actually acquired others from the Roiks, who thought to aid the West Zambians against (Tendyala's) Lusaka without fully appreciating at the time that they were arming staunch supporters of Derek Igomo.

President Igomo himself arrived in sub-luxury style aboard a Hind-like Commonwealth-origin attack helicopter of Lusakan modification, escorted by a second example armed with Mokopa ATGMs and U-Darter SRAAM. A handful of F-20-L Tigershark fighters stationed near Old Lusaka City were alerted to the possible need to respond to aggression against the Vic Falls area, the Commonwealthers being informed of their availability for scrambling should they be the ones to detect possible threats. Patrols were not quite constant, presumably owing to limited fuel reserves.

Almost as soon as Mugabe and Igomo were arrived, attending AIB staff were keen to have the whole affair moved to the least conspicuous place available. It was notable that the African Intelligence Bureau agents were no longer armed with the modern-looking but notoriously unsafe South African Vektor CP1 pistols they used to be issued, but with 9mms of European appearance and Yugoslav markings.

The agenda, so far as the apparently revitalised (though he still walked with a stick and a folding wheelchair was carried in black bags by several concerned helpers) Igomo was concerned, was changed by the British and/or Strathdonian incursion into Zimbabwe. As soon as the meeting place was reached, Mr.Derek's deep, vibrating voice kicked into full flow.

"There is no time to delay, Robert" he said, waving his free hand in the air as he shuffled towards Mugabe. "I had intended to offer you retirement anywhere in the ANP" Derek said this without thinking of Mugabe's ignorance of the pact's reforming by Lusaka and the Commonwealth, and an AIB man would soon whisper this basic information to one of Mugabe's staff, not wanting to interrupt Igomo. "...when Zimbabwe joins, though I regretted that we would have to present you as a tyrant responsible for your country's ills. Now this is no matter, everybody can see that it is the fault of the imperialists.

"We must conclude an alliance before the British and the Nyasalanders complete their conspiracy to rebuild Rhodesia.

"You will hand crisis administration to the African National Pact, and Tendyala, where is Tendyala? He will come through for us!" Igomo had edged himself only now into a seat, and was still quite animated, taping his index finger firmly on the surface before him. He sounded quite emotional over the young general who had betrayed him and fled to Zimbabwe, but still wanted to give him a command against the foreign enemy, and a chance to redeem himself.

"Between us, and our successful and noble Commonwealth friends, the people will be... inspired!" He went on, putting a lot of stress on the last word. "We have lots of arms on credit, coming from our friends in Tripoli and Belgrade, who want very much for the African National Pact to bloody the noses of the imperialists in Africa, because some of those are the French and the Roycelandians, and even the Russians, who they have... very much cause to dislike!

"Once we get on the same side, we will have tens of thousands of men, and fuel will come from our Commonwealth friends. I will tell... I will tell the..." the President had to call over an assisstant and whisper to him. "...the Strathdonians that they must seriously consider their part in imperialism, and if they don't stop the British attacks, it will be bad for Lilongwe, which is only fifty miles from my nearest soldiers, and which has been over-run before.

"In the end, we must make this work for us. We must ask the people of Mozambique to rise against imperialism [and] the return of... Salisbury... and we must both rally the people of Zimbabwe as African nationalists to tell the real enemies that we do not want them.

"Zimbabwe must join the African National Pact, and that is the only way you can continue as a governor... because the British will put you in prison, my friend, like they did before, and like the Roycelandians did to me."

So, Igomo wanted Mugabe to openly transfer an emergency administration of Zimbabwe to the ANP, where by he intended to legally take control. He wanted to align the best commanders that Lusaka and Zimbabwe had -including Tendyala- with a force supplied from remaining Zimbabwean and Lusakan stocks, the African Commonwealth's powerful arsenals, Libya's vast excess of equipment as was intended for such situations, and on Yugoslav credit, and fueled by the Commonwealth and its Angolan influence.
City was sending to Strathdonia its strongly worded disapproval, and doing its best to give them as much of the impression of strength he'd impressed upon Mugabe, implying that an advance like the LRAC's replicated in the narrow lands of Strathdonia would put Lusakan forces inside Lilongwe almost over night.

The Republic's defence chief Colin Olongwe, meanwhile, requested with deep concern that Kinshasa merely stand firm. Igomo expected the Commonwealth to send millions of dollars worth of oil and weapons to the Lusakans and Zimbabweans and perhaps to deploy forces strong enough to meet the British head to head, but Olongwe was only concerned that Kinshasa not dust its hands of the matter on seeing British involvement, and at least give the impression that it might be serious enough, which might perhaps be enough to make Strathdonia request or demand a British pull-out from its territory: Kinshasa only had to keep Lusaka's swelling volunteer army mobile and the Strathdonians would be vulnerable no matter how modern the guns of their European allies.

Certainly Zimbabwe, Lusaka, and the Commonwealth could not be occupied and subdued if half the world joined to try it, and the possibility of crippling their mechanisation and industry could only put the Lusakans back into the condition of being a bush army such as the one that had whipped the Roycelandian Empire and fought the Rhodesians to a stalemate, and this idea kept the manic Igomo in a condition of supreme confidence in the breaking of his enemies' will.


(OOC: I keep forgetting about the bridge thing. The Strathdonians were going to blow the new bridge, that had been put out of action during the Zimbabwean air attack? I'll have to read back over that.)

OOC:
To be honest i was very very confused about what the status of the bridges were or even which ones actually existed (and also which one was which) so i think its probably safe to ignore my random post.

IC: In response to Igomo's threats the Strathdonian govenment are publically dismissive pointing out that was back in the days when Lilongwe was merely the capital of the junior partner in the R&N federation and not the capital of one of the best armed nations in the region, and one with a capability to strike at any Lusakan city.

If the lusakans are so concerned with the remarkably restrained operations of the british then perhaps they would do well to speak to the british themselves, surely Igomo must have made soem contacts during his stay in London (he didi stay there after Tendyala's coup didin't he). There would always be options particularly if Mugabe were to be handed over to a trusted third party, it would be a shame if all the recent progress in the region were to be brought to a halt for one man's pride and his apparent desire to suddenly occondate one of his enemies in order that his power schemes can spread to yet another nation.

Governatorial Palace, Kinshasa

Ndelebe looked tired, but firm. The gaggle of advisors and clerks around him had, as requested, given a no-nonsense assesment of the powers at work. He creased his brow, and reviewed the situation. The whole thing could turn volatile quickly, and his decision could and would precipitate a drastic shift in the terror balance; should he choose to support the African National Pact.
He could not idle, was his first thought. He'd send his foreign minister Booker Mbeki to Old Lusaka City to tell the Lusakans that he would commit fully to the pact.. It would be no kind of signal to Igomo that Kinshasa paled in the face of the Pacts first test of strength.

Still, the British and Strathdonians had considerable modern military assets to draw on, and trained, disciplined men - Much could go wrong.. Or could it? Ndelebe had met Roycelandia, the Congo, Rhodesia and Nyasaland and United Elias head on, side by side with Lusaka; and still had not been more than bloodied. In fact, the resulting surge in rebuilding and weapon industries had revitalized the Commonwealth economy and allowing for the annexation of Angola.

He brought his fist down with a thump that had the clerks jumping up in their seats. "We're doing it. Have the Canberra and Hawk wings in Angola on highest readiness, and examine the possibility of transferring air and armour assets to Zimbabwe. The 15th Rwandan must hold, in the case of conflict - get them what artillery and air coverage we can; and activate a first line division and an L-2 brigade. We'll show them what we're made of."

All over the South African theatre

Behind the Angolan-Zambezi border, guard units stepped up surveying the border, and the Hawk 200 and Canberra squadrons get recon sorties on the wings, and cargo planes were prepped to move aviation fuel and ammunition to Lusaka.

In the southern Commonwealth, L-8 AFRISAM and R-400 "Commonwealther" LRSAM swivelled southwards, covering 400 kilometers out from the entire Congo-Lusakan border in regards to slowly maneuvering aircraft like AEW and transports, perhaps 120 kilometers to fighter jets.

Inside Zambia, the Rwandan 15th Infantry division saw a higher lever of readiness, and more artillery pieces transferred to their support batallions.

In the eastern Commonwealth, L-2 "Oliphant" tanks came rumbling out of storage and were double-checked and prepared for action.

From Kinshasa, the message to the Zimbabwean meeting was clear:

"The Pact is ironclad stop - No meddling Englishman or Strathdonian will interfere with a united Africa stop - If they have anything to say to us they would do well to admit their crimes in Zimbabwe stop - expect transfers of armour, aviation fuel and ammunition stop"

(OOC: I think I'll assume that Strathdonia did manage to sabotage the new Chirundu bridge, then. We'll say it's out of action for now, and deal with specifics as and when required/we can be bothered :) The Otto Beit bridge remains open, but we're not risking any attempt to move Olifants across that narrow sixty-seven year old suspension thing anyway, so it's just clogged with trucks and troops on foot at the moment. That makes Vic. Falls (and Tete!) all the more important.)

Igomo's initially threatening position against the Strathdonians, though his Secretaries, was almost certainly not the best way that Lusaka, indeed the wider ANP, could have put its case. Still, with Kinshasa standing firm and the Strathdonian position that Mugabe should be arrested, there seemed every chance that ZANU-PF would toe Mr.Derek's line, leaving the Zimbabwean leadership in ANP protection and a contest for occupation of Zimbabwean territory under-way with the British massively outnumbered.

The Lusakan President, speaking with Mugabe and his own assistants, was enthusiastic over potential for making this an attitude-defining moment in the history of African liberation. If Africa, represented by New Lusaka City, Harare, and Kinshasa, could stand in opposition to the 1st world represented by London and significantly to African appeasement represented by Lilongwe, and claim some sort of victory in unity, well, continental politics could be changed forever!

While the Ndelebe's armies stood up and dusted themselves off, City, relatively close to Strathdonia, put on display most of Lusaka's active L-2 Olifant tanks, BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles, LS-8 AFRISAM batteries, Mi-24 Hind gunships, and other highlights of its arsenal. Forces mustered close to the Strathdonian border and in northern Zimbabwe -with the exception of the hardly regimental-sized LRAC and a few other bits and pieces- tended to be those fielding T-62 and T-56(L) tanks, BMP-1 ICVs, SA-9 Gaskin SAMs, and other slightly dated equipment. The Republic's fourteen FROG and four Hwasong (Scud-type) missile launchers, of course, were positioned so that all Strathdonia was in range of some (while parts of REA remained covered by others). A few light forces had ventured back into the troubled ex-Al Khali Ruvuma, Mtwara, and Lindi provinces, but since City continued to speak positively of the, "MozComs" as it called them, it was not hard to read this as part of low-level effort against continued though minor Islamist extremism and Arab nationalism. City certainly hadn't said anything terribly direct to Maputo about any plan to surround the British and Strathdonians, isolate them from the ocean, or over-run the Free State, anyway!

It is reported now that, with the activation of the African People's Volunteer Army (the Lusakan reserve), there are quarter of a million active Lusakan military personnel in the UARL, West Zambia, and Zimbabwe, although only a fraction of them are mechanised once off the troop trains, and many APVA recruits are armed only with M77L (Mosin Nagant) or SMLE rifles, and state media prefers to focus on positives, such as the high proportion of officers with combat experience, either against Al Khals, in Gabon, or even back in the Bush War inside modern-day Strathdonia. Still, this does represent the largest activation of Lusakan forces since the United African Republic was actually invaded by an enemy intent on capturing its entire ocean coastline, though it remains short of levels maintained (against the possibilities of Roycelandian and Rhodesian aggression) during economically happier times of substantial Russian and Indian military aid. Though its regular army was only of similar size to that of relatively little Zimbabwe, Lusaka was and is in the enviable position of having a really massive pool of fighting-age men and women with military training at least in their background if not terribly recent, making the activation of a large reseve at least a little less painful.




In other news related to the changing winds of inter-African relations, press reports indicated the Lusakan Navy Command's intention to scrap the so-called Lake Tanganyika Fleet, and with massive equipment rumbling towards the docks at Kigoma it appeared that the Lusakans had every intention of transfering the Drapoel-designed Mbu (mosquito) (Drapoel designation Mogi Class) patrol/missile boats to another command. Presently the options are the Lake Victoria Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet. However, it is notable, of course, that since absorbing the Al Khali territory after routing the Arab republic in its failed attempt to recapture Zanzibar, Lusaka has not created a Lake Nyasa command, though it has captured the Al Khali base at Tkrat in southern Iringa, along with thus far undeployed Khali Class inshore patrol launches, a Goat Class mine countermeasures vessel, and variously intact and unusccessfully scuttled Dimuqratiyah Class patrol boats armed with C-201 missiles.

City has also sent examples of the Khali Infantry Fighting Vehicle (OOC: apparently a near direct copy of the FMC/Nural Turkish IFV) to the African Commonwealth for evaluation against competing APC/ICV prospects, presenting them as, "...gifted spoils of war from the first stages of the struggle for African liberation in the twenty-first century". There has been disappointment, though, as Lusakan forces find many Al Khali MiGs and Aermacchi aircraft and some factories, fuel dumps, and other facilities sabotaged or raized by the failed republican government, or destroyed in the brief Islamist uprising that coincided with defeat to the Lusakans. It actually appears, say army sources, that the Al Khalis drove at least some of their M1-AK Abrams tanks into Lake Nyasa in a rushed attempt to disable them as the military-backed government collapsed!
(OOC: Information from Al Khals as to what would be left for capture following Qottar's flight.)

The day after the evening that British forces crossed the border, the entire British government launched into a massive public relations campaign. After an emergency session of the House of Commons, Prime Minister Chaffin gave a press conference at Number 10.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, yesterday evening, the armed forces of the United Kingdom initiated an operation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our mission is clear, and I wish to quickly set forth to the British people and international community what these aims are. First, we must secure the nation of Zimbabwe and protect its territorial integrity from foreign aggressors. Second, we must restore in Zimbabwe a legitimate government elected in a free and fair general election. And third, we must uphold this new government and protect it and the people of Zimbabwe from internal discord. We want nothing more than that and nothing less. We are not seeking to dismember Zimbabwe, nor are we seeking to conquer it. We have no intention of imposing our choice of government on the people of Zimbabwe, but we insist that they be free to choose themselves. I will not try and lay the blame of this on others for Britain, in the past, acted imprudently, and therefore I feel that we have a moral obligation to assist.

“I will not offer you rash promises about how quickly this can be done. The operation on which we have embarked involves danger, and sacrifice. But I am confident that it will succeed, for I am utterly convinced it is a just cause, and it is right, that we in Britain should play our part. I take no pleasure in placing our brave servicemen in situations of potential danger, but there are times when we cannot simply sit and watch. And we shall, I promise you, bring our own forces back home just as soon as it is safe to do so. It is to those men and women, serving our country that my thoughts go out most tonight. And to all of their families here, to you I know this is not a distant crisis, it is a close and ever present anxiety.

“Today members of Parliament gave the Government their overwhelming support, and I thank all members from all parties who have reached the same conclusion I have. I will also be meeting in the next few hours with diplomats from across the world, and I welcome all nations who wish to join in this effort. Whilst Britain has taken a lead, we take no pleasure in shouldering this burden alone, and we believe that in forming a broad coalition we can best serve the people of Zimbabwe.”

A communiqué is also sent to Lusaka and the African Commonwealth saying that the British government has no interest in engaging their forces but would not permit the nation of Zimbabwe to become part of their plan to enlarge their regional hegemony.

***

In Zimbabwe itself, British forces continue to press on towards Harare at a lightening pace. Whilst armoured and mechanised formations of the 3rd Armoured Division near Motoko, the 16th Air Assault Brigade leap frogs ahead of the main advance, securing key strategic positions. Whilst Typhoons and Harriers provide air-cover, it is the Army Air Corps Lynx and Apache helicopters that provide close support when necessary. When pockets of ZNA forces are encountered they are firstly given instructions to surrender, and those that do will most often find themselves being disarmed and sent home, given that the supply lines to transport them back across into Strathdonia are not really in place as yet. As the British encounter regular Zimbabwean citizens, they are guarded but not aggressive, handing our humanitarian rations and where appropriate medications. One major development was that in the early hours of the morning, all the leading foreign correspondents of both the television and print media had been paged and immediately been flown out to Strathdonia on an RAF Tristar, where they would then be embedded with units in Zimbabwe to show the audience back home and the wider world, the compassion and professionalism of the British military.

Observers in Nigeria might notice that the newly reforged military, under the guidance of the elite Viper Unit and several imported veteran Tsarist commanders, was stepping up its drills and increasing the levels of training dramatically. The draft is being far more strictly enforced now, along with military discipline, and it appears that the Nigerian military is moving ahead much faster than its original plan to gradually rebuild and forge national unity (under the double eagled banner of the Tsar) would imply. Nigerian commanders eagerly await the much rumored UE deal that would standardize all military equipment in the Empire, and already they have begun studying Estenlandian and Russian tactics, from the Lavragerian stomping strategy of Sir Reginald's Lavragerian campaign to Boris Vlakor's bag full of tricks in the Baltic Wars. No amphibious build up is reported, however, and no rumors swirl of an invasion of Cameroon or the WAU. It is likely this is defensive preperation in case the ensuing ANP war escalates and pulls in its neighboring states, or the Tsar determines that aiding the British, Strathdonians, and Roycelandians here could be vital to smashing the heart of the progressive Bloc in Africa.

Strathdonian peacekeepers still remaining in Nigeria are offered highly discounted models of Soviet era naval transports, destroyers, frigates, and more...

In London, the British Ambassador is quick to seek an audience with the Prime Minister to inform him of UE's support for the British mission in Zimbabwe. Baghdad does not however make any public declaration to this effect, fearing that this might actually be counterproductive given UE's previous dealings with Lusaka and the African Commonwealth.

This being said, the Ministry of Defence quietly plans a 'strategic realignment' of forces in the event that the conflict escalates. No actual deployments are made to the region, nor any movements that Lusakan intelligence would be aware of, but in the event that the ANP forces attacked the British, UE would be ready to intervene. Whilst UE wanted to deter this possibility, they considered that sabre rattling would not under the circumstances be prudent given that some Pan-African movement might just be eager for a fight, especially one it thinks it could win.

____________________________________

In Beira, the news of the British operation is extremely welcome. Chairman of the Praesidium Kurtz immediately places the entire Free State Frontier Force on alert, and informs British officials that the Free State would ready and willing to offer any military assistance that it could provide, safe in the knowledge that this offer would be turned down. He also uses this opportunity to strike a conciliatory note in Maputo urging the Commonwealth of Mozambique to also back the UK as it would prevent a Lusakan super-state from being a potentially threatening neighbour.

OOC: So all of what was Al-khals is now lusaka? and did UE eventually bomb the Islamic fundy uprising?

IC: Within Strathdonia there was debate, were things serious enough to require activation of the territorial and reserve units? seeing as such mooves would liekly lead to widespread panic. In the end the order was passed to bring all main line units to full operational levels and activate the territorial forces, the reservists and citizen's militia would remain unmobilised for now, activation of thsoe untis was the final option.

Border control points of the Warden service would all be issued with thier full rnage of heavy weaponry, the Coastal boat squadron would be pulled back to quellimane and the various programs for arming the maritime patrol MD-83s woudlr eceive the funding required under urgent operational requirement orders.

Perhaps the most striking move was that all non military air traffic was cleared from airspace over Strathdonia Proper to allow the various SAM systems (MICA-VL, Rapier and PAC-3) to be placed into full operational status, while other moves were perhaps disguised to hide the true feelings of the Strathdonian government, this disruption of local aviation, the life blood of Strathdonia, was a clear sign to anyone who cared to look about how serious the situation had become.

Of coruse a number of somewhat quieter measures were also undertaken, such as the overhall of various privatly owned Chinese fighters and the recall of various pilots and mercenary groups.

In the End President Livingstone (freshly returned from Isreal) gave a message from Govenrment house in Lilongwe.

"My fellow Strathdonians, we once again face a dark and troubling time , it has become clear that the Lusakans, those who would until recently been trying to become our freinds, have never had any real interest in peace, they merely bided thier time to prepare to grab what they truely want, Power! Power at any cost, they openly make deals with criminals and dictators so that they can bring more people udner thier subjegation. Yet as soon as anyone offers an alternative to thier veiw they resort to threats and prepare for violence. I ask you now in what way is Derek Igomo at all different to the likes of the French Bastard King and The Estenlandian Butcher? He seeks power for its own sake and cares not for those who would suffer as a result of his quest. Yet Igomo displays his cowardly nature, he only makes threats now that he has manipulated the AFCOM into his fold.

The Lusakan Horde is indeed a frightening force but I tell you this, it is a horde by name and nature it is not the all conquering German blitzkreig, or the awesome power of the Quintonians. It is, my country men, merely a ramshackle collection of barely trained unfortunates, who have been duped into thinking that attacking the freedom of others will some how make them more free.

The lusakans may make Grand claims of victory against the Roiks and Elains, but when have they ever faced a foe such as us? A nation truely united in its desire to keep itself free, a nation that literally clawed itself from the ash pile of history and forged itself in the blood of hordes and warlords, a nation where every home has a gun and knows how to use it.

I will not pretend that the coming days will be easy on any of us, but my fellows I can promise you one thing, Strathdonia, the Nation, the People, the Dream will prevail!"

Governatorial Palace, Kinshasa

President Ndelebe paced back and forth in his office. The advisors, who had pulled an all-nighter, didn't become more at ease at the sight of it. Ndelebe was generally known as a calm and gentle man, only roused to anger when the manure really hit the fan; and this unruly behaviour on his part was unnerving them.

"Regional hegemony" he snapped. "Those snotty brits! Think they can claim that an honest and forceful attempt to make things better is an act of imperialism?". He stopped, and spat deftly out of the window. An anguished noise from the yard implied that his excretion had hit someone, but it was no one Ndelebe knew or cared about.

"Well, that does it. Call a press conference".

20 minutes later

The general-president Mshone Ndelebe often called press conferences, but this one was more urgent than usual. He had made sure that all the foreign press representatives that had been available were gathered in front of him, before he started.

"People of Africa, people of the world! It is an unfortunate fact that Lusaka and Zimbabwe is in a state of armed conflict, and has been so for a while now. But it is a personal African matter they are disputing, and the Commonwealth will not deny that it supports Lusakan efforts to make the corrupt and anti-humanitarian regime of Zimbabwe collapse. Thanks to the Lord almighty, this already seems to have happened. However, not long after that had happened, British military forces that were likely operating out of Strathdonia, deployed to Zimbabwe and started engaging Zimbabwean forces in a bid for Harare.

I consider the people of Strathdonia my brothers, and ask of them not to support the British imperialist forces with their airfields and military assets. The conflict has already been resolved, and if Britain and Strathdonia truly wish to help the people of Zimbabwe, they must recognize the legitimate controlling authority: The United African Republic of Lusaka. If they help rebuild infrastructure destroyed in the war, as well as help with the creation of a democratic government and protect it from ZNA resistance fighters; together we can help build a better tomorrow for all of south Africa.

Across the Subcontinent

In Commonwealth territorial waters, the three corvettes CNC Kinshasa, CNC Congo and CNC Shaka Zulu sailed southwards to ward off any possible agression from Strathdonian naval assets. On the rivers of Angola and Lusaka, Insect-Class patrol boats were deployed in force to provide machine gun support for Lusakan and Commonwealth troops.

Large parts of the rapid deployment forces were activated inside the Commonwealth, and in Burundi and Rwanda infantry reserves were called from the tribes to climb trains to the edge of lake Tanganyika; and then board A60 "Rhino" APCs and soft-skinned trucks; and assemble in Lusaka to be ready for immediate action.

155mm G-6 self-propelled Howitzers and ASTROS missile batteries close to Angola and Lusaka are likewise moving south by helicopter to reinforce Lusakan infantry as well as the AC Army 15th Infantry Division.

Being told that it is a matter of national security, Commonwealth RBS-70 and AFRISAM batteries inside of Angola and Lusaka were told to engage any foreign(non-Lusakan, non-Zambezi, non-Strathdonian) aerial assets, regardless of type. The British forces were expected to strike hard, and the beleaguered air defense would have to strike first to maintain an edge.

For the Commonwealth of Mozambique, things are seriously looking down. With Maputo's last-minute peace proposal approved only by Strathdonia in its initial form, Chissano and Fernandes are ultimately forced to scrap it. The CoMDF isn't even considered capable of defending the Commonwealth's own borders from anybody besides the Free State and Swaziland, so any harebrained military interventions on the Commonwealth's part are doomed to fail from the start. That doesn't stop nearly the entire 1st (Southern Commonwealth) Regiment being deployed along the border, much of it airlifted by No.10 squadron's CASA Aviocars.

One thing that Maputo thinks it realizes more than any other side is that if it comes down to blows, its going to be a freaking madhouse in Zimbabwe. "Everybody" knows that England has a massive advantage with regards to technology, with its Tomahawk cruise missiles, Brimstones, Harrier GR.7s and 9s, SA.80s etc. etc. And although it is believed that the African Commonwealth's Gripen is hardly an unworthy opponent for the Typhoon, standards of pilot training and tactical support differ greatly. On the ground, however, it looks set to become a brutal, ugly, and destructive bush war. The Lusakans, after all, are masters of that type of fighting, and it brought the locally much more powerful Roycelandians to their knees.

So all in all, it is still Chissano's hope that the two sides will recognize that victory is not going to be easy, if at all possible, and come to their senses, so to speak. He addresses a session of Parliament on the issue;

"The present situation in Zimbabwe constitutes perhaps the gravest threat to peace and prosperity in Sub-Saharan Africa today. We there see the new Pan-African movement, a perfectly understandable push for a self-sufficient and powerful Black Africa, conflict with the equally understandable and commendable goals of the United Kingdom and Strathdonia. It is my belief that both sides have Zimbabwe's best interests at heart, but the way they are carrying out their stated goals is largely counter-productive and confrontational. Our stated goal is to foster stable, democratic governments which respect human rights and the right to self-determination, and towards this end we have tried -fruitlessly, it appears- to bring the Lusakans and Strathdonians towards each other in terms of diplomacy. Despite what looks like a very dire situation, we can reverse the deterioration of the Zimbabwe crisis through quick and prudent action.

"Surely we all agree that the interests of Zimbabweans are best served by a free, open, and democratic political system and that no foreign nation has the right to establish a government that oppresses Zimbabweans. Robert Mugabe is without a doubt an oppressor of Zimbabwe, and his policies have killed and left homeless hundreds of thousands of people. For his government to be allowed to continue, even under normal circumstances, is nothing short of inhumane. Therefore we agree wholeheartedly with Britain and Strathdonia that restoring a proper democratic system to Zimbabwe is a noble and important mission. But at the same time, is it not worthy to call into question other wholly unsuitable situations, many probably more easily resolved, that have so far been left unaddressed? My example is Nigeria. This nation had the misfortune to suffer through decades of oppression at the hands of the military, only to have it replaced by a totalitarian Stalinist dictator. The Nigerian people have only felt the warmth of democracy once post-1966: right after the defeat of the Stalinists. Today, the great people of Nigeria are in the hands of perhaps the greatest oppressor of all, Tsar Wingert of Russia. Yet Britain has uttered not a peep with regards to its former colony, now under the Monarchist boot-heel. Perhaps London might furnish the surrounding West African Union with weaponry to enhance its defenses against renewed colonial expansion? That would certainly bolster its reputation in Africa and give it more legitimacy with regards to the Zimbabwe crisis.

"It is easy to point out underhandedness in Lusaka's motives. Derek Igomo, once Africa's great light of liberation, seems to have abandoned his ideals for secret diplomacy and power-hungry alliances. How can someone who thinks himself a friend of the common African accomodate tyrants like Mugabe and Tendyala? The simple answer is that they cannot.

"While I would like to support the British and Strathdonian efforts, to do so offhand would be irresponsible. Have not Zimbabweans seen enough of warfare and mismanagement? To wage another war, this time between even larger concentrations of troops, is a great mistake with disastrous implications for Zimbabweans. Zimbabweans have the right to choose their own government and their own political alignment, and the Pan-Africanists have no right to choose it for them, no matter how meritous their program might be, especially not with Robert Mugabe back at the head of the government.

"I therefore promise you that we will make every possible effort to avert conflict and will remain neutral if one comes, although violation of Strathdonian territorial integrity will oblige us to act. We must not allow this disaster to play into the hands of the real tyrants."

Diplomats in Lusaka City and London nag constantly, hoping to convince the respective parties to meet in Maputo and at least give negotiation a try before degrading themselves with a cold war (Maputo still doesn't believe that it will come to all-out war).

The Igovians have been unusually quiet on the Southern African issue, possibly just distracted by taxing internal changes. In truth, many Commonwealthers have conveniently lost interest in the region since Igomo's return failed to live up to all of its potential (abroad, at least, which may be somewhat arrogant given that he appears to have been keenly received by his own people). That said, the Commonwealth's naval base on Zanzibar island remains operational, and though Portmeirion has not made official widespread talk of the British in the light cast by Maputo's note that London could be doing more good, and helping itself diplomatically, by supporting its ex-colonies in west Africa instead of trying to take credit where Africa is already helping itself, it is safe to assume that total war threatening Soviet interests on the Lusakan seaboard would force at least an official position out of the Igovians.

For now, the public seem to consider Lusakan, indeed African political salvation moved outside their means to reasonably help. Low-level trade with the Lusakans remains the only commerce of note conducted between Beth Gellert and Southern Africa, but it is notable that military dealings have indeed declined from a high worth hundreds of millions to virtually nothing.

"Can't they both lose?"- His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I, on the Anglo-Lusakan war that is even now brewing in Zimbabwe.

New Lusaka City was now highly vocal over Britain's intervention, which came, said the Social Progress Party, just as an accord was being negotiated inside the African National Pact (which, remember, was initially a two-way treaty between Lusaka and Zimbabwe!) and as involved forces were engaging in a cease-fire.

"This is akin to the Masai running to France and interrupting the Christmas Truce with an attack on British lines! This is unwanted meddling in internal African affairs, it is modern gunboat politics, and in the modern European way it is faster and harder and more corrupt than ever!" So said the ever popular Secretary Miyanda at a press conference in Old Lusaka City.

The official Lusakan line, upheld in Zimbabwe and in discussions with ZANU-PF, was essentially that the UK was pushing for a fight in a ceasefire, and more than that it was doing it in a situation that did not concern the British state. This was an African National Pact affair, and intervention was akin to the African Commonwealth launching a missile at a NATO conference.

"Why are they coming now? Why did they not come years ago, if they feel that Mr.Mugabe is a bad ruler? Why did they not help us when the Rhodesian government was committing atrocities against half the region? Why do they not help Nigeria, much closer to Britain and going unaided by anyone? They do it at best because they see that Zimbabweans, Lusakans, and Congolese are already carrying most of the burden and they just wish to take credit, or, more likely, because they do not want to help, but to reimperialise, and so they come now while we are busy and while they think that they can trick the world into thinking they have an excuse!" Miyanda's speeches were delivered to crowds of thousands, many of whom would sign-up for service tokens to ensure that their dependents were supported by the commercial farms when they volunteered to fight. Lusaka's privately owned agricultural enterprises, briefly hurt by the Tendyala Junta and since recovering, had virtually ceased to export for profit as they helped to supply subsistence farming families left helpless by APVA recruitment of their best workers, lost revenues being compensated in part by the state, which managed it by buying Yugoslavian as Belgrade accepted credit and reduced profits in order to get later benefits and support the anti-imperialist ANP.

In London and elsewhere, Igomo's supporters waved copies of the international magazines such as those from Roycelandia that featured Mr.Derek's smiling visage on the front cover and had treated him in such glowing light as a basically good man. This is the happy and humane face of Africa's future, and this -with the raising of a placard shaped like a bomb- is the form of British government relation to it!

Quite suddenly, in Africa, where it perhaps mattered most, the SPP was offering evidence to support ZANU-PF's claims and accusations brought in recent years. White Lusakans, many of them successful farmers with black employees, were brought in to support the case. Some of them, no doubt, had been promised stakes in West Zambia and in reconstructing Zimbabwe's shattered agricultural infrastructure, but on the face of it they were, well, they were white faces with nothing to fear from the ANP. Chaffin and Royce, with their Strathdonian lapdogs, had indeed conspired to see Zimbabwe fail, after all, was Lilongwe not just Salisbury in local exile?

Granted, a lot of old Zimbabweans didn't care much for the change... one old man would start to sound, "...Saul" before stopping to remember that it was Harare, and his life was not much changed. But a lot of angry young people were what mattered.

City declared before London and Lilongwe that the African people at large would not stand for this aggression, and that the battle, in pursuit of whatever imperialistic cause, should be abandoned as a strategic withdrawal before it became a humiliating rout.

(OOC: I'm not, by Lusaka's insistance that it's an ANP affair and everyone should butt out, telling you OOC that I think everyone else should back off from my party, but IC it certainly is the public position taken by City.)

Zimbabwe

There was a de facto ceasefire in effect as Lusakan and Zimbabwean forces faced one another in the north, though Mugabe had not clearly agreed to it as yet. Still, the Lusakans didn't seem to care. The LRAC had fought with ferocity, but in truth it was almost all down to the Masai units from the far north, quite remote to all of this and even to mainstream Lusakan and modern African life. The rest of the Corps and certainly the regular army and the newly raised APVA now lead the way in a radically different direction. They were, with armoured personnel carriers and trucks halted, breaking out into song, some inviting the Masai units to join them in their distinctive springy manner. They also invited Zimbabwean civilians and even ZNA personnel to come over and join them for a meal... if the Lusakans had one thing that Zimbabweans lacked, it was a good fish dinner to share. Igomo had made the lakes his safety net against famine, and official literature claimed that Tanganyika alone could feed all of Africa... it wasn't a really great exaggeration, as the lake yielded tens of thousands of tonnes of fish every year and appeared quite able to sustain it.

In areas where the Lusakans were alone, or where the Zimbabweans were especially receptive, the mood was slightly different. Dances were of war, countless soldiers stamping their feet and clashing bayonets and standard issue machetes and officers' short-spears and shields along with booming chants that carried for miles. "Damned funny! Like a train in the distance!" as may remark the Bromheads amongst remote observers.

These units were doing a very strange thing. They were turning over weapons and munitions to the Zimbabweans. A substantial act of faith, but these were Lusakans... Lusaka, not a nation until one generation ago, saw itself as a movement and not a distinct people. The invitation was to long struggling Zimbabweans to do the same. The British were coming, and soon it would not be worthy of police investigation to kill a black man or rape a black woman, the British were coming and soon they would put on trial everyone who stood in the way of them taking everything. The British were coming, and apart from anything else, my hungry friend, here is my rifle, for you!

Trucks were turning up for the Lusakans laden with thousands of new assault rifles, bullets, and spigot grenades from Yugoslavia (the Lusakans had bought from Serbia and Bosnia for years, since before Aidarov came to power, their standard rifle being a Balkan SKS clone, but now the supply was on an entirely different scale), these having arrived only recently through the African Commonwealth.

(Of course, here and there, a few bad eggs tried to sell fish and bullets to the Zimbabweans, but this would soon be found a good way to be posted in a patrol against Islamist fundamentalism on the heavily mined roads of southern Iringa and Mtwara.)

The Lusakans awaited Mugabe's word on whether we would take retirement within the ANP and place Zimbabwe under the Pact's emergency administration, or go it alone against the Pact and the British, who wanted him arrested and tried. Until then, the delay -that allowed the British to make inroads- was used to resupply as many as possible of the penetrated Lusakan formations.

The Roycelandian Government, is quite amused to see the British engaging in blatant Neo-Imperialism.

"I thought they would have had enough last time around... still, we're always glad to help further the aims of Imperialism, wherever we're needed..." explained His Majesty on the weekly talk show Talking Heads (RBC 1, 7:30pm, should anyone outside Roycelandia be watching...)

OCC: Sorry for the delayed nature of this rather important post...

IC:

Victoria Falls

Robert Mugabe, after spending what must have been an awkwardly long time considering Mr. Derek's words, begins to walk across the Railroad Bridge with his tiny entourage.

"Zimbabwe is in your hands, Derek! We need to face the imperialist threat as one." And noticing the torn-up rails, "I suppose we should get someone up to restore the rail-link."

The ZNA troops on the Zimbabwean side put out a half-hearted cheer for the camera and the Zimbabwean units on the Zambian side are radioed to come back across. After about an hour, two T-59s and an EE-9 come rumbling across the bridge with mabye three dozen troops piled on top, all of them in relatively good spirits. The rest of the battalion walks back, and by the end of the day the only thing left to indicate that the ZNA had ever deployed to Zambia is the multitude of mines and booby traps they neglected to move from the road to the falls from Livingstone.

*************

Elsewhere in Zimbabwe, ZNA units readily partake in celebration with Lusakan troops, happy to be no longer routed by the LRAC. Zimbabweans themselves also don't waste the opportunities for food offered by Lusakan soldiers, since very few had benefited from land reform and the war, while short, took a measurable toll on the national pantry, so to speak. The large numbers of internally displaced also try to cozy up to the Lusakans, although ZNA troops can get away with doing anything they want to them.

The few units still fighting the British northeast of Harare, however, have it entirely different. Resistance does take place, and the British certainly don't have it all their way with the ZNA making liberal use of landmines, but it is only just short of a rout. More often than not, ZNA units just fire a few shots before surrenduring to the more motivated and better-equipped units.

Around the capital, however, defenses are bolstered. Lusakan units are told to make for Harare with all possible speed in an attempt to get there before the British take it. If it is going to come down to fighting, it will likely happen around Harare...

Border areas and inside the Commonwealth

With Ndelebe and other prominent members of government appearing on state and international media with requests to condemn British intervention in Zimbabwe; it is clear that the Commonwealth does not intent to take this lying down.

In the border areas, AV-33 dedicated attack helicopters are outfitted with heat-seeking missiles and instructed again on how to engage to technologically superior British Apaches and transports - fire missiles at range, avoid the Apaches and engage feasible ground and air targets with missiles, napalm rockets and machine guns.

Also, under the greatest secrecy possible at the times, Hawks and Gripen fighter planes are being prepared for active service, outfitted with air-launched cruise missiles and air-to-air missiles.

Following Britain's calls for international support find an ear that is eerily receptive in Armand Domalewski, Regent of the Wingert's Russian domains. While he had settled in to deal with the nation's domestic issues, the young soldier could not quite let go of the warrior spirit. The military capacities of Wingert's newly forged Empire were the stuff of a general's dreams, and those around the black maned First Minister would remark that it was almost as if he was eager to find an opportunity to test them out. And thus as reports of the British invasion passed before his murky blue-gray eyes, his face took upon a mask of predatory eagerness. After consulting with his Tsar, and finding him willing to take a stab at the Progressive Bloc he so despised, he immediately dialed the British Prime Minister, Chaffin.

"Mr. Chaffin? I have a present for you. 10,000 Russian peacekeepers in Nigeria, ready for deployment within weeks, and 20,000 more hardened Tsarist veterans on their way."

If Chaffin proved receptive, Armand would dispatch a series of orders to General Mubarrak, Regent of Nigeria. (Nigeria was still technically a protectorate of Russia, and thus Armand had authority over Mubarrak) Firstly, he informed him of the matter at hand (Ghosni was not very eager at the prospect of engaging in a war with his neighbors while already engaging in a drug smuggling operation against the WAU. But he agreed, realizing his nation's financial well being rested in the Tsar's hands and after being told no actual Nigerians would be engaged in any military operations), and then told Mubarrak to make a public show of pleading with the Queen to dispatch more troops to Nigeria, to counter the "leftist mobs and their endless anarchical wars."

Armand set down the phone, smiling. It had begun anew.

OOC: (darn these all people with AC initials).
African Commonwealth: The UK does not and is unlikely to ever use the blackhawk, they use the Lynx and Puma for that sort of work (although puma is due for repalcement, the blackhawk isn't quite big enough, the ideal plan is to repalce them all with merlins), for gunships they use the Apache.

IC: the Strathdonias have made it very clear to the british that no russian forces be allowed to depoly onto Strathdonia soil and the only reason Strathdonian troops remain in Nigeria is due to the difficulties in getting them home safely.

Desperate to garner some international favour, Chairman Kurtz immediately contacts Russian officials that should they wish to support the British in Zimbabwe, they would be permitted to use the Mozambique Free State as a staging base if Strathdonia denied them their territory.

Livingstone

How many conversations in West Zambia had been held in a Serbo-Croatian tongue was anybody's guess, but this, possibly amongst the first with so many speakers, was one of the more interesting. One speaker, directing the associated works, spoke with a heavy accent and pronunciation that would not be called eastern or western by linguists taking the official Yugoslav line on their languages. The officer was Lavragerian Glakatahn, marked out by his difficulties with the language, broad shoulders, and the traditional trims and patterns affixed to what was his dress uniform.

He hadn't thought far beyond make a good impression when choosing to wear what he did, and now found himself mucking in with the Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and the one Bulgarian under his command, along with any Africans he could rope in to helping.

"Come on! Get this bitch unloaded!" The Major bellowed, rather forgetting his formal pretentions, "We want to get these Africans there before the Tsar, don't we?" He went on, ever convinced that things called wrong by his Lav were ultimately to involve the hated Wingert.

Soon the train was emptied of its European wares, some now almost at the end of their long journey by sea and rail, and, before long, the Yugoslavs were at work, the Lavragerian Major rocking on his heels, big chest puffed out, as he described to West Zambian, Lusakan, and, he hoped, Congolose observers just what his men were doing.

The item of interest, recently brought down from its rail car, was a large vehicle, obviously having the chassis of a T-55. It was promptly deployed on a road of potential importance near the rail bridge, and began to move.

Puzzled faces and questions about who was driving would be met with a smile from the Lavragerian officer. "Munja!" He said, "Nobody drives the lightning!" There was a shout from one of his men. "She's found a mine." He nodded, then shouted something unlikely to be understood by the Africans, one of his men responding by running up behind the machine, which had turned and continued on, and gingerly marking the area in which a mine had been automatically located.

This went on for some time as the Yugoslavs mapped out mines and booby-traps.

"We'll turn the grenade-launcher on them, in a minute." Said the Major, indicating the 30mm automatic weapon on top of his strange machine. "You like it? We sell you some." He added, with a nod to Commonwealth observers, whom he took to have the most spare cash of any attending party. "Maybe you show us how to build your helicopters."

Back in the Socialist Federal Republic, public reference by the Roycelandians to British involvement as imperialism was lapped-up by state media as third party testimony to the just nature of ANP efforts, and further good reason for non-alignment with NATO as well as the Holy League.

Livingstone

Artillery Sergeant Francoise Ndanake from the Commonwealth, one of the men present; expressed his interest. However, from a Commonwealth point of view, the T-55 chassis was a bad choice logistics-wise. Few soviet machines and parts remained in the Commonwealth, and those who did were mainly uniform Commonwealth/Soviet helicopter parts for the AV-33, and M1986 radar/EW APCs. Instead, Ndanake explained, the machinery and grenade launcher could be outfitted on a reinforced Commonwealth A60 "Rhino" APC. While this involved new costs for research and modification, the Commonwealth Armed Forces would be amenable to use some of its considerable defense funds on the project. If Yugoslavia felt the same and could donate some of the hardware needed, Francoise hinted, the CAF would probably not be averse to sharing the designs and parts for the AV-33 Helicopter attack gunship, as well as some of the new cutting edge ballistic missile systems commanded by the Commonwealth's Strategic Defense Command..


Back in Kinshasa

LFU party appeals for an end to British agression became more urgent. While the Commonwealth did not appear to be overly concerned with warring against the british, the Presidents adresses still mainly expresses the wish for negotiations and peace in Zimbabwe. Warm thanks were extended to Yugo Slavia for their cool head and commendation of ANP forces, whom the Commonwealth still considered crusaders for peace and democracy in Africa.


OOC>> Right you are, Strath. I must have misread TBF's post!

While Maputo knows nothing of it as of yet, if even Russian military advisors, to say nothing of regular forces, set foot in the Free State the Mozambique Commonwealth will descend into nothing short of a state of panic.

With the Free State already very heavily militarized, and the Commonwealth in perpetual fear of an invasion, a substantial Russian presence, if coupled with a failure on London's part to react to it, could very well push the Mozambique Commonwealth into the arms of the Pan-Africanists.

However, with each passing day it seems more and more likely that Maputo will indeed cast its lot with the British and Strathdonians.

Militarily, the operation had been going largely as planned. The spearhead units of the 3rd Division were within a hundred miles of Harare, so far meeting very little credible resistance. The first casualties of the war had, perhaps unsurprisingly, not been caused by enemy fire, but by accident, namely a Lynx helicopter crashing into terrain during a low level mission.

The RAF had quickly beefed up its presence in Strathdonia, deploying several more squadrons of combat aircraft including more Typhoons as well as Tornadoes and Jaguars. Combat air patrols had been increased, and as the flight of ASTOR battlefield surveillance started to detect movements of hostile troops eastward towards the capital, plans were being made for a severe series of air strikes that had originally not been thought necessary. The arrival of a Royal Navy task force in the Mozambique would considerably increase striking power with the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales with the first embarked air wing of the Cyclone F.1 (F-35C) and several Tomahawk capable SSNs.

Back at home, the reaction of the public had been on the whole positive, with practically all of the major daily newspapers failing behind the government. The TV news was dominated by live feeds from embedded reports, the most interesting of which were news reels taken from atop a Challenger II from the King's Royal Hussars showing armoured squadrons barrelling along a dusty road passing sign posts reading 'Harare'. Initial opinion polling showed that support fro the government and the Prime Minister personally had jumped considerably even with those who voted for the other parties.

Diplomatically speaking the government was livid with the Roycelandians. The Ambassador in Port Royal was quick to react the riot act to the estemeed Emperor reminding him in no uncertain terms that Roycelandia was suppose to be a NATO ally. Meanwhile, off the record comments from officials in Number 10 termed Royce's 'Imperialism' comment as unhelpful and woefully inaccurate. Furthermore, the world is reminded that the 'last time around' which Royce had referred to was in fact the Boer war more than a century go, and that since then Imperialism had no place in British policy and certainly never would again. As far as the Russians offer is concerned, it is accepted but Chaffin urges his counterpart to 'tread carefully' so that Russia's involvement did not become counterproductive as far as world opinion was concerned.

As far as capturing the hearts and minds of the people of Zimbabwe, the government believed that it now had a trump card. Simbi Veki, a Liberal city councillor for the Borough of Lambeth and vocal minority rights activist would under normal circumstances be someone who deeply frustrated the Conservative government. However, as leader of the Zimbabwean Association of Britain, a group of nearly 100,000 black Zimbabwean exiles living in Britain, he was soon to become instrumental in Britain's foreign policy. After having numerous meetings with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members, he had been convinced that Britain was fighting in his nation's best interest and had agreed to make an appearance on the BBC World Service advising Zimbabweans not to allow their nation to be takenover by Lusaka. His comments were not entirely supportive however, saying that Zimbabweans should watch carefully and report any instances where British troops acted dishonourably.

"Thank you for allowing us to take part. Let us bring the wrath of God upon those leftist bastards, and the light of freedom to those who they keep in the shadows with Progressivism." said Armand as he lowered the phone.

Russian troops immediately began mobilizing. They were intensifying the number of drills, buying up huge amounts of supplies, stocking fuel reserves, testing their elite MiG-35 multirole fighters and MiG-39 air superiority craft, and generally getting ready for the upcoming battle.

Kurtz and Maputo were both contacted, with Kurtz receiving a tentative agreement, and Maputo being told that the Russians had no intent to meddle with Mozambique's affairs, and asked if the Tussians could offer the MozComs anything to reassure them. (Arms deals, free trade agreements, non-aggression treaties)

Lilongwe was aso contacted with an assurance that their friendship with Russia has not been forgotten. The people of Strathdonia have been good friends of Russia ever since the Putin days, and while Wingert may have put a new crimp on their relationship, it was hoped that the plucky African Scotsmen could overlook their personal hatreds and join in the fight for a common cause. (Several "goodies" similiar to those offered to Maputo are dangled before the Strathdonians)

OOC: How exactly is Mozambique partitioned?

The Russians are told in no uncertain terms that the Commonwealth of Mozambique wants nothing whatsoever to do with Tsarist Russia, least of all trade agreements and arms deals. Deputy Prime Minister Chissano is quite vocal in his condemnations of the Russian government and totalitarianism in general, going so far as to say, "Tsar Wingert and his concubine (yes, concubine) Armand Domalewski are unfit in every possible way for the duties of national governance and should not be permitted to acquire any more territory, least of all in Zimbabwe."

But the Russians come at perhaps the most inopportune time for the Commonwealth of Mozambique. With the prospect of actual fighting between the British and Pan-Africanists looming, a possibility dismissed by most Mozambiquian analysts, Chissano decides to publicize his government's proposal to end the whole affair.

"In order to see a speedy and mutually beneficial solution to the situation of Zimbabwe, the Commonwealth of Mozambique proposes that the following conditions be implemented at the soonest possible time:

1. All offensive operations undertaken by any armed force within Zimbabwe must cease immediately.

2. Preparations shall be made to, at the soonest possible time, hold elections with the aim of forming a Zimbabwean parliament and appointing an interim Prime Minister.

3. Lusaka and The British Federation, and nations allied with said parties will withdraw major combat units from Zimbabwe at the soonest possible time and simultaneously.

4. The Zimbabwe Defense Force shall be demobilized entirely, and its commanding officers shall be prohibited from holding military command again.

5. All parties shall refrain from annexing any portion of the Zimbabwean state except with the express permission of the Zimbabweans involved, expressed in a referendum 2/3rds in favor of such annexation.

6. Peacekeeping forces from two or more neutral third parties (such as South Africa, Botswana, Japan, China, or The Ottoman Empire, for instance, perhaps Mozambique) shall be deployed to Zimbabwe in order to ensure the simultaneous withdrawl of foreign combat troops and the demobilization of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces.

7. Robert Mugabe and members of his cabinet and ministries shall be prohibited from holding government offices again.

8. ZANU-PF shall be disbanded and prohibited from participating in government again."

OCC: Mozambique is partitioned into the Commonwealth of Mozambique, consisting of the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Inhambane, Gaza, Maputo, and Maputo City, and the Mozambique Free State, which consists of Sofala and Manica provinces. Zambezia and Tete were forcibly annexed by Strathdonia and Niassa requested to be annexed by Strathdonia as protection against dictator Raphael Camillo.

Kinshasa

The assembled foreign reporters were, by now, a little tired at the prospect of yet another press conference. However, things picked up when a group of men in black clothes toting bulky customized 9mm SAF submachine guns entered the room, small silver hands on their lapels identifying them as some of the only publicly known members of the Commonwealths dread secret police, the Manus Nigra. Apparently the conflict at hand is deemed important enough to warrant tightened security; for the men screen the room and immediate surrounding prior to the presidents arrival. The president arrived not long after, wearing full military regalia: Peaked cap, Five-star general's insignia patch and pin, the Guardian of the Republic military honour received for valour in combat during the early days of the Commonwealth; and a variety of other honours.

He wasted little time in striding to the podium, waiting momentarily as pictures were taken by the(now a little frightened and piqued) reporters, and then adjusted the microphones before speaking.

"Hard times are upon all righteous Africans! These are days that will make history: Either as the days where cooler heads prevailed and the British aborted their assault on Zimbabwe; or the days where we once again slaughter the imperialists and toss them out of our dear united land. To Britain I say, do not force our hand to our swords - While you may consider our great nation and that of Lusaka to be weaklings in light of past British military successes in Africa; we are not. The Commonwealth Armed Forces command long-distance Surface to Air missiles, self-propelled artillery, helicopter gunships, ballistic missiles and next-generation armoured vehicles - Where you thought you found a kitten, you will find a tiger; and that tiger will tear your throat out.

To the nation of Strathdonia I say, you are Africans! Cease your support for the British ventures into Zimbabwe. They wish naught but disorder and to wreak havoc on a finally stable nation. Do not believe their lying claims that Lusaka wishes to annex Zimbabwe, all regional sovereignty will be restored when the area is stable enough to be governed by the Zimbabweans themselves.

Your initiative for peace and democratic restoration under multi-national peacekeeping assets is extremely commendable, and I thank you with all my heart - However, while we wait for the British to respond, their forces will have overrun Harare and the Union Jack will fly over Zimbabwe. This is unacceptable, and as such we must decline the noble Strathdonian proposal.

To the nation of Russia, I say: Your diplomatic ouvertures and gathering of resources have not gone unnoticed! This is not your land, nor your business! I care not if we have to enter Nigeria and murder every Russian we see, you are not Africans, and you have nothing to do here!"

Ndelebes face reddened briefly as he snapped out the last word. Then he composed himself and continued.

"On that note, I heartily deny erroneous attempts to liken the Commonwealth with the progressive nations of Beth Gellert and Hindustan. They are friends of ours, but their godless communist ideals are nothing we will have truck with in the democratic republic of the African Commonwealth.

I pray that the British come to their senses and withdraw from Zimbabwe and yield control to the legitimate controlling African authority of Lusaka. The alternatives are too grim to consider now."

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Royce I has rather curtly pointed out to the British Ambassador that since Roycelandia is a NATO member as well, and seeing as how Southern Africa is kind of out turf, perhaps it would have been expedient to actually, you know, TELL Roycelandia what was going on, or even better, see if we wanted to get in on it, hmm?

With British air power growing, it became evident that certain things must be done. For starters, the scale of British involvement and the severity of City's resolve to oppose it meant that maintaining and rearming the Republic's Hawk LIFT and Canberra aircraft, and the F-5 and F-20 fighters of NATO origin, was going to become a long term problem, and there was nothing to be done but seek replacement. Second, well, that happened on the day of Zimbabwe's delivery into ANP administration...

In'Salah Airbase, former Al Khali Democratic Republic

Rolled-out from hangers having survived the hurried evacuation, these were two of the better prizes available to the victors in the recent war. They had some potential to help directly in winning looming conflicts, but the immediate destination was some strip deep in the Congo, far from aggression and close to technical institutes that might learn from their European and South American technology. Two EMB-145 SA Erieye surveillance and airborne early warning and control craft -the third member of the old Al Khali fleet having been felled by Igovian Soviet surface to air missile systems transfered to the United African Republic- may mean a lot to the Pact, and equally to its friends abroad. The Libyans and the Yugoslavians certainly would be interested, maybe it was even the sort of prize that could convince old friends in what was Hindustan to forget some recent mistakes. The machines flew flat-out to the heart of Lusakan territory before cruising to the African Commonwealth for safe keeping. Modern AWACS-type aircraft built originally at a fraction of the cost of most developed-world designs certainly had a place in the ANP's future, if it was to be a serious force.

The recovery of Al Khali Fulcrums was similarly interesting, though proving more difficult, as some had been shot down by the Lusakans themselves, and others more easily hidden than the big EMBs, still more sabotaged partly or wholly. But they were ideal machines, capable, multi-role, and maintainable by the non-aligned Yugoslavs, freeing the UARL from related reliance upon either NATO or the HL. Personnel from the SFRY would be brought along to the former Al Khali province along with Lusakan staff over coming days to join in searching for and assessing the MiG fleet.

The United African Republic of Lusaka

The history (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=463780) of independent Southern Africa dictated to Igomo no less than he himself had dictated its course. Receiving for the African National Pact emergency control of Zimbabwe was the manner in which the fates had conspired to realise a long-standing inevitability. Mr.Derek had fought for all of his adult life alongside men and women who called themselves Mozambican, Zimbabwean, Malawian, before it was legally apropriate to do so, and who had ignored borders lain-down by the imperialists much as the President continuted to do to this day. The MozCom sollution was dismissed as something bordering on treason, Igomo saying that it ammounted to laying down and surrendering to neo-imperialism by forcing western structures upon Africa, and structures influenced by western money at that, even though the situation clearly indicated impending African victory. The Mozambican Commonwealth leadership was all of a sudden one step short of a Quisling tag in ANP files at City.

The United African Republic still put little stock in recognition of national entities except those created by free Africans -Lusaka and the African Commonwealth- and this stance was well known to populations across the region, even if not so well to outsiders or to aloof politicians even in the area. In Zimbabwe, as news of the agreement between Mugabe and Igomo was broadcast, Lusakans and recruitable Zimbabweans spread the message- war veterans, free men, Africans, colonists, we are Africans and not subjects, Great Zimbabwe is a free region in Africa or it is an artificial division! The war of independence is in its final phase! Victory rides on tanks of African green, climb aboard or be crushed for the imperialists!

Friends made in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s in fights against Portugal, Roycelandia, Rhodesia, in Zimbabwe, West Zambia, Lusaka, Strathdonia, and Mozambique would hear the call to arms one last time, for food and for freedom, ignoring false idols and puppet leaders.

Zimbabwe

Mugabe was invited to take refuge in Old Lusaka City and to help in arranging the administration of Zimbabwe and the war effort, with Lusakan Army units detailed to pick-up individuals he thought may be helpful to his efforts, guard those who would be best kept in Zimbabwe, and arrest those he indicated as likely to upset plans. Importantly, he was quizzed about the state of his airbases as the Lusakans prepared to move-in aircraft, with LRAC units tasked to secure such facilities.

BTR-152K armoured personnel carriers and UAZ vehicles, meanwhile, restarted their advance through Mashonaland, now moving at speeds in excess of sixty miles per hour, vanguard units of the LRAC 17th Division would be at the centre of Harare in, well, about an hour. Zil-131 and Ural-375 trucks laden with supplies and OT-62B APCs with the rest of the LRAC were following in the hours behind, along with what Shilka and Gaskin air defence vehicles, T-62 and T-56(L) tanks, BMP fighting vehicles, and various engineer vehicles had thus far made it into Zimbabwe.

Indian Ocean

An unremarkable cargo vessel bringing probably agricultural products south to the Mozambique Commonwealth had picked up a shadow. Snorting hardly yards away from it one of the Lusakan Navy's three Mamba Class SSK, an ex-Igovian Hound Class patrol and attack submarine. Before long the boat's captain submerged the Mamba and cruised at just a couple of knots into a position from which it could wait silently and later advance against foreign assets heading for the so-called Free State, eight Type 1-B MKII Heavy Torpedos ready to launch.

Baghdad

The Presidential study, a vast and opulent room overlooking the Tigris, was bright as the rays of Middle Eastern sun beamed through the high windows. Under a century old guilt ceiling that the President had always thought slightly ostentatious, the Head of State sat behind his grandiose mahogany desk. The stub of a Roycelandian cigar sat, embers burning, in a Baccarat crystal ash tray. Dressed in a dark blue suit, with a starched white shirt and no tie, he sat back and surveyed the papers on his blotter.

A door opened, not the giant set of double doors directly across from the desk that opened to an equally over scaled corridor, but a smaller side door that led to an outer office. A young aide entered, “Sir, Mr.Zibari, and Mr. Mohammed are here. Shall I permit them to enter?”

“Yes of course, thanks Abdul.”

Two men are then led into office, one in a dark grey suit who was distinctly middle aged and the other in a the traditional Arab robes of a Sheikh, who was much older and physically quite frail. The former, Defence Minister Ibrahim Zibari speaks first, “Good Morning, Mr. President, I believed you wished to see just us two to discuss the matter of Zimbabwe?”

“Yes that’s right, please sit down, I thought it was better for us to have a frank discussion without the entourage, since we are all briefed well enough to be reasoned in our analysis.”

The two men, Zibari and Foreign Affairs Minister sit down each on one of the pair of elegant divans. “Ok, Ibrahim, perhaps you would like to go first, what do you think our course of action should be?”

The Defence Minister, staunch right-winger and interventionist and perhaps the Minister closest to the President spoke without referring to notes, “Well Sir, I would advocate that we be prepared to respond militarily. We cannot allow the Pan-Africans to simply force themselves into whatever country they please simply because they believe they will be unopposed. At some point we have to take a stand, otherwise it is simply appeasement. Secondly, there is the issue that if we do not involve ourselves, Chaffin may blink and abort the operation. This would be a tremendous loss of faith for Great Britain and this inevitably strengthens the Progressive and Pan-African blocs. In the long run this could harm our strategic security. Thirdly, and perhaps least important is that it is morally righteous to bring security to a troubled state.”

Zaki Mohammed, the most experienced diplomat in UE and more of a traditionalist interjected quickly, “Sir, with all respect to Ibrahim I could not disagree more. He of all people should know that the Africans should not be underestimated. On their own territory they can be a formidable enemy. Agreed, they are technologically inferior but they can field a numerical advantage with highly motivated troops not to mention they are more likely to attract local support that we could. Of course we could defeat them, but we would have to commit an extremely large force to be confident of the outcome.”

Zibari interrupted, “But Zaki, do you not agree that a victory in Zimbabwe is in our long term interests? Surely you do want to see Lusaka encompass the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa?”

“Of course not Ibrahim, but that relative gain would be at what cost? To achieve a stalemate in Gabon we had to deploy more than a 100,000 men, to be certain of victory in Zimbabwe we would need what? 500,000? How many of those are we prepared to lose Mr. President? We all want an independent, stable Zimbabwe, of course we do, but are you willing to expend the lives of 50,000 countrymen for it? Sir, I implore you not to involve our nation in this madness.”

The President spoke, preventing Zibari from answering, “Quite honestly Zaki, I am inclined on this occasion to agree with you. You know very well that I value both of your counsels, and in some senses I rely on it. Your arguments both have merit, but there is something that I must consider that you have not, and it is indeed not your job to consider it; the domestic impact. I do not think that the people have the stomach for another protracted African campaign. There are also other imperatives which we must prioritise. The situation in Damascus is going to deteriorate, and if we plan to intervene anywhere it should be on our doorstep and not in some backwater country. Furthermore, our posture towards Africa is very different now. With our commitment to Gabon over, the importance of containing Lusaka and the African Commonwealth has diminished considerably. Unless there is a significant development that persuades me otherwise, I will not authorise any sort of military action in connection with this crisis. However, we should still do everything we can to aid the British short of this. We will continue to share intelligence with them, and we must also restart our assistance program in the Mozambique Free State.”

Omar Qottar, even as his ships moved newly into United Elias' waters, was dispatching, with his thanks for escort and the permission to traverse the canal with warships, word of his hope to make Baghdad one of his very first visits after the fleet (as he flatteringly described the procession of light frigates and missile craft) was put in to Mgarr at Għawdex. He declared, almost in passing, that he would bring with him all the information he had on the African situation and KSU intelligence on the Lusakans- Qottar was uncertain of Baghdad's position on and interest in the whole affair, but he felt the need to offer something Al Khali, perhaps as symbolic tribute to the masters of the region that now mattered most to him.

Truthfully, though, he may be forced to admit, when the time came, that most of his best human assets were killed or fled with him, and that the rest were, when he put to sea under small-arms fire, in immediate danger of being stoned by the Islamists or arrested by the socialists. Worse yet, the religious disturbances in his fallen Republic contributed to crippling infiltration of his intelligence networks by those sympathetic to causes in his opposition.

None of it would stop him wishing doom on the Pan-Africanists, Zanzibar rid of the Igovian naval base, and all coastal Tanzania back under Al Khali administration.

London

Versailles viewed growing British actions in Africa as the perfect opportunity to ‘cozy up’ to Chaffin’s government. Arriving via the Chunnel, and with much publicity, came Monseigneur le Comte d’Provence, Prince of the Blood and younger brother to Louis-Auguste.

An impromptu news conference in Trafalgar Square, where Monseigneur le Comte’s hotel was, revealed the following:

“His Most Christian Majesty Louis-Auguste lauds the British action to pacify ravaged central Africa in the profoundest manner. It is the hope of His Majesty, France, the Holy League and indeed the Western World that this minute action will lead to a greater understanding and a higher level of co-operation between our glorious European, and American, states.”

Provence spoke in flawless English, his toned down French accent only making it sound impossibly elegant. After all, back in the old days before the Restoration, both Louis XX and all his sons, Dauhpin and Princes included, went to Eton. Cameras flashed, and le Comte adjusted his ornate tricorner hat, holding up a hand to prevent questions at this point.

“In that spirit, His Majesty announces that the massive military base of Ft. St. Joan in the Kingdom of Algeria shall be open without reservation to British manpower and material as they attempt to quell the violent strain of aboriginals that cause mischief in the darkest of continents.”

With that le Comte d’Provence retired to his hotel. He hoped to gain audience with the Prime Minister, using todays conference as a spring board. For too long had France and Britain been ‘at odds’…it was the sincerest wish of Versailles to finally put Bull’s BS behind them, and resume with trade and tourism in both lands. Hopefully, Louis-Auguste’s gesture would be well received.

Across Strathdonian News outlets Igomo once a more or less respected figure has become the latest hate figure, even ecilpsing Louis or Wingert. Variously depicted as either a madman or a Black Hearted Dictator he has quickly become Strathdonia's very own hitler. For better or for worse the sudden influx of world press has made these images impossible to keep within Strathdonia, much to the discomfort of Strathdonian diplomats across the world, esspecailly those trying to bring various parties together to see if something along the lines of the MozCom proposal could be agreed.

The official Strathdonian postion is that this is all just one big regretable misudnerstanding, both the british and the ANP seek the same end (a free and stable Zimbabwe) but for some reason both are willign to go to extreme measures to ensure that the other side can take the credit for it. Of coruse the fact that the ANP have have done a deal with a power mad dictator without bothering to ask the people about twhat they would like is also considered regretable.
The Strathdonian Govenrment makes it clear that while it is willing to stay out of things it is also careful to point out that if so much as a stray bullet crosses it's borders then all bets would be off.

Indian Ocean
While most of the SDF have entered a eeriely quite tiem of anxious waiting the Helicopters of No29 Squadron and planes of No18 Squadron have ramped up in activity, with the fledgling CBS being pulled back to Quelimane msot the maritime patrol work has fallen on airel assets. Working in conjuction with Royal naval units the mozambique channel and surounding waters have been liberally sprikled with soubouys and msot routine patrols include double the number of stops to make use of dipping sonars.

tag

OCC: I think this would be an appropriate time to transfer the RPing of Zimbabwe back to Lusaka...

IC:

Maputo

The ruling MPADE is distressed to no end by the prospect of elements of the far right, the Russians and French, deploying troops remotely near the Commonwealth of Mozambique. In addition to the real threat of invasion presented by the Holy Leaguers, known expansionists and imperial opportunists, any support rendered to the Free State pushes the date of Mozambican unification back even further and increasingly isolates the Northern Commonwealth from the Southern Commonwealth. Maputo could very well be looking at a secession rather soon, unless something is done about it.

Even as the conflict looks set to degrade into a bloody slaughter between the Pan-Africanists and Britain, now possibly including the Russians, Chissano and Fernandes, and indeed the entirety of the Mozambican diplomatic corps, continue to push their peace plan. With pens at the ready, they gladly make changes and accept proposals from the Lusakans and British alike, in the hope of averting an unquestionably disastrous and devisive conflict.

One place that Maputo still feels like it can turn to is Strathdonia, though. Lilongwe is contacted and asked how they would feel issuing a joint statement on Zimbabwe, calling for negotiation and cautioning against rash action.

The MPADE's credibility, however, slips away at an alarming rate. Much of Derek Igomo's message appeals to Mozambicans, reminding them of the feelings brought about during struggle for independence from Portugal, and if Samora Machel is as reviled as ever Edouardo Mondlane is not. Unless a solution to Zimbabwe is found, and quickly, MPADE will likely not retain its majority in Parliament.

Indian Ocean

As the former SAS Job Maseko chugs towards Quelimane for commissioning into the CoMDF-N as MNS Maputo, it is escorted by one of No. 1 Navy Squadron's Mi-8s. While not effective against submerged submarines like the Strathdonian Lynxes and Dhruvs, the EL/M-2022As installed on the two Mi-8s allow them to spot periscopes and snorkels, as well as large vessels. And if a planned upgrade is funded, they will be fitted with Sea Skua ASMs.

Like the Strathdonians, the Mi-8s patrol around the Royal Navy task force, the Mozambicans hardly unfriendly towards Britain, but at the same time keep an eye out for other ships, such as those belonging to Russia.

London

The French Prince is greeted cordially by British diplomats and is given a short audience with the Prime Minister for political purposes, and a longer one with the Queen for protocol reasons. Chaffin informs him that the support of the French Kingdom is greatly appreciated and that this could indeed go along way in a thawing of Anglo-French relations. However, this pledge is made conditional on the French refraining from any imperialistic in any other countries that it takes its fancy too.

In the Foreign Office some rather conciliatory communiqués are drafted in response to Maputo’s peace plan. In a message to all the nations involved, including Lusaka and also released to the press it is stated that the United Kingdom did of course want to avoid a major conflict at all costs, but that in order to prevent such, the ANP would have to compromise. Although not perfect, the Mozambique plan did indeed achieve the objectives of Britain, namely a free, sovereign, democratic and stable Zimbabwe. Whilst London is unsure whether the ANP nations would accept the terms, they were keen that it be Lusaka and not Britain who would have to publicly reject a perfectly fair and reasonable agreement.

Of course, it is never clear where His Majesties intervention will be needed throughout the world day to day, le Comte would reply, but he assured Chaffin that Versailles had no intention in the troubled region at all. Indeed, it is subtly hinted that Louis-Auguste will even give Tsar Wingert a call, personally (said Provence to Queen Elizabeth after the kind older woman suggested something along those lines), to ensure that the Russian satellite in Africa would play along British lines.

Overall the Prince is ecstatic over the warm visit he received, and it was earnestly hoped that Britain and France could once again become friends. The French offer of use of Ft. St. Joan in Laghouat Algeria, which contained massive airstrip and supply facilities, was maintained, and British military command was given the official permission slips by His Majesties Ministry of War.

King Louis-Auguste did indeed call Tsar Wingert, and by proxy the Prime Minister would no doubt hear the speaker phone.

“Messieurs, let us try and follow the British on this. If the Holy League can still maintain that strategic foothold we have gained vis-à-vis Putin in Africa, and which is now held by the Tsars might, that will be enough for any further plans we may have. If we support the much lauded, moderate, and influential British on this matter, with indeed a show of support, well then things in Europe might go better for us, presently financially and hopefully one day diplomatically. Of course, we best keep an eye on that Igomo, he may prove useful in time.”

With NATO playing a brilliant game of pro-ANP propaganda, first accusing itself of imperialism and then courting the overt racism of the Holy League, Lusakan state media is hard pressed to keep up with the latest reasons for intensified resolve across Africa.

Still, Maputo's slightly embarrassing intervention manages to rile the Igomo Social Progress Party sufficiently that ambitious efforts are directed into chastisement. The northern half of the Mozambique Commonwealth shall, over coming days, see increased visitation from across the Ruvuma, on the north bank of which newly arrived Lusakan border guards can almost constantly be seen waving the revolutionary flag of the Allied States, carried in the late 1970s by fighters with the Revolutionary Alliance Corps from across the region and still flown today by the United African Republic. Waving flags and firing shots into the air, chanting anti-colonial and Pan-Africanist slogans by day while munching on fruits from the Congo, the troops waft tobacco and other smoke across the border with music (Hendrix, followed by the bizarre one-off releases by various government and military officials being the most popular) while cooking fish each night. Agents and officials sent across the riverine border more directly carry the invitation implied by the troops- Maputo can't help you, Maputo is a neo-colonial anchor in any event, join the United African Republic (Maputo can't stop you, either, proving its impotence!).

Cultivated where ever possible was the image that the United African Republic and the African National Pact were the most vigarous success stories that the outside world had ever known in Africa, and the west could do nothing but lash-out in frightened jealousy as one puppet after another broke its strings and ran free for the first time since Vasco de Gama and some fat Roycelandian blundered into the continent.

Of course, the UARL could most likely have consumed a willing West Zambia many years ago, maybe even decades ago, but that Igomo timed the final absorbtion until the unexpected gift of an Al Khali invasion gone wrong allowed him a second just annexation made it look like a sudden pattern illuminated in a lightning bolt, perhaps prompting his unexpected invasion of Zimbabwe so as to take full advantage. It was looking a lot like three independent peoples had attached themselves to the United African Republic in a single year, and so a fourth was naturally being courted in northern Mozambique, all at the same time as the United African Republic and the African Commonwealth came together, and not long after the Commonwealth had assumed responsibility for Angolan security. What poor man could resist this fantasy? What rich man could turn a blind eye to this growth trend?

On a more narrow issue, meanwhile, the Republic was making, in Africa, a low-key defence of Mugabe where it felt that it mattered. It was pointed out, to doubters, that a lot of people did support him, that a lot who didn't at least supported his initial aims and what he stood for, which should not be changed by his mistakes, and, indeed, that his mistakes were just that, and were not acts of malice but of an old man struggling within post-colonial structures and under neo-imperialist pressures to make good in spite of atrificial divisions imposed upon him and his people. The United African Republic and the African National Pact had taken over exactly to address these problems, and with the approval of the last governing body in Zimbabwe. And, so, Mugabe was opposed by many of his people... Chaffin was opposed probably by a majority of his people, but he has still the power to send them half way around the world to attack Mugabe's people, whether they support him or not.

That's not the sort of thing that Mugabe ever did, nor is it the sort of thing that the Republic does. Tackle the problems, says Igomo, "...do not waste time trying to apportion blame like some foreign politician trying to save his own skin!"

Zimbabwe

Near Gweru, near Harare, to the southwest at Chegutu, and down at Chiredzi Igovian Soviet-built Preston utility transport aircraft brought their sturdy frames down on Zimbabwe's often battered airbases. Lusakan officers with light air defence weaponry were the first arrival, soon liasing with Zimbabwean personnel in relation to airfield defence. Kinshasa was keenly invited to deploy any aerial assets it wished to the Zimbabwean facilities in order to help in protecting them against British aggression.

Harare's northwestern outskirts were reached about concurrently, with BTR-152K APCs and UAZ jeeps rolling in, some flying the Allied States (and now United African Republic) flag along side Zimbabwean banners and those specific to the Revolutionary Alliance Corps's 17th Division. Just a few dozen Lusakan troops were yet in the capital, and their arrival was less than brilliantly orderly. Junior officers were shouting from their vehicles as they rolled slowly through the streets, "Have you seen any British?" "Where are the officers?" "Who wants a smoke?" "Petrol is coming." "Take this, set it up there."

Back east and north, Lusakan forces were joining ZNA and local volunteers digging-in along the Hunyani as a rear defence point, but already APVA infantry were moving east of the river, and light mechanised units continued to roll on south of Harare.

London was told that, since Zimbabwe was undergoing legal transfer into ANP emergency administration, continued military operations were not required on the part of British forces for the sake of security, and that further advances would look like prosecution of war against the African National Pact.

African Commonwealth

Responding to Lusakas defiant stance, it was quickly decided to transfer assets to Zimbabwe; and make a bid to protect the area.

The disciplined 15th Rwandan Infantry Division were given re-assignment orders, and are moving southeast by truck. Their final destination is as yet unknown, but it is expected that they will be reinforcing rear APVA and ZNA positions by the Hunyani with manpower and artillery.

There could be no talk of deploying the ACAFs two new JAS-29 Gripen squadrons anywhere near Zimbabwe. They were still undergoing refitting, and once that had happened, they could perhaps be used in strike roles; but it was thought prudent to hold them back for the time being.

However, ACAF command is positive to the idea of bolstering Zimbabwean air defenses, and preparations are underway to transfer several squadrons of BAe Hawk 200s to the Zimbabwean-Lusakan border. Also, the ten Commonwealth AFRISAM-configured A60s currently inside Lusaka are placed under the command of the Lusakan military - it is expected that their familiar equipment will make them a good asset to the Lusakan air defense inside Zimbabwe.

Even as the Commonwealth Armed Forces were rolling into gear for conflict, Kinshasa maintained that armed struggle should be avoided at all costs, but rejecting the current proposals for a demand that the British either withdrew or halted their operations.

(OOC: Just a note... the HL is many things, but it is not and never has been racist. At one time both China and Al-Ahzad were courted as possible members, and the Nigerian people are treated with full respect by the Russians.)

("...as they attempt to quell the violent strain of aboriginals that cause mischief in the darkest of continents" may not be, "F-ing N-words", but in patronising diplomatic language and more importantly state media on the 'dark continent' in question it's not far, hey. Not that it proves the whole League racist, but it really isn't going to be hard to portray the French elite that way, and associate them with the British.)

Northern Mozambique

With regards to Maputo not being completely able to control them, Mozambicans in the Northern Commonwealth don't learn anything from the Lusakans that they don't know already. It takes easily a day to make the journey up from Nova Mambone to Angoche by ferry, or alternatively just as much time heading to Quelimane and taking a bus across the border, and most of the low-cost turboprop airliners are unable to make the trip with useful cargo loads. Therefore, the Commonwealth in Maputo and the Commonwealth in Pemba exist as one country in name only. And if Mozambicans in Nampula and Cabo Delgado want to secede from the Commonwealth of Mozambique, they probably could.

The problem is, of course, geography. As things now stand, Cabo Delgado and Nampula are bordered in the west and south by Strathdonian-occupied territories and to the east by the Royal Navy. If Maputo were to oppose the separation in the slightest, chances are that both those agencies would pounce on the Lusakan-aligned north. Perhaps they'd do it anyway. So, as far as electoral politics go, the MPADE is unlikely to lose control terribly soon. Even if northern Mozambique gave birth to FRELIMO, it also brought up Raoul Domingos and his centrist MPADE. Of course, with charismatic Raoul currently living as comfortably as possible in London, wheelchair-bound from his airplane accident, it remains to be seen if Leon Alberto and his assistant Joaquim Chissano can maintain the Commonwealth long enough.

But Lusakan agitation along the border does convince one group to act: FRELIMO. Not FRELIMO per se, but the Frente de Determinacao de Mocambique Norte (OCC: Please excuse my ham-handed Portuguese. If anyone has mastered the language, feel free to point out my doubtless many mistakes) or FDMN, and what could very well become the first military action in the Mozambique Secession War occurrs at night some days after a Lusakan contingent crosses the poorly-guarded border.

It isn't much, just a nail bomb exploded outside a police station, and all it does is break a few windows and give the officers inside a bit of a fright. The Intelligence Ministry doesn't expect anything fishy, being under-funded and almost fully untrained, but in the coming weeks there are plans to expand attacks...

(OCC: Lusaka...you want to play the FDMN? If it comes to civil war Maputo will probably mount a half-hearted counter insurgency operation and then pull out, so North Mozambique will probably join the ANP if it wins, etc. etc. etc.)

Maputo

Seeing its peace proposal more or less shot down by the Lusakans, Fernandes is charged with a complete re-write while Chissano faces MPADE's detractors in Parliament.

(OCC: Indeed I am inclined to agree with BG. Perhaps the Holy League isn't racist in the way that Strom Thurmond was racist, and Mubarrak's being lord of Nigeria suggests that at least the Estenlands doesn't care about race that much. But France...those words are right out of Henry Morton Stanley's mouth, and I think we all know what he did. Not a good way to win support from any black African, much less those who really dislike the thought of being imperialized.)

OOC: If Maputo wants any "counter insurgency" assiatance then Lilongwe woudl hardly be able to refuse help as any situation is partly our fault, it doesn't have to be anythign as overt as actualy troops/paramilitaries but could be a couple of crates of non leathal weapons, some planes, a couple of truck mounted stadium power PA systems, borrowed from local metal bands etc,etc.

If it wasn't for the restrictions brought by the current situation then msot lcoal airlines would be offered major incentives to make stops at Quelimane airport and msot of the few strathdonian start ups would be happy to add trans mozambique routes with msot tryign to use a mix of Airblue style agency based ticketless booking and Ryan Air/easyjet style operations with an aim of a sub £40 return from maputo to Pemba (theoretically a £24 return wouldn't be impossible based on the rpice from prestwick to bornemouth which is a roughly simialr distance) now, i know that £20-40 is still expensive for that aprt of the world but i recon it would be cheaper than what msot current regional oeprators would offer IRL. Of coruse the issue of aircraft, do Pemba and Maputo have 737/A320 capaable airports...

Over Livingstone

Aboard the heavy Halo helicopter en route to Chirundu, a large contingent of armed men stirred restlessly. The Mi-26 they, along with a sizable amount of specialized military equipment, were located on; was officially on a job to deliver medicine and foodstuffs to border areas ravaged in the initial Lusakan attack on Zimbabwe; did indeed carry a reinforced batallion of Jungle Rangers, the ACA's rural infantry special forces, as did two other Mi-26 scheduled to arrive at Chirundu soon.

Each chopper carried approximately 70 rangers("give or take 5 guys if it fits with the equipment" was the order given by the Ranger loadmaster!), a tactical truck and some motorcycles, as well as a great cache of ADI-F19 .455 high-power anti-material sniper rifles, next-generation "Tesó" guided anti-tank missiles, and a mix of demolition charges and assault weaponry including the ubiquitous ADI-F6 assault rifle and the scoped self-loading Lee-Enfield. Their standing orders, once they had stealthily removed themselves from the Chirundu landing point, were to make directly for Chinhoyi through the western Mashonaland; and from there to near Harare. Highly trained in demolition, evasion, infiltration and sniping; they were to form a first line of defense, and perhaps a highly effective sabotage unit, in case of war with the British invaders.

Driven by Congolese and Angolan oil, some of it refined in the United African Republic's long under-utilised Soviet-era facilities, and bringing the fruits (often literally so) of Africa's biggest traditional agricultural exporter, Lusakan soldiers poured into Zimbabwe with an obvious desire to swap war stories, talk about the old days, and, in the younger recruits especially, to boast of how bad a whipping the imperialists were going to get if they didn't turn around very soon. As well as being the largest agricultural exporter, the United African Republic long maintained the continent's largest army, and the capacities left-over from that only recently bygone era were evident in the remobilisation.

None of it would have been possibile without the African Commonwealth and the fuel sources it provided, but the relationship was hardly one-sided as Kinshasa was allowed back into the uranium fields long controlled by City, and was visited by the representatives of a large pool of highly educated Lusakans who for so long were wasted on an economy in recession. Instead of insurgents and propaganda, the Republic was sending engineers and uranium, and instead of fear and menace, the Commonwealth was sending back oil and friendly soldiers.

To ordinary people, extra-African intervention at this time did look like sour grapes as powerful industrialists and socialistic rebels came together after years of mistrust.

Initially handing out coffee, tea, beer, tobacco and cloves, bananas, fruits, and vegetables, the Republicans -for they were Lusakan and West Zambian by now- swore that Masai cattle, other livestock, the means to grow wheat and corn, and insecticides derived from chrysanthemums were on the way. The bare bones of what would become a pipeline to supply petroleum were made obvious as possible.

Since the ANP began to rise anew and the Republic got fuel once again, the armies coming in were something to inspire confidence. After years under the watch of uncontested ZNA domination, Zimbabweans were first cautiously and soon joyously amazed by the laid-back and unthreatening manner of the Lusakan and West Zambian soldier (OOC: as the Ugandans were said to have been when the Tanzanians countered-attacked against Amin's forces, since I've always lamented REA's denial to Lusaka of such a neighbour with whom to tangle!). Many Lusakans displayed the famous Igomo grin, a beaming, cheeky affair that had infected the entire nation during his quarter century in the spotlight, others forced on-lookers to crack a smile by their semi-serious attempts to look as cool as possible*.

Igomo remains defiant as the Victoria Falls bridge opens to ANP traffic, sending Olifant tanks, AFRISAM batteries, Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and Catapult SPGs made [notably, to Indian design] by the mating of Centurion hull to 130mm howitzer tube thundering into Zimbabwe. West Zambian units field Susong-Po ATGMs and 74mm mortars amongst other Drapoel weapons, the intention being to use them up in this potential conflict before domestic, Congolese, and Yugoslav replacements come into full use. The President remains defiant, cursing those opposed to the African National Pact and the United African Republic, swearing that they will go without this much uranium and that much copper until they learn that Africa has all the sovereignty of an established European nation and teeth of every sort with which to bite back.

Bush soldiers moved east, intending to make sure that British forces had armed opponents on every side should they choose to fight. Igomo, Olongwe, Mugabe, everyone half hoped that the British would try to stop these units, confident that it would end in humiliating defeat for London, an end to Chaffin, and another epic victory for the cause.

(OOC: Sorry there's not much new information, there, I just wanted to remind myself that I'm in this and it's still alive, and convince myself that enough build-up has been done incase new fighting breaks out in a single post or something.)

*Exhibit A [clicky] (http://allafrica.com/img/photoessay/guinea/sols.jpg), as ever, a Lusakan war can not pass without a repost of this picture, if tradition be honoured! (Okay, so they're Guinean, really, but there's something distinctly Lusakan about their armament and disposition ;) )

(OOC: God, that picture is awesome. It's almost as good as Xiaguo's old "chinese gang plotting" shot. Anyhow, onto business...Is there any way that the Russian military could airlift over neutral territory to get to the free state? Or do we have to go by naval route? I'm not exactly sure how AMW africa is carved up...)

OOC: Having not long escaped the region, I'll butt in. The Free State? Mozambique Free State? That can be accessed by sea, as it lies in central Mozambique, splitting the Commonwealth into north and south. The Lusakan navy is actually fairly powerful, now, and the Igovians have naval bases on Zanzibar and possibly bases still on Madagascar since defending the republic there against the Roycelandians, but until either of those are actually involved in war on anyone you might want to aid, that shouldn't be a problem, I'd think.

Essentially, both Congos, Angola, Rwanda, and Burundi are in the African Commonwealth's sphere of influence. Tanzania and Zambia are in Lusaka's, and Zimbabwe is fast going the same way. The British are coming into the east of Zimbabwe from Malawi, which is Strathdonia. Strathdonia also occupies the bit of Mozambique that sticks out to the west, and a band from that out to the sea. The very northern bit of Mozambique, above the Strathdonian area and about level with Lake Nyasa/Malawi, is part of the Mozambique Commonwealth. Just below the Strathdonian claim is the Free State, bordering Zimbabwe to the west and the ocean to the east. In the south, level with the border of South Africa, is the other half of the Commonwealth, with the capital.

So, there's direct into the Free State by the coast, and there's Strathdonian territory. It also borders Zimbabwe and the southern half of the Mozambique Commonwealth. Southern Mozambique Commonwealth blocks access via South Africa.

I think that makes sense if you can pick out the bits you need to know and manage to ignore the rest!

OOC: Mmmm...okeh, thanks much. I lack the time for a proper IC post, but assume that ships have been deployed to Kurtz's abode.

OCC: Hey Lusaka, you should drop in on the Winds Of Change thread one of these days. The impending Mozambique Secession War might interest you.

IC:

Southern Mozambique

The makeshift airstrip at Malvernia plays host to a (relatively) steady stream of Aviocars bringing elements of the 1st Regiment to the border from Mondlane Barracks in the capital. With each one of No.10 squadron's aircraft able to take only about two sections at a time, it is slow going and its over a week before the 1st Infantry Battalion arrives in full strength, another week before the 5th support battalion is on the scene, and the 7th infantry is still in the process of deploying.

Along with a flight of two IAR330Ls from No.8 squadron, the 1st, 5th, and 7th battalions are given the task of protecting the border with Zimbabwe. As war looks ever more likely, it is deemed necessary to be ready for any possible 'infiltrations on the part of militant elements,' namely the APP or ZANU-PF. Some in the deepest, darkest rooms of the ministry of defense work on Mozambique's own invasion of Zimbabwe, a quick advance across the relatively weakly-defended border to Rutenga in the north and Beitbridge to the west. But like most of the MoD's plans, no small amount of them dealing with the projected future annexation of the Mozambique Free State, they are stashed away in a locked cabinet in the basement behind a "Beware Of Tiger" sign. Obviously, "once" the CoMDF-A "got its Challengers and F-16s," some intrepid functionary would be pushed down into the hole with a spear and torch to retrieve them, but by the looks of things that won't be anytime soon.

The Praesidium gathered not in Beira but in a secretive and remote military compound that had once been used as a RENAMO headquarters when it had been just a resistance movement within greater Mozambique. Now it had been requisitioned by the Security Department to act as a secluded command centre for the Free State defence forces in the event of invasion. It had been part of an effort in recent weeks to develop a whole range of contingency facilities which included camouflaged ammunition and fuel dumps across the two provinces of the Free State. Additionally, the Department had spent a good deal of time and money fortifying key positions with sandbag emplacements, and along the Zimbabwe border especially, tracts of landmines designed to impede a Lusakan offensive.

This meeting however was not to discuss the plans for the defence of the state, quite the opposite in fact. Chairman Kurtz opened the meeting; he would argue for a course of action and hold a vote. The Praesidium was democratic; its members would not face punishment for voting against the Chairman. He genuinely valued their counsel. He had assembled a group of handpicked professionals, dedicated utilitarianists who based their decisions on numbers rather than morals.

“Gentlemen, you will each have in front of you a copy of Operation Gambit. I trust that you have read the salient points but I will expand further. The future of the Free State is obviously in jeopardy. I am not talking of just the threat from across the border. What I talk of is the long term future of our nation. We all know the statistics. We have huge loans, meaning that we are at the present time much wealthier than our Commonwealth counterparts. But this advantage is not sustainable. Even if our expectations were exceeded it is clear we will never be able to achieve the economic growth to repay these debts because quite simply our nation lacks the necessary size and resources. Simply put, we are too small to be viable in the long run. We are currently over militarized and will become more so under our projections for the coming months and several years. This cannot be maintained indefinitely, and it is inevitable that our military strength relative to the Commonwealth will decline. Now we have an advantage. They are distracted by the threat of Lusaka, they are facing a revolt in the North. It is time to press the advantage whilst the opportunity exists. In recent months we have stockpiled weaponry, enlarged our and rationalized our military. It is not perfect, but we are more prepared than we will ever be, and they are less prepared. We have superiority in numbers, in equipment and training I also believe. No one in their government has the equivalent military experience that some of our officers do. I, some of you, many of the former RENAMO militia commanders have a lifetime of experience of conflict on this continent. This must count for something. I believe our troops are better motivated. Since the foundation of the APP, people have been more prosperous, although I admit in some cases artificially through subsidies. By casting off the RENAMO name and ideals we have developed a state where I believe citizens feel loyalty and duty. We have instilled values, and I think that people will be prepared to sacrifice to safeguard the future of Mozambique. It is a risky ploy I do not deny it. But it is the best chance we have.”

Sure enough, the committee passed the resolution by the required majority.

Orders were sent out immediately. Two of the Free State Frontier Force’s Three operational Brigades were ordered to fully mobilize, including rounding off units with reservists and then to move South. To observers who might be in communication with Maputo, the deployments would likely be construed as related to preparing for a defence along the Zimbabwe border rather than against the Commonwealth. Just to make this seem even more plausible, Beira goes to the extent of actually informing Maputo that it was mobilizing troops so that they would not feel alarmed.

Simultaneously however, several platoons of commandos from the Special Forces Battalion would, under the cover of darkness, be infiltrating across the border to recon defences and prepare to start creating behind enemy lines havoc once the shooting started.

(FYI soon I will be posting a revised Free State ORBAT on the AMW forum)

Boris Vlakor cursed under his breath.

"Can someone tell me again what I'm doing in Africa?" he spat bitterly. The Commander of the Tsarist Expeditionary Force scratched his bushy salt and pepper mustache as he gazed upon the churning sea. The salty spray flew into his face, extinguishing the cigar he had tried to light for over an hour. The crusty old war horse had never gotten along with any Russian administration, (although he'd given Putin a grudging respect due to his military career, and had given the Tsar the benefit of the doubt for the same reason) and he'd often tangled with the higher echelons. But for all his grumbling, he was just too damn good to be fired; his innovative tactics had made the Baltic Campaign a stunning success, and his logistical work had ensured the smooth annexation of Kazakhstan.

And so he found himself near the southern tip of Africa, cruising at breakneck speeds on a massive troop transport deck. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Albion_dock.jpg)

A small detachment of destroyers, frigates, cruisers, and submarines provided a minimal level of defense for the troop transport convoy as it churned along. Over ten thousand Russian soldiers waited anxiously for battle (http://vityaz.sensey.ru/pics/173.jpg), their AK-101s primed for battle. Along with the troops came assault helicopters, T-95 tanks, (http://web2.oslo035.server4you.de/uploads/mediapool/BF2-net%20Fahrzeuge/mec1.jpg)BTR-90 Armored Personnel carriers (http://web2.oslo035.server4you.de/uploads/mediapool/BF2-net%20Fahrzeuge/mec5.jpg), ten multirole MiG-35s, ten air superiority MiG-36s, five Tu-122M (UE built) strategic bombers, four wheel drive light vehicles (http://web2.oslo035.server4you.de/uploads/mediapool/BF2-net%20Fahrzeuge/mec3.jpg), and a veritable army of logistical staffers.

They were ready for war.

For a government that expects the Free State to invade at any time, as it did even during the high point of RENAMO-Commonwealth relations, the Free State's military deployments throw the Ministry of Defense into a state of wild panic. Beria would probably have been better-off not telling Maputo what it was doing, since they probably could have bought several more days of Commonwealth haplessness, but Leon Alberto, freshly back from Yugoslavia with two dozen T-55s, doesn't trust Kurtz on principle.

The Prime Minister holds-off on addressing Parliament on the issue, interpreting the Free State's intentions much as he had interpreted the situation in Zimbabwe; they might look tough, but they won't try war. It is, with regards to the Free State, a rather fair observation in light of what Alberto knows about the Commonwealth's foreign relations. Strathdonia is still on very friendly terms, and it is believed that England would likely step in should the Free State become overly belligerant. And if all else fails, there's always the ANP's arms to fall back into.

But just to be safe, and to spite Beria, Alberto orders the bridges across the Rio Save to be blown up. They had become rather redundant anyway, since nothing had crossed the Commonwealth-Free State border since the Dhlakama days, the few delegations sent to Beria being flown in by C-212. A company of engineers from the 11th EME battalion is flown out to the Commonwealth side of the Rio Save suspension bridge with a load of explosives soon after the order is recieved, and it is hoped that the bridge could either be destroyed completely or rendered unusable by heavy vehicles.

The CoMDF-AF also recalls No.4 squadron's six Impalas from Pemba, along with their stocks of U-Darter AAMs which are brought south by No.6 squadron's An-24s. While no CoMDF-AF combat airplane is equipped with a genuine search radar, it is not believed that the Free State's MiG-21s and MiG-19s are that much better off. In fact, many in the CoMDF-AF believe that, in the air, given the supposed unserivcability of many of the FSAF's aircraft, the Commonwealth carries a slight advantage. Another trick up the Commonwealth's sleeve is its six Umkhonto-IR SAM batteries, of which four are deployed to protect the fighter base at Inhambane.

And if the average CoMDF soldier seems unmotivated and unexcited about the prospect of fighting Lusaka, publically not seen as a great threat, he is ready to fight the Free State.

It remains to be seen, though, how the Russian presence will factor into the whole affair.

The Defense Minister for Quinntonia, Deaconess Rebekah Klages made a sudden state visit to Prime Minister Chaffin, arriving in a plane that had NATO markers prominently displayed. She met privately with Mr. Chaffin, where she explained that the Quinntonian position was that they had very little real idea as to what was going on in Africa right now, they just understood that if they helped the British, the Progressives would be upset. That being said, Quinntonia was more than ready to back up their NATO ally, though they did request that any movement be made with the advice of Roycelandia. If all were on board, Quinntonia saw no reason not to make this an official operation of NATO, perhaps the first of its kind. Though, given that NATO is only a defensive alliance, it would be hard to justify that and perhaps a multinational coalition woudl be in order. The Quinntonian government was concerned about Tsarist involvement, and wondered what that would do to international opinion.

She then met with the Conservative cabinet, expressing the smae, but a more watered down version of the sentiments that she expressed to Chaffin.

Then, in a joint press conference, she explained that, "Quinntonia always has and will always be a bulwark in the fight aginst opprssion b the so-called Progressives. And we will continue to do so, a Committee is being formed to investigate this matter, and decide upon what action the Quinntonian government should take, and if they should get involved. In the meantime, preparations are already underway to present a sizable force-projection option, should it come to that."

(Basically, I am already putting together a force, which QNN estimates place at over 100,000 troops, with armour and more than enough planes, to move into the region, with a an escort fleet of consderable size being readied, but will not move until I get advice from Roycelandia, TBF, and even Tsarist Nigeria. I would also very much welcome advice from UE and LRR, as they are involved and quite friendly with Quinntonia.)

WWJD
Amen.

In the corridors of Whitehall, military officials, civil servants and politicians alike had increasingly started to speculate that the 3rd Division, if forced to fight the ANP armies, might not come out on top. There was such thing in having faith in the supremacy of the British trooper with their training and technological advantages, and then there was being delusional. Even if it would have been possible to take Harare, which most thought perfectly plausible, keeping supply lines open during what would no doubt be a massive counterattack would prove difficult and extremely costly.

In a heated meeting in COBRA, Chaffin made a decision and orders were subsequently relayed to the operational headquarters in Blantyre, Strathdonia. All British forces were to tactically retreat back into their staging areas in Strathdonia immediately, save deep reconnaissance Special Forces teams. It was made clear however that this was not to be the end of the matter but simply the beginning. Chaffin was more passionate than ever about liberating Zimbabwe. The strategy however would have to be changed. A lightening offensive using manouvre warfare tactics was no longer an option given the gathering strength of their adversary. This would have to be done in a more traditional way.

All journalists embedded with British troops were subject to a complete embargo, and no press statements would be made about the withdrawal, not yet at least. Simultaneously the Army was organising another massive logistics effort. The 1st Armoured Division had been activated, with territorial soldiers being called up to round off units to wartime strength. Merchant ships and aircraft were taken up from trade and another naval task force was being assembled in Portsmouth to escort the troops south. The RAF was taking similar moves, ordering more combat aircraft to Strathdonia, including two more squadrons of Typhoons, and two squadrons of the re-roled EF.3 Tornado SEAD fighters as well as additional tanker and AEW support.

Across the world, in Paris, in Baghdad, in Moscow, in Washington, in Lilongwe and elsewhere, British diplomats were piecing together a coalition, cashing in favours that had accrued over the years in an effort to bring enough force to bear on Lusaka that Igomo would be forced to reconsider who raise the stakes.

OOC: Sorry for the brief post, lack of time.

Regent Mubarrak became ever more nervous about the massive military buildup ocurring around him, and with the WAU already potentially hostile (due to Operation: Tai-Pan) it was likely that things could get very nasty, very fast. Therefore, as Russian ships approach Free State waters and begin requesting docking permission at the State Praesidium's ports, he quietly began to request from the Tsar a small stock of low grade nuclear weapons, in order to potentially serve as deterrence.

Tsar Wingert is listening, though he thinks it somewhat premature. He does say that he will immediately deploy one of his two nuclear ballistic platfrom subs, Los Angeles Class, into the Mediterranian, on its way to the Western African coastline.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

Igovian trade with the United African Republic had never fully recovered after the Tendyala Junta that put a near total stop to it. A slight revival with Igomo's return had not come to very much as it coincided with a left-swing in the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth that saw SPP popularity decline in South India, especially as New Lusaka City moved closer to Kinshasa, which hadn't been liked by Igovians since the collapse of both nations' involvement in Dra-pol.

Still, the military base at Zanzibar remained open, and this appeared to be a long-term tie, given that, even with Igovians no longer singing the praises of the African revolutionaries, the prospect of NATO or HL imperialism in C21st Africa was casue for jaw-dropping horror.

Journalists and even tourists, of the unusual Beddgelen sort, continued to visit the UARL, and media attention was rising once again as communities clubbed together to send yet more reporters with the situation becoming interesting once again.

The shifting of Igovian politics to something considered a more pragmatic position included a popular reconsideration of African Socialism, and the concept was slowly, slowly gaining a new appreciation as Beddgelens wondered if perhaps their dismissal of the Social Progress Party's methods and structures hadn't been perhaps culturally aloof in some degree. The Igovians didn't want to end up behaving with the arrogance and borderline racism of the northern and western powers.

For now, most Beddgelen interest in the conflict was manifest in documentaries and articles on life in the African socialist lands and on the history of resistance to imperialism in the region, rather than in the fighting itself. A few phalansteries and universities were organising gifts to the Zimbabwean people, excited by the possibility of a spreading of liberation, but most of the population remained fixated on the nature of this liberation itself.

Rearming was, for now, unrelated to Africa specifically, though progressing at a substantial rate.

Across the world, in Paris, in Baghdad, in Moscow, in Washington, in Lilongwe and elsewhere, British diplomats were piecing together a coalition, cashing in favours that had accrued over the years in an effort to bring enough force to bear on Lusaka that Igomo would be forced to reconsider who raise the stakes.

Tokyo

"Africa? Well, I guess we could assist their efforts....why are we getting involved though?"

Prime Minister Minase wagged his finger at Defence Minister Tsuhima Heiji.

"Heiji-san, we all know that the British are friends of Quinntonia. A friend of our friend is therefore our friend, as Quinntonia wouldn't associate with many distasteful elements. Besides, Japan and Britain have much in common; both are island nations who have, for whatever reasons, ended up allied with the great power across the ocean rather than the neighbours on the continent....and we both drive on the left. Besides, we will be assisting oppressed people; we liberated ourselves from the Ringists, but not everyone has a Shinseiki to organise and rally them.

The Diet is almost certain to support our involvement. I want you to investigate our most efficient form of involvement."

Governatorial Palace, Kinshasa, confidential Defense Council staff room

"This is getting out of hand!" the newly arrived man said. His insignia marked him as an army colonel, but the discretely placed silver hand indicated his membership in the Manus Nigra. He had some important input, or he would never have made it to the secret meeting the president and his planners had placed.

"How so, Pierre?" Ndelebe asked, his deep voice gravelly with stress; and very serious in tone.

"The Russians are throwing it at us, bad! Thousands of men, joint strike fighters, strategic bombers..."

Ndelebe raised his hand, and the room fell silent. Manus Nigra officers feared no one, but Pierre had confidence in the President.

"I know. I also expect the British to rally every other nation they can against the Pact. We must stay our course or lose what advantages we have. Here's what we are doing..."

*the room faded into obscurity as cutting-edge scramblers cloaked the room in secrecy...*


All over the African Commonwealth
((Listen to the Imperial March for maximum impact..))

In the northwestern Commonwealth, twenty massive ADI-B6 "Long Spear" Intermediate Range Ballistic missiles quietly raised themselves towards the sun on their launc rails, ballistic computers calculating the chances to hit reachable centres of economic and military importance in Nigeria southeast of the Benue river, particularly those known to house Russian assets. Several were also primed to cross the river and try and reach Abuja. Unbeknownst to the Russians, the nerve gas warheads once deployed with the ADI-B6 during the Gabon War had been removed and replaced with conventional high explosive warheads, as well as 5-kilo submunition cluster warheads. The deployment was not announced anywhere, but the Russians would get the message. The monoliths did not move, but were ready to launch immediately upon order from the Defense Council strategic command.

In the southern Commonwealth, ten Long Spear launchers also rolled towards the Lusakan borders, from where they would be able to hit Lilongwe, as well as targets in Zimbabwe and the Mozambique nations.

In Kinshasa, Mbandaka and Mbuyi-Mayi, parades of black-uniformed Rangers, regular troops, L-2 Tanks, A60 APCs and G6 artillery guns recently activated spurred militant demonstrations of support for the Pact, for Lusaka and Zimbabwe, and invited foreign press were allowed to take all the pictures they liked.

From an apparent position of steely resolve, the African Commonwealth stood on demands that the British and their lackeys should leave Africa, and that the united peoples of AC, Lusaka and Zimbabwe wished only to restore peace and order to the region.

With Larionko Aidarov growing daily more unhappily convinced that non-alignment was a dying dream in light of what looked ever more like NATO-HolyLeague hegemony, LET L.410UVP and An-26 Curl transport planes from the former Bulgarian air force joined the handful of other such Yugoslav machines, such as one of Lavrageria's An-72 Coaler in crossing the Mediterranean to Libya, and on to the African Commonwealth and United African Republic as cargo ships below joined in the first leg before giving-over to Lusakan trains.

Flying out with military advisors, munitions used by the Africans, refined fuels, and advanced weapons, the Yugoslavian machines returned with agricultural goods, raw materials, and new experiences. Belgrade was now offering to take a share of African wounded back to Europe, as accidents were bound to happen during such massive military mobilisations, and to help in refining Angolan crude at cost, partly to keep big old facilities working while the economies of the Federation's members worked themselves out, and partly to provide a temporary emergency boost to production in on-the-brink Africa.

The deployment of Russian troops into the theatre was answered by the Socialist Federal Republic, which began, rather more slowly, to assemble an, "expeditionary peace-keeping force" in southern Africa. A couple of hundred soldiers as yet, but several thousand gearing-up to depart, troops armed with new 5.56mm M21S assault rifles mounting under-slung grenade launchers, 12.7mm M-93 Crna Strela heavy sniper rifles, 30mm BGA automatic grenade launchers, Maljutka-2 and Bumbar ATGMs, and other such formidable firepower, awaiting the large-scale arrival of Munja engineering vehicles, M80A infantry combat vehicles, BOV personnel carriers and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and, perhaps, aircraft. Monster 20mm RT-20 anti-material sniper rifles, and assorted experimental MANPAD designs were on hand to make the Yugoslavs look as well-prepared as possible, and to simply find out what worked and how well!

Officers and diplomats meeting with African Commonwealth representatives were expressing great interest in the AV-33 helicopter gunship (OOC: is that similar to Mi-24 Hind, or am I thinking of something else?), which, they feel, would rather well complement the light multi-role helicopters going newly into production in Yugoslavia. Any Yugoslav service version would likely be modified to launch SACLOS-guided Maljutka-2 missiles and use some other Yugoslav systems, but the bulk of the machine, much as the Commonwealth's ballistic missile technology, are the sort of things that keep Belgrade's ailing faith in non-alignment alive and enable the Federal Republic to cope without committing itself totally to the progressives. Engineers are prepared to bring data on the systems involved in the Munja engineering vehicle and the machines used to produce them, and are hopeful that the technology that makes Munja so stealthy against radar and infra-red detection, enable unmanned operation, and aid in mine-detection, will be convertable to Commonwealth-friendly chassis.
They have already begun to bring kits to the UARL for the conversion of old T-54/55/56 hulls to near identical Munja copies, and hope to complete transfer to Yugoslavia of machine tools used in the production of world-class 120mm guns, along with explosive-reactive armour research and 'Lozod' countermeasure systems.

COM-INDIO (Indian Ocean Command) HQ, Port Victoria Naval Base, Seychelles

The whir of ventilation fans was the only noise in Lt. Commander Habibi’s cramped office. With GOTCOM disbanded, COM-INDIO had taken over as the operational command centre for all Elias forces in not only the Indian Ocean but in Central and Southern Africa as well. In recent weeks with crisis looming, the workload of military intelligence specialisits had been increasing. Busy typing a briefing document for the Ministry of Defence summarizing the intelligence collected from a recent submarine patrol in the Mozambique channel, he was suddenly interrupted as the encrypted data receiver burst into life. It churned out a roll of paper. He grabbed it and read the briefest of messages.

Attn: Duty Intelligence Officer, COM-INDIO
From: Duty Officer, Africa Desk, General Intelligence Directorate, Federal Intelligence Bureau, Baghdad

-Satellite reconnaissance shows approximately ten ADI-B6 intermediate range ballistic missiles being forward deployed eastward. Sources indicate payload NBC probable.
-Threat assessment: B/B Recommend upgrading of NBC postures at discretion of CO.
-Recommend advising UK forces in theatre of possible threat.

There was little urgency implied, but he though it wise to be cautious. He pressed a speed dial on the speakerphone connecting him to an assistant. “Get me Admiral Wasiri, its urgent.”

Twenty minutes later claxons sounded followed by the public address system across the Naval and air base conveying in a monotone voice. “All personnel assume Nuclear, Biological, Chemical threat condition Charlie. Repeat. Set THREATCON Charlie. Strategic alert flight to assume six minute rotating readiness until further notice.” As sailors, soldiers and airmen quickly prepared their NBC suits and masks for use, a message was sent to Blantyre informing the British of this intelligence, who in reality where much more likely to be targeted.

Of course by the time they received the message, it is likely that they would be aware of the missiles fired towards Nigeria.

OOC

Let me state, with greatest possible clarity, that missiles have NOT been fired towards Nigeria. The post is unclear, and I will go about editing it now. Missiles, that no-one knows do not contain Sarin and VX any longer(but still carry sizable HE munitions), are "just" being PLACED in positions to strike at Nigeria, Strathdonia, and British positions in Zimbabwe. Sorry for the confusion, I really should be more clear - it's just that English isn't my first language, so slip-ups happen now and then :(

Yugo Slavia>> Yep, the AV-33 is basically a domestic version of the Hind, using mainly AC hardware instead of soviet to ease conversion with future AC designs.

Also, some systems are different. For instance, most AV-33 now fire the AC "Tesó" ATGM instead of the Spiral, although changing to another missile requires no conversion at all, much like the Hind. Also, it is configured for firing 60mm Napalm rockets instead of 57mm HE, as both AC and Roycelandia(who also use the AV-33) use 60 and 80mm Napalm rockets.

Like the Hind, the AV-33 also comes in N/B/C survey and photo-recon versions.

OOC

Let me state, with greatest possible clarity, that missiles have NOT been fired towards Nigeria. The post is unclear, and I will go about editing it now. Missiles, that no-one knows do not contain Sarin and VX any longer(but still carry sizable HE munitions), are "just" being PLACED in positions to strike at Nigeria, Strathdonia, and British positions in Zimbabwe. Sorry for the confusion, I really should be more clear - it's just that English isn't my first language, so slip-ups happen now and then :(

.

Ok, no problem I have edited that post accordingly.

When Lord Yvonne, the weaselly Director of the Kargat repoted that his spies had found that Lav was sending assitance to the region, making perhaps his first foreign deployment, Tsar Wingert was incensed.

"That rat that calls himself a lion! I will not stand for him standing against me at every turn! WE will make sure that all know not to put their trust in that peasant coward!"

The various Tsarist nations then all begin to flood the governments of all involved nations with communiques explaining the His Imperial Majesty, Tsar Wingert the Great, says that he is only willing to commit troops to the level that is already in play in that region as of now. However, if LAV and his countrymen get involved, the Divine Tsar may be tempted to stand against the brutal murderer of the Tsarist citizens and the coward of Lavrageria and thief of the Gahlaktan Republic with ANY AND ALL RESOURCES AT HIS DISPOSAL! This could mean, a full deployment on the scale mentioned by Quinntonia, of battle-hardened Ukrainian Tsarist loyalist troops.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

OOC

Yugo Slavia>> I was looking at web pages about the M-93 sniper rifle in a fit of boredom, and guess what? The only nation using the gun other than Serbia and Montenegro is the Democratic Republic of Congo. Weird, huh? Maybe I should arm the Commonwealth with the M-93(possibly chambered for .50 BMG) instead of the domestically designed anti-material rifle I use now.

Sorry, won't spam any more, now :)

Although Mumbai continues to keep a remarkably low profile in the whole Zimbabwe affair, consistent with its strong opinion that both sides are "seriously off their rockers," the re-colonization of Southern Africa is something that Parliament will not stand for.

So in order to exert the INU's influence without actually saying so, it is decided, for the first time in history, to use the INMDF's submarine arm in what is actually an offensive manner. And unlike the old T-class boats, the Bihar-class SSK is a seriously modern vessel with all the stealthiness any captain could ask for. Two of the INMDF's Bihar-class boats, INS Pasni and INS Turbat, slink away from Karachi harbor, each one with a full complement of 533mm torpedos, and make for the Mozambique Channel. An uncharacteristically deep level of secrecy is employed for this deployment, as what Parliament really hopes to accomplish is the sinking of several Russian ships and blaming it on Lusaka. That is only if fighting starts up in earnest, though, and English ships will certainly not be targeted to any degree.

The submarines slip out of their covered pens in the dead of night, and by morning are deep into the Arabian Sea, running at a stately 8 knots towards Madagascar. It is hoped that they won't be noticed by sattelites, and with a superstructure designed specifically to reduce radar cross-section detection by French radars on Reunion, if any long-range models even exist there, is deemed unlikely, especially with the subs traveling in waters frequented by every kind of oceangoing vessel. And if all else fails, they can dive and use the Bihar's extreme quietness to wait out any pursuers.

If Parliament is lucky, the submarine task force won't see any use, but Tsarist Russian ships might find themselves awed at the capabilities of "Lusakan" submarines if a full-scale war does engage.

Kinshasa, in an expensive restaurant

The tall bald, Egyptian man adjusted the collar of his expensive cream-coloured suit; and listened intently to the Minister of Internal Security of the African Commonwealth; Kalash Ndaka. The smaller, wiry African spoke with great emotion tinging his deep voice.

"So you will agree to mediate for us? Know that you are doing the Commonwealth a great favour."

Omar Suleiman, one of the twenty richest men in the world, stopped fiddling with his collar and smiled, revealing several teeth of shining 24 carat gold.

"I may take you up on that, but for now I'm happy with your generous stock in the Angolan and Rwandan oil extraction companies. I am good with this kind of thing, I think you will be satisfied."

And so he tried. Omar Suleiman is an Egyptian businessman, carrying great respect with muslims around the world; and respected by the arab governments for his political savvy. The Commonwealth has essentially bribed him to try and mediate between the African nations and United Elias and Al-Khals. The object of said mediation is to try and set up a deal in which AK and UE might be more amenable to the African National Pact, and perhaps talk Britain, Russia and Strathdonia into standing down. In return, the African offers whatever might sway the arabs - Influence in the AC, free trade agreements or access to the arms and uranium markets in the Commonwealth.


OOC

Omar Suleiman is a fictional character, although he has a resemblance by name to the RL head of Egyptian intelligence; I just nicked the name 'cause it sounds cool.

OOC-BTW, the LRR will most likely find the Tsarist ships easy pickings, as they are almost entirely tranpsorts and supply ships at this piont, there would be a few sparsely placed patrol boats from the Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet, but they were never meant to be force-projectors and this fleet was actually designed just to protect from invasion of Sevestapol and Crimea by sea, and even though the Tsar now commands the Russian Navy, they have no Mediterrainian Fleet since the mid to late 80's. So, you could pick off transports and supply ships pretty much at your will. The patrol boats will try and protet them, but have very limited deep-water anti-sub capabilities, and you should be dailry able to counter them.

There is one thing you should take into consideration though, if I remember right, and AC (Armandian Cheese, not AC) can correct me on this, but, the fleet left Crimea and travelled through the Med to the Atlantic, hugging teh West African coastline. Then they were deploy their forced into Nigeria, where Armandian Cheese was going to take command and use them as he wished. You would probably be aware of all of this, so if you want to deploy more effectivly, send them into the Med.

Just FYI. But of you want to keep the killer subs that I have no defenses against on the opposite side of the continent. That will be just fine by me! LOL! I just thought this would be the fair thing to do, I hate it when something like this happens and the opposing side only says something when combat is jioned. I don't know if the extra distance will factor in though.

Tsar Wingert the Great.

I just thought of something, that is quite a hike from Nigeria to the Mozambique region. Am I missing something? Dammit, where is that map!
Tsar Wingert the Great.

Petro N'killo slowly sipped his coffee as he gazed at the dipping sun. How many more such peaceful sunsets would he see, before the full might and terror of the military of a people he frankly cared little about would rain down upon the unlucky nation of Nigeria? The mood was grim in Nigeria, as the boots of Tsarist forces shook the very earth and jets screamed overhead. N'killo sighed. What the hell was going on in Nigeria? He, like the majority of Nigerians, cared little for upcoming ANP-British War---it semed like yet another headache for a people that had suffered the wrath of too many conflicts. Public opinion had not rallied in support of either side; while the Russians weren't fully adored, their Lusakan and African Commonwealth foes bore little sympathy as well. After all, what had they done as the Nigerians rotted away under Communist rule? It had been the Russians who had liberated the people of Nigeria, it was the Russians who were frantically rebuilding the whole of Nigeria, (More on that coming soon, by the way) and it was for this that Ivan had earned a begrudging respect from hard bitten Nigerian citizens like Petro.

An actual attack on Nigerian soil could very well tip the scale wildly in either way, either rallying the citizenry against the Russians who had blundered their nation into war or creating a burst of nationalist sentiment that would perhaps revive the military might of what had once been one of the continent's greatest powers.

Thousands of miles above Petro floated two Russian spy satellites, Kosmos-I[/] and [I]Kosmos-2. Utilized to great benefit in the Baltic Campaign, the now five year old satellites turned their attention to the African Commonwealth and the United African Republic of Lusaka. They furiously scanned through all likely areas for anti-air installations. In addition, the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicles Russia could offer silently cruised above the nations, combing them for potential targets, and several teams of KGB and Kargat trained Nigerian operatives conducted investigations to uncover the locations of potentially important military targets, with a focus on air bases and anti-air installations. Back at Port Harcourt (new capital of Nigeria) massive computers churned away at the data as analysts furiously tried to make sense of it all. Targets were assigned priority and sent away to the desks of Prime Minister Armand and Regent Mubarrak.

While some ballistic missiles have been delivered to Nigeria, they are not nearly enough to match the kind of devastation required, and thus an immediate request was dispatched to the French to deliver one of their infamous cruise missile laden battleships to the warzone.

In the Mozambiquean Free State Russians begin deploying near the enemy border...

The Strathdonian Government were getting increasingly stressed out, jeez you open the way for one of your good freinds to go in and sort hier own little mess out and wham! everyone is pointing missiles at each other.
All of sudden the polciy of being freidns with everyone has pretty much come back to bite Strathdonia in the rear, heck even the pople you went out your way to piss off are now being seen as your freinds and others who you went out of your way to be nice too are unlikely to take that well.

If anyone cared to look it would be clear that what little strategic strike capability Strathdonia posses (ie ALCMs and long rnage rockets from the ASTROS systems) are msot definatly not being pointed at anyone, although some of them have been repostioed beside refugee and POW camps full of Zimbawain and AL-Khals citizens (i am making a big assumption that soem AL-Khalis fled across the border to the Niassa region and some did get boat lifted across the lake).

Out over the Mozambique channel and the northern surounding waters Strathdonia aircraft are making a point of not patroling anywhere near routes that could be used to transport equipment into the MFS, yes it would make it more difficult to get effective coverage agaisnt Lusakan subs but i was important that the SADF not be seen to be aiding the forces of the heretic madman.

Finally pleas are sent to the british, the Hindis and Elians for Lilongwe to please be included in any important intel findings particularly sat images of AU force deployments and any hints of lusakan naval movements (hint a good way for LRR to make sure there isn't a Strathdonian ASW bird in an area they are moveing thier subs too, an accidental active ping would be most inconvenient).

Indeed, several hours after the submarines depart, a communique arrives in Lilognwe informing the Strathdonians beforehand of their impending presence off the northern end of Madagascar. The communique makes it clear that they are only going to be used in the event that Russian troops participate in combat against ANP forces. The British, it is made clear, are tolerable and good-intentioned, but the Russians are just out for territory and to discredit the Yugoslavs.

The Strathdonians will find themselves disappointed with regards to intelligence photos of the region, since what very few spy sattelites Mumbai calls its own are almost entirely concentrated elsewhere. Deployments of IRBMs would definately worry Mumbai, which thinks the Zimbabwe situation is ridiculously overblown as it is, without the involvement of possibly NBC arms.

But Mumbai does not intend to get terribly heavily involved, even when one of its most cared-about regions is ready to explode. The reason is mostly to do with logistics. It is simply not possible to deploy in what can, with the arrival of Russian ships, only be described as hostile waters and the time to use any military pressure had come and passed. Zimbabwe was going to have to run its course, especially with Lusaka quite adimant about its independence from Indian policies. Diplomacy continues to be used, and Mumbai holds out some hope for a Yugoslav-sponsored solution, but overall the feeling is one of failure.

First Minister Armand adamantly denounces any and all charges of territorial hunger on the Russian part, reminding the world that if they wanted to gain territory they would likely have to end up fighting both sides, which was absurd. They were simply there to ensure a peaceful, free, non-ANP/Progressive dominated, and independant Zimbabwe.

Although Lilongwe does not have friendly relations with the Russians, both Armand and Mubarrak recognize that repairing relations with Strathdonia is key, and make the gesture of releasing a flow of all pertinent military data to the Strathdonians, despite the fact that they did not request it. Additionally, a PR campaign is launched, all over the involved nations, but mainly in Strathdonia, to emphasize the fact that Russia does still have a powerful and democratic legislative branch (although the nobles are the only ones allowed to run for the upper house of the Duma, most of the nobility is composed of the same businessmen and captains of industry that served in the Senate anyway) that is largely left to its own devices, and points out the vast improvements to Nigerian infrastructure and economy that the Russians had brought forth.

Kinshasa

The Elias Embassy building was not a particulaly attractive one. With the Gabon war and various breaks in relations, the diplomatic mission had often been withdrawn and then returned to various different premises. However, the 1970s era concrete hulk served its purpose.

The meeting room was heavily air-condtioned, decorated with grey granite floors and simple white painted walls, the only colour being a pair of gold fringed Elias flags flanking the seat at the head of an oval, glass conference table. Sitting in the chair, in a neat tailored dark blue business suit, the Ambassador with several advisors sitting along the length of one side of the table. On the other, the mistrusted yet universally respected Omar Suleiman.

The Ambassador addressed him, "So it is nice that you are trying to serve your country's interests for a change, well sort of. At what gain to you I dare not imagine. Nevertheless, you do raise an interesting offer, that we would be stupid not to investigate. Please go back and tell Mr. Ndaka that in return for agreeing not to involve our nation in this crisis in Zimbabwe, we would require the African Commonwealth to give us several concessions. Firstly, a free trade agreement on all goods between UE and all nations of the ANP. Secondly, the African Commonwealth would have to agree to abandon its efforts to become nuclear capable, by declaring and dismantling all facilities and materials related to this. This would have to be verified by unrestricted UE inspectors. Thirdly, Lusaka would have to grant independance to Zanzibar. These conditions are indeed significant, but if the ANP is as fearful as they should be of the growing international coalition, then they should be prepared to accept them."

((Oh hey LRR, FYI, France gave Reunion over to the Roiks long time ago. Only French bases in Pacific are New Caledonia, Palawan, and Indoch…scratch that last one.))

Paris

The British Ambassador is taken immediately from his plush Paris residence, and driven by motorcade to Versailles Palace. Relations between Downing Street and the Hall of Mirrors had improved ever since Monsieur le Comte de Provence, the Kings brother, had taken the Chunnel to London to announce Louis-Auguste’s unabashed support of the British plan.

There he is greeted by an honor guard of Gardes Suisses, before shaking the hand of M. de Maurepas himself, His Majesty’s Prime Minister.

“Monsieur Chaffin is a good man,” said le Comte “moreover a better leader. It is right that Her Majesty Elizabeth has taken such actions in Africa, in so much need of European aide.”

“Know that His Majesty and all of France will stand by the British plan. I am asked to tell you that last night Queen Jillesepone spoke with her father Tsar Wingert, and I am told that His Imperial Highness has a great feeling of respect and admiration for your valiant nation as well.”

Versailles subsequently issues the following statement:

“Britain, in her mission to save Africa from the terrors of civil war, must be regarded as sacrosanct and thus any attempts to hinder her mission must be regarded unacceptable. Foreign intervention will only force the hand of Most Christian King and Invincible Tsar, who stand ready to slay the Progressive Hydra wherever it may raise a foul head. If Britain’s plan is not accommodated, then perhaps massive amounts of French, Roycelandian, Russian, and perhaps even Spanish troops are needed to ensure Chaffin’s goals are carried out to the letter; and to set up fortified administrative zones to secure any and all future sub-Saharan tranquility. It would be better for all if Britain is allowed to implement her plan unfettered and unmolested, and a coalition effort is not needed.”

Basically, if things go south (no pun), Versailles and the Winter Palace may unleash Prime Minister Armand to settle the situation with the sizable Tsarist force already on the ground, and back it up with eventual European Coalition troops and material. Needless to say, that would result in the ANP being extirpated from the earth. Subsequently, everyone hopes Africa settles down and lets the good British fix what’s wrong.

After the successful interview, the British Ambassador is invited, in full Court regalia, to a special tea held in his honor, dubbed a l'Anglaise. Hosted by the Kings favorite and eldest brother, Monseigneur le Comte d’Artois, it was designed to help close the gap between London and Paris, and resume an excellent discourse.

Tea a l'Anglaise (http://www.costumes.org/history/18thcent/lacroix/chrome12.jpg)

OOC: NG...you missed my request in the previous post...

The United African Republic of Lusaka

"..of course Russia wants an independent Zimbabwe, a nation made by imperialists, for the sake of the universal law- divide and rule! Our lands are not nations fit inside their borders, our lands are Africa!"

Defence Secretary and Revolutionary War Veteran Colin Olongwe had time for public oration. Russian spy satellites cruising overhead were of limited interest to the Lusakans. Two satellites trying to observe fine details in the United African Republic and the African Commonwealth had far more than four million square kilometres to cover, including massive forested espanses and countless towns and cities. UAVs might add something to the utility of this spying, but, while the Africans might not be able to do much about orbital space, national airspace was a different matter...

Old Lusaka City

Long a capital of African revolution this city gave its name to the largest part of the ideal state of the United African Republic. Hub for relations between the Republic and West Zambia, it remained important to revolutionary anti-imperialism in ideological and administrative respects no more than material. That tradition nicely placed Old Lusaka as a vital part in the sudden decision to go back into Zimbabwe and restore suffering comrades to ZANU's intended and proper course. The city was heaving with migrants, industrial and agricultural produce, and military elements, an explosion of activity brought on in aid of West Zambian and Zimbabwean liberty and unity.

Old Lusaka City, centred in a triangle of traditional tension with once-hostile states on three sides of its administrative theatre, was one of the four most serious zones of military defence in all the United African Republic of Lusaka.

"...Yis, we have confirmation, Russian UAyy...V, that is affirmative for intercept E1... procedure."

Even Igovian Soviet training and a possible emergency situation couldn't fool a Lusakan into rushing out a sentence in less than a minute or two, and this wasn't the only factor reducing response time from Old Lusaka Air Force Base, but, with the UAV, identified by the city's Red Sky (CS-400 SAM component), cruising about on reconnaissance work and deep inside Lusakan air space, the less than impressive response time wasn't a barrier to ultimate interception. That two scrambled F-20L Tigershark eventually made at above Mach 2 for the co-ordinates provided by Red Sky did a good deal to reduce the wait.

A brief crackling the sound of engagement, 23mm cannon rounds fired from one Tigershark, modified in an increasingly futile attempt to keep the fleet viable in light of the improbability of continued involvement by Quinntonian companies in maintaining the North American elements of the Republic's arsenal. The attempt was to damage the drone and bring it down in less dramatic fashion than by attacking it with rockets or guided missiles, since City considered it a possible propaganda coup, but there would be no mistake, the spying machine would be brought down before it was allowed to leave Lusakan air space, if not by gunfire or aircraft-launched missiles, then by a precious CS-400 surface-to-air missile.

Across the theatre

Back on the ground, major air defence assets continued to be moved about on a regular basis, and hardware hidden, often with the help of Yugoslavian (or Lavragerian?) advisors. This had been so, to an increasing degree, since fuel supplies started to improve and it became apparent that the British were regrouping but not withdrawing. The detection of spyplanes of a sort only made it more important.

Across Africa, the African People's Volunteer Army tried to recruit in the famously successful anti-imperialist cause of modern times, and the African Revolutionary Alliance Army was established with the LRAC as its flagship unit, offering payment and a future to extra-Lusakan recruits where the APVA offered only honour, glory, and the good fight. Recruiters went to one country reminding the people of the Social Progress Party's past aid to their struggles, to another with promise of victory against colonial authority there, and to still another with appeals to supporters of out-of-power political parties who were frustrated by moderate or westernised stances taken in government.

Lusakan-lead forces massed in Zimbabwe, at points on the Strathdonian and occupied-Mozambique borders, and to a lesser degree at the northern MozCom border. Forward went bushwarrior units, light infantry with a reputation for, well, survivability, having bushcraft skills, sharp aims, and an admirable knack for making friends in the countrysides from which they rose. They, hard to pin down in specific planning or even to locate with much reliability, would be first to meet an enemy offensive, and first to slip into action in any friendly offensive. They also provided a wealth of human intelligence and put friendly eyes and ears all over the place. Mechanised and artillery formations, along with larger bodies of infantry and forward air defence assets sat back, often many miles behind the bush fighters, shielded to some degree by an army in the tall grass.

As yet, even with the APVA, City had managed to raise only something like quarter of a million men, with a few tens of thousands in maritime and air defence, as AIDS in particular limited the value of West Zambian and other volunteer pools, and took a greater than expected bite out of the Lusakans themselves. Still, with old motor pools opened and reactivation works moving reasonably well, the Africans had a good portion of Lusaka's nearly eighteen hundred strong tank force either deployed or moving into rail depots for dispersal.

IC:
Strathdonia News is costantly full of stories concerning efforts by local militias to imporve thier defensive positioning, with lots of footage of locals practising thier skirmishing capabilities. The Strathdonian militia, while never capable of standing up to an organised force, would be a significant problem for any Lusakan invasion. It would be hard for "bushwarriors" to make freinds and slip by unnoticed amoungst a heavily armed and dramatically patriotic populance with a well estblished communications network and if the worst came to be then there were always the hill farms* to retreat to.

While some would have questions on the reliability of the Niassians in the event of an invasion it was hopped that things had been improved for them by enough bring them closer to the Strathdonia fold.

Even without sattalites the SDF had a fairly good idea of Lusakan positions close to the border, the odd bit of info filtered through from paid informants (perhaps left over from the coup days, when bridery would have been easier, most of them are likely being blackmailed with threats to turn them into thier more revolutionary brethren), but most of the intel take came from electronic and photo recon flights operating within Strathdonia or international airspace, on a good day highly detail imagery of upto 50miles inside Lusaka could be gathered, particularly if the aircrew were on a SAM baiting mission and flying dangerously close to the borders in a quest to pick up as many targeting illuminations as possible

Governor-General Philip J. Fry sat in the Governor's Mansion in Port Imperial, watching the events in Zimbabwe.

"I'm amazed there's a major war brewing that has nothing to do with us!" he said to Lt. Governor Robert Kiff.

"Makes a nice change..." agreed Kiff...

Kinshasa, Elian embassy

Omar Suleiman had, after conferring shortly with Ndaka on his cellular(one that was, naturally, the size of a pinkie finger), returned to the table. He hadn't lost his confident smile, and beamed a smile at the ambassador - possibly blinding him slightly in the process!

"Now, I wasn't aware that United Elias was involved in the struggle; and Mr. Ndaka has informed me that you are not. Am I to assume that your generous offer is a gentleman's way of threatening me to get involved if I do not accept it on behalf of the Commonwealth?"

"As for nuclear capability, I think you have got your sources in a mess good sir. Ndaka has assured me that no such efforts are under way in the African Commonwealth, and he has it on good authority from his excellency President Mshone Ndelebe!"

He paused, receiving a cup of fragrant and sweet Egyptian coffee from his personal aide. Sipping it gracefully, he mulled over the other demands.

"The Free Trade Agreement may or may not be a possibility. The Commonwealth is positive to the idea, and the African Right is actually pressuring for such agreements in parliament at the moment. It would remain to be seen, however, if Lusaka and Zimbabwe could be convinced. Zanzibar is another delicate issue, and while Ndaka will suss whether they will.. We cannot be sure - But I still fail to see what exactly the Commonwealth stands to gain from this. United Elias is not involved as of yet, what the honourable Mr. Ndaka hoped was that; UE would be amenable to convince Russia and France to leave Sub-saharan Africa alone; to the extent that it is realistically possible, of course.".




OOC

UE has, to my knowledge, no way of determining the African Commonwealths clandestine attempt to develop nuclear weapons - If you do something to spy it out in my bomb thread, allright, but I can't see how they would know it as of now.

More to come on Commonwealth militarization..

Now codenamed 'Operation Heracles', the build up of British forces in Strathdonia now amounted to one of the largest deployments of UK military might since World War II. With two divisions and numerous support elements, the ground forces numbered nearly 50,000 men. Furthermore, the Naval and Air contigents were also increasing at a similarly impressive rate. Whilst this had been approved by a largely agreable parliament, the Chancellor's hopes of balancing this year's budget through his conservative fiscal policies had been dashed.

However, this being said, little more than preparation would happen anytime soon, and the British would ultimately have to wait for the allies to mobilise their own forces before any serious intervention could be mounted. It was hoped that it was just a question of time before the USQ and France deployed their own forces, and with Russia already onboard, the coalition was coming together. Increasingly positive overtures had also been garnered from Baghdad which had previously been unwilling to make any serious commitments. In Tokyo and Berlin efforts continue to broaden this coalition further.

In the meantime, intelligence assets focused on gathering as much information on the ANP forces gathering in Zimbabwe. Without any doubt it was known in London that if war did indeed occur, it would be a costly affair, and therefore efforts were being made to avert it. Whilst refusing to backdown on the issue of Zimbabwe's right to independance, the UK was willing to make concessions and compromise with the ANP. Back channel diplomacy, largely through India, try to convey this message in City and Kinshasa.

Kinshasa

President Derek Igomo had at last gone personally away from his command bunkers and socialising with Mugabe to discuss things with his most important allies. Mr.Derek was keen to move Zimbabwe, "from its unnatural immediately post-colonial state, into realised independence and authenticity" so as to secure the defeat of imperialist influences and enable the African National Pact to address other pressing issues, such as those in Mozambique.

He was in the Congo to explain the United African Republic's intention to divide the UAR Lusaka into the UAR Tanzania and the UAR Zambia, and to incorporate at the same time the UAR Zimbabwe before striving for the creation of the Mozambican United African Republic. He would mention his pleasure at imagining the grand United African Republic bordered to the west by an African Commonwealth incorporating both Congos, Rwanda, Burundi, and Angola, freeing between them some hundred and seventy million Africans and aligning them with the South African Republic.

In order to secure Zimbabwe's mentioned transition, Igomo was initiating an exportation of ujamaa: collectivisation of extended family groups. This, he said, as it had done in Tanzania and Zambia, would immediately achieve African socialism, and, more importantly, would undo centuries of dictatorship from the northern hemisphere. In order to carry out the restructuring, new land reform would take place on a massive scale. People would move with their extended families to establish new ujamaa collectives. As the SPP and ZANU would soon openly declare, ujamaa, apart from ending foreign exploitation and securing free, family-based society, would reverse Zimbabwe's agricultural collapse and restore it as a net exporter of food.

Igomo hoped that Commonwealth intelligence services could help to make sure that restructuring was going properly, with ZANU party members in charge on the Zimbabwean end. More than that, transport aid in moving some families from Zambia to Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe to Tanzania, and so forth, would be appreciated. These migrations were required to take advantage of farmers' experience, and simply to redress the imbalances created by colonialism, creation and closure of borders, and ridiculous capitalist restructuring of communities, agriculture, and industry. Unofficially, breaking-down artificial national identities was vital to the future cohesion of the United African Republic.

New Lusaka City

The Social Progress Party continues to maintain that no state created in borders drawn by imperialists had any particular rights, certainly not just because they suited those imperialists in the modern day, not over the rights of people, and no rights existed that were enforced by militarism from a third party.

City announced some of its policy changes and adaptations, including the impending creation of the republics of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with open borders and recognition individually owing only to the existing infrastructures and facilities such as encouraged it, with the ultimate aim being for pan-African liberation and total independence for all African people. Dodoma, Old Lusaka City, and Harare would be used as regional capitals, with a United African Republican Congress at New Lusaka City. The Social Progress Party, United National Independence Party, and Zimbabwe African National Union would administer each part of the federation, electing officials from each party.

Meanwhile, the air wing was unpacking its Yugoslav Orao and Super Galeb and Soviet Miggen, the former acquired largely with the build-up of debts, and the latter with the extension and expansion of basing rights on Zanzibar, desired by the Igovians since the Holy League and NATO stopped pretending to be any different.

(OOC: Darn it, there was something else that I wanted to include, but I can't remember what!)

The Greater African Commonwealth

The African Commonwealth, carved as it was out of the greater Sub-Saharan mainland by its first leader Nwabudike James, had a strong tribal identity; and indeed cooperation(forced or consensual) between the various tribes of Congo-Kinshasa, Burundi, Rwanda and bits and parts of other former African nations; are the only thing that has allowed for the Commonwealth's growth as an industrial and military power on the continent. A strong leader was as essential and respected for Commonwealthers as it had always been, and Igomos visit to their nation was hailed by many of the larger tribes as a good sign in troubled times.

Igomos dreams of a Pan-African ecumenopolis were of course well received, but Commonwealth generals and Ndelebe himself lamented that things had gone slowly in Angola. In spite of a populace that largely welcomed Commonwealth hegemony because of the promise of advanced health care and regional stability; progress had been extremely slow, primarily because of well-funded and trained guerillas that likely had the backing of Elian and Roycelandian insurgent advice and money.

In fact, the major military base established in the country had been levelled by what appears to have been a series of long-range artillery devices, at the same time as an Elian navy ship coincidentally held a fire drill off the west coast. While Congo-Brazaville was of course being eyed for induction into the Commonwealth, and while it's leaders were probably amenable to the economic growth an annexation would bring, there is little reason to suspect that extra-African power would not support rebels here as well, possibly even with direct, if covert, military intervention.

Igomos ideas were altså debated hotly among Commonwealth academics, as some wanted to integrate them in the nation - Ujamaa was, in principle, a good idea; but if combined with the segregation of the Commonwealth into the independent republics of Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and so on, it would probably destroy the national identy and cohesion among the tribes that had taken so long to enforce and nurture. Tribes still existed that wanted autonomy, and even though the Commonwealth armed force had little problems subjugating these, giving them their own land could easily garner them support and spark off the civil wars that had ravaged the greater Commonwealth area in the past.

As for intelligence support, the Manus Nigra was all ears. Indeed, the only problem as they enthusiastically explain, is how hard methods are acceptable - Widely known among Africans as one of the Commonwealths human rights violations(and indeed it's indisputably worst one!), the Black Hand had a wealth of agitators, assasins, diplomats, soldiers, torturers and spies on hand, and even a light application of their skills would probably be enough to ensure speedy compliance with government edicts.

With regards to transport aid, large contingents of civilian and military transport capacity were going to transfer troops to Lusaka and Zimbabwe; but Deuce-and-a-half trucks, Hueys and a couple of Mi-26 Halo helicopters could feasibly be lent to transport citizens and things like farm equipment and building materials.

The Zimbabwean theatre

Commonwealth deployments to Lusaka, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe continues at an unprecented rate, as the 15th and 25th mechanized Infantry Divisions are now in the Zimbabwean borderlands. A little of 200 Rangers(Army special forces) infest the outskirts of Harare reconnoitring the area, garnering support for ops in the rural suburbs, and preparing to harass a potential invasion force as they best can.

Enquiries are being made in Lusaka for how well Tanzania can support large contingents of fighter planes, as it is considered prudent to move more Hawk 200s to the front.

Equipment deployed includes, but is not limited to:
.50 BMG ADI-F2 "Black Rain" heavy squad-operated machine gun.
40mm crew-carried mortar
81mm crew-carried mortar
(both use White Phospherous as well as Fragm./HEDP)
.50 BMG M-93 anti-material sniper rifle
ADI-R2 "Tesó" HEAT ATGM
88mm "Standarté" Towed artillery gun.
155mm "Asaasewooso" Self-propelled Howitzer
155mm G-6 Self-propelled Howitzer
ASTROS 2 Modular artillery rocket launcher.
ADI-A60 "Rhino" Armoured Personnel Carrier, and
L-8 AFRISAM-configured ADI-A60 APC,
RBS-70 SAM-configured ADI-A60 APC
BMP1976 APC(and BMP1976-B Radar vehicle/command station)
Patria Advanced Modular Vehicle.
L-2 "Oliphant" Main Battle Tank.
ADI-A122 "Okapi" Interim Armoured Vehicle.
"Insect" class squad support Patrol Boat.
BAe Hawk 200 CAS/AS Fighter Jet.
ADI-AV-57 "Super Canberra" modified Tactical Bomber.
"Huey" Tactical Transport Helicopter.
ADI-AV-33 Dedicated Attack Helicopter gunship.
Demolitions, mines, et al.

For now the Yugoslav deployment was mostly concerned with delivery of arms and munitions to the Africans for their own use, which Aidarov was sure would, given the onset of such conflict, provide the material and currency he needed to secure the transition of his Balkan federation into a modern, independent, socialist state.

Russian involvement made Belgrade desperate to do more. Threats of increasing HL involvement if Yugoslavia became involved were a good discouragement... except that the League already had thousands of troops in theatre, and, besides, Yugoslavia was there first, damn it!

Still, for now, increases came only in supply to the Africans, while the forces committed remained small: Lav had decided to try out his marines, the Yugoslav Naval Infantry. All of them.

One thousand men was all it came to, but they were the best available, including a handful of Lavragerian veterans. They had the best arms built in the Balkans, including the Strela 2M3J Super-Sava surface to air missile, which is as yet unknown to the world but will give the Yugoslavs in theatre a MANPAD with head-on capability, friend-or-foe identification compatibility, and proximity fuse with high-lethality warhead.

Mechanised by vehicles from the wheeled BOV and tracked BVP M80A families, the relatively small Yugoslav contingent positioned itself inside Tanzania rather than send a force of foreign whites into Zimbabwe at this point.

Belgrade proclaimed African independence a worthy and natural cause, and expressed hope that NATO and the Holy League would realise that there was no need to initiate a major war on the troubled continent, where trade and co-operation were clearly called for. The Federation made no secret of massing forces at its ports on the Adriatic and the Black Sea, but made it clear that these forces were simply waiting in reserve, prefering not to deploy unless forced to do so.

(Just a question for AC: what sort of ammunition do your standard assault rifles and such use? At the moment, the Yugoslavs are supplying hundreds of thousands of rounds of 7.62x39mm (with an air pocket to cause tumbling and greater lethality) for the Lusakans, but our own troops use 5.56x45mm like NATO. If it turns out that the Commonwealth is still using the Russian 7.62mm as well, we may re-arm our troops with such weapons (since we've tens of thousands in reserve hands) for the simplicity.)

((SKS and AK-47, as well as Lee-Enfields chambered for 7.62 are common in the village militias and reserve forces, but the most common weapons in the AC armed forces by far are either AK-74/101/108 or the ubiquitous ADI-F6, both of which use 5.56mm NATO.))

OCC: Hey Lusaka, is the Zanzibar still in working order? That could give the British something to think about...

OOC:
tries to pretend that the zanzibar isn't at all high on the list of SADF strike targets and that the New Britian isn't hiding in Quellimane harbour for fear of being bombed. Of course if the RN want's a pair of really big guns to join thier task group all they need to do is promise a single type 45 dedicated to defending the New Britian.

The government of Quinntonia, which is going through a leadership crisis right now, has yet to form any firm opinions on this particular situation, as the upper echelons have only barely heard of the situation, and the lower channels have been very blacked out by the leadership race. Current Prime Minister Vanessa Moerike, former Deputy Prime Minister under the legendary Jesse Obed, begins to look quite heavily into the matter, as it seems to be quite a mess in Africa, with many different groups clamouring for Quinntonian attention.

Various African government sponsored Missionary groups begin to make statements explaining that the Quinntonian people very much wish to help their African brothers and sisters, however, they are labouring under a haevy burden when trying to ascertain the best course of action. Quinntonia as a government, has absolutely no experience in Africa, and therefore we are very retiscent to blunder in throwing our wieght around, "proving" the stereotype of the western Christian powers.

Therefore, Quinntonia would very much like our friends in the region to first forgive our ignorence, second be patient with the pace of our decision making, and third, talk to us. Tell us what you, the people of the region wish from us, let the governments of the region explain their position, then, and only then, will we be able to make an informed decision that reflects our ideals and values.

OOC-BTW, speaking of the election, I cannot find through any search function, the Jesse Obed death thread, which I would very much like to complete so that I can move forward with my nation, and not have to start from scratch again. Does anyone know how to find threads that are from before X-mas?


WWJD
Amen.

Not surprisingly, Commonwealth governments were exceedingly quick to respond to the Quinntonian agencies. While it is doubtful that the christian States consider the African Commonwealth one of their "friends in the region", christian(particularly catholic) organizations have good standing in the Commonwealth, with the Holy Catholic Church of Congo receiving preferential treatment as the state religion, and Commonwealth diplomats are keen to point this out.

While downplaying the awe naturally felt in the presence of Quinntonia, the Commonwealth government gives the impression that it will gladly share information on current affairs, including the events leading up to now - Leadership struggles, the early ANP and the invasion of Zimbabwe. In extension of this, the ruling party of the Commonwealth(The List For Unity), quickly expound on the blatant and illegal participation of Britain, France and Russia; and kindly request Quinntonia to mediate in the dispute - preferably by siding with the faction for African sovereignty: African Commonwealth, Lusaka and Yugoslavia; and talk the extra-African nations into leaving the continent.

Things were getting ever so slightly tricky for the Prime Minister. 60,000 UK armed forces personnel were actively deployed to Sub-Saharan Africa, and doing very little other than getting bored waiting for an order to go home or start the invasion of Zimbabwe. Chaffin could not and would not give this order however until his plans for an international coalition came through. Diplomatic pressure continues to be exerted worldwide, particulaly in Washington, stressing that this would represent a chance for NATO to use its military might to help the developing world. Similarly in Paris, Tokyo, Peking (as the foreign office still calls it!), Port Imperial, Baghdad, Lilongwe and Berlin, Britain seems willing to call in all its diplomatic favours to any country willing to deploy substantial forces to the region.

Meanwhile, in Bombay other less official diplomatic efforts were made to get the Indians to act as an intermediary between Britain and the ANP. The message is clear, that the UK would be willing to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis. The leaders of AC and the UAR would be given the impression that London was now looking for a scenario where it could withdraw its forces without losing face. In order to do this, some concession on Zimbabwe’s right to sovereignty and democracy would be necessary, as would public statements by both sides than any agreement was a result of a mutual willingness to avert conflict rather than as an attempt by Chaffin to wriggle out of a potential quagmire. The ANP would be reminded that with the likelihood of additional international forces joining the British effort, the UK’s negotiating position was likely to improve as time went on.

Parliament continues to express its extreme displeasure over the situation in Zimbabwe and has been reduced, of late, to pleading with the ANP. More than a few bribes are offered to get the Lusakans and Commonwealthers to the negotiating table, some consisting of massive monetary sums and others modern military hardware. So far, nothing has worked.

While attempts at opening negotiations continue with the same effort and frequency as before, many think that the time for a resolution to Zimbabwe came and passed weeks ago. Heavy-handedness on both sides, says Parliament, will throw Southern Africa head-first into a conflict the likes of which the continent has never seen, and one that the ANP can't expect to win. Britain and the ANP should be working together, Unioners say, not fighting what can only be described as a stupid war, one that will kill many and either achieve nothing for the ANP or plunge the region back into foreign colonial domination. Derek Igomo's image in the INU, for the first time, has taken a sharp turn towards the negative, citizens frustrated at his refusal to negotiate and a seeming abandonment of democratic progress.

The British offer is passed on, although few expect any worthwhile response to it, and another copy is sent to Belgrade on the slight chance that Adirov might want a peaceful resolution to the Zimbabwe Crisis too.

But for the first time in a long time, the INU faces more pressing troubles at home, namely the extremely real threat of a war with France. Mumbai doesn't exactly complain to London, but does promise that if the French are included in their coalition Mumbai will have no choice but to support the ANP, on the grounds of national survival.

The Increasingly beligerant actions of the French towards Hindustani civilian shipping is beginning to have an impact on Strathdonia's relationship with the UK (OOC: i think there is a fairly even chance one of the passengers on the latest victim vessel, had a modern solid state memory digital video camera, devices which are remarkably bomb proof, so there may well be footage of the french planes in action).

In short if the British continue to openly engage in dialogue with the French butchers and fail to take them to task over thier naked piracy then Strathdonia may be forced to stop and take stock of its options in terms of strategic alliances.

A small but vocal minority within parilment are beging to raise the previously unthinkable: Perhaps it was time that Strathdonia made steps towards integrating with the ANP? Of course any such action would have to include significant safe gaurds over Strathdonia indentity and preserve at least some degree of sovereignty, the nation had been forged in too much blood for anythign else. Proponents of the idea make large claims about how a united africa would by working with the Indian and Balkan nations finally give the world a power block capable of standing up to the monolythic Holy League, a power block that would embrace diversity and encourage political thought and debate.

The government was now in a difficult position. With the BBC and the major broadsheets all reporting attacks of civilian traffic by French aircraft, there had been a major outcry. Prime Minister Chaffin was furious. Spending a good part of his time in office mending Anglo-French relations and trying to get Restoration France to be more moderate, he was now back to square one. At Prime Minister's Questions a Liberal MP demanded a condemnation of the French terming them, 'Imperalist bullies who's tactics reflect a disregard for human life that is almost medieval'. Unwilling to be drawn into it the Prime Minister replied, "I do not think it is proper to comment on an alleged attack where the precise details are not known at this time. However, the United Kingdom obviously would denounce any intentional attack on civilians by any state engaged in armed conflict."

Later, Lord Bambury the Foreign Secretary, releases a written statement describing that the United Kingdom was deeply displeased with the French and that unless an apology was issued, the pilots in question subject to military justice and compensation paid, the French would permanently compromise cross-Channel relations. In effect the government had made a choice, by siding with the Indians against the French they had clearly shown their intent to achieve a peaceful rather than military outcome in Zimbabwe. Secondly, it would be critical not to anger Strathdonia given it had agreed to host the British forces.

While the right kind of bribes in the right kind of places from the right kind of people have some potential for information gathering -though with little to confirm the vailidity of such information- and some officials in the currently stressed and hectic reorganising states of the widely unrecognised extent of the United African Republic are less than unfailingly devoted to Igomo's cause in the C21st, popular support for the increasingly extreme premier's actions and perceived ambitions is on the up.

Some Lusakan militias have reportedly been, "causing trouble" on the Roycelandian and Strathdonian borders, and increasingly deep within Mozambique. The Presidential office has been totally inactive on the matter, not even seeming to acknowledge the problem, but, on a lower level, SPP ministers are trying to discourage such, "strategically wasteful expenditure of righteous revolutionary enthusiasm" and, in parts, army and seriously strained police units are stepping-in, though it is not even clear whether these units are even on duty at the time they act.

For now, the Zambians and Tanzanians are doing a fairly good job of stocking food and fuel stations in key hubs around Zimbabwe, though the immediacy of the Social Progress Party's promises to alleviate poverty and sickness in western Zambia -formerly the British territory of Northern Rhodesia- is now in some doubt. But images and descriptions of Roycelandian and European imperialism in South East Asia are blowing aside long rising resentment of some of the post-colonial leaders still in power across the newer parts of the UAR.

Frankly, it now looks like, well, Mugabe wasn't a crank, he was right.

With the blatant agression of the french papists now very much in the open, the more reconcilliatory sections of the Strathdonian parilament gain a new voice and hopefully a new means of pushing for soem sort of peace (even if it means turning to giving in the ANP).
The Question now posed to the ANP is simple:
"The INU are good freinds to all of us right? We all owe them a large of debt for thier aid and if they were to get seriously hurt then likely we would all suffer? As such would it not be better if we all stopped pointing our itermediate range ballistic penis's at each other and perhaps aim them at France? it is unlikely that even united as a whole we could deploy much more than a divsion to actually defend the INU but we can affect the outcome by affecting the HL more local assets and denying them the use of local seaways and air routes."

The Strathdonian's do of course realise how terribly badly this could go the for the UK whose home isles are perfectly in range to be devastated by French forces of course the reverse is also true and the bombing of British airbases would be bound to kill a few Quintonians...

Commonwealth diplomats have as of late downplayed their former blasé attitudes towards limited and/or total war over Zimbabwe, and some willingness to negotiate is now trickling down from the normally airtight secrecy of tier one in the Commonwealth government. Ndelebe has gone on record to state that "A certain measure of hope now exists, that the Commonwealth can reach an agreement with extra-African powers for their withdrawal; and we will consider the necessary "concessions" they speak of, as democracy and independence for the Zimbabwean people will be achieved, with or without their intervention.".

In the international forum, Commonwealther clerks have 180'ed and taken the Indian National Union up on offers of money and military agreements; provided that the ANP will be taken seriously by all parties involved - Recognition that the ANP has removed an unstable dictator and will remain to oversee the transition of Zimbabwe into a regular democracy must be given, if the Pact is to give the nation independence. Of course, recognizing that it does not speak on behalf of the pact as a whole, Kinshasa has agreed to host talks with his excellency Derek Igomo on forming a united political front to act in the interests of Zimbabwe from.

Strathdonia almost immediately receives warm regards and commendations from the Commonwealth on it's sound decision to curse the French to hell. The African Commonwealth only regrets that it does not possess the necessary missiles to reach France, or a more stable strategic climate would probably be present in the current conflict. The ballistic missiles aimed at Lilongwe are removed from the border by order of the Commonwealth Strategic Command, and the hardline AC attitude towards Strathdonia seems to be lightening up.

However, it must be noted, that the Commonwealth Armed Forces seems intent on coming out on top if talks fail. Troops, material and air power in the theatre grows every day, as AC honours its commitment to the Pacts military strength.

OOC: Oh i didn't mean for us toa ctually attack actual french soil, but the HL do have some more "local" targetable possessions.

((Other than Nigeria? Nigeria is targeted by Commonwealth IRBM at present.))

OOC:
Well priciply Nigeria, but Algeria while still somewhat distant wouldn't be off the target list (a target that woudl really require the WAU to come back into play).
Also from memory if we worked together we could do a lot of help BG and the INU to close the indian oceon to french traffic from the west. Stopping traffic coming from the suez might be tricky and seriously annoy the roiks but if we could do that effectively then the only routes remaining would be the gauntlet run of the mozambique channel where i could hurt anythign short of an armoured crisuer, going round the outside of madagascar or going the very long way round (ie transatlantic and trans pacific).
Now if we could get the Elians on side then it becoems a whole lot easier.

Chinhoy, Zimbabwean African Republic

"...this is an imperialist conspiracy we see in action. The northern hemisphere can not stand to see Africans standing proud unless supported by strings from the north! NATO and the Holy League, brothers and sisters, are indeed... locked in a... conspiracy, supported by modern African slavery!"

Miyanda twisted, bowed, and tossed back his head, looking for all the world as if about to fall from his podium, but he did not, and his address went on, for the benefit of millions. He'd made much ground with talk of Lusakan-style agriculture, continued land-reform but of the sort that provided... well, the bread, bananas, cigarettes, packets of dried fish, and other produce that he threw into the crowds. He was backed by three army trucks, one of which was a conversion with three tanks of different motor fuel clearly marked for all to see.

"When France invaded Algeria, what did NATO do? Took a slice! When France conducted... terrorist atrocities against the people of Asia, what did NATO do? Nothing! When the Indian Soviets tried to stop them [the French], did NATO find courage to follow on? No! What did... she jumped to protect the French king against justice! When United Elias attacked Gabon... what happened? NATO came to take... another bite! When the Holy League attacked Lavrageria, what did... NATO do? Nothing!

"Is this because NATO can not act, except to take the leavings of the imperialist League? We ask... what happens... when Africa threatens to... stand up, on her own?

"NATO sends fifty thousand soldiers!"

Bellowing from the crowd, in which some Tanzanians and Zambians were mixed. Before long, youths were storming through the streets, shouting, gathering friends, throwing rocks at anything deemed somehow British, notably the property of businessmen able to buy-off Mugabe, but not Miyanda and the people. Remaining landowners might be fortunate enough to get a call from ZANU officials, warning that they really needed to leave last week, for, as Igomo would soon indicate on regional television, they were the worst of the lot, since those who'd already gone were the only ones it had been possible to reason with.

Lusakan African Republic

Those figures in government, most of the rank and file, that still toed Igomo's increasingly wobbly line, were quite troubled by continued reference from potential allies to Mugabe as the problem in this situation.

Of course his party's misrule of Zimbabwe had essentially been the umbrella under which the UAR's invasion was initiated, but Igomo was increasingly annoyed by the world's unpreparedness to forget that fact pay attention to extra-African imperialists. Mugabe, so far as Mr.Derek was concerned, was a warrior in the fight against that, it was just that he was old and imperfect, and was failing to put Zimbabwe in a zero-year situation in respect of the change from colonial puppet to African socialism, despite his dramatic efforts.

In an unexpected speech on television, in which Igomo appeared tired and drunk (though he hadn't touched a drop), the UAR's president surprised many by talking openly about the task of removing foreign tentacles from developing countries. He compared Southern Africa to Venezuela before the anarchist revolution, noting that Chavez took years and years with limited success in liberating the country from the grip of foreign corporations while knowing that such efforts placed him and his country and revolution in danger of Quinntonian or other assault. The anarchists had to brace themselves for possible invasion and force year zero over night.

Likewise, Zimbabwe, despite its twisting and shaking reforms, could not shake foreign hooks from its skin, and any really effective measure from Mugabe would have brought invasion, even though the world sat inactive, only condemning him when his reforms and their influences caused hardship. They've proved, the westerners, now, that they had the ability to act, and that they have the will to do so only when their interests are threatened by the coming of post-colonial zeroing of Africa's own controls.

That's the fight, says Igomo. Rich landowners who continued to hold wealth and influence under Mugabe because of their ties to British elites, corporate interests, when they came under threat from ujamaa, African familyhood, then the world switched from cruel insults to warfare.

Lusaka had made the transition because it did suffer the fires of war on its soil in the attempt to go straight to the goal. The Lusakans didn't just become post-colonial at the end of the 1970s, they also forced-out all western business interests at the time. Rhodesia, and later Zimbabwe, like Venezuela, became post-colonial but remained puppets and had to cut their strings later, at the risk of a second age of conflict. Better to get it over with, said Mr.Derek, indicating that he knew full well that war may be coming, but implying that he understood the reasons far better than most of those who continued to obsess over Mugabe's legacy and the artificial state of Zimbabwe.

The majority of people were on Igomo's side when he said that it wouldn't go the way of the foreign elite. Like the federation formed by the anarchists, so the African socialists had their united republics. Of course, the anarchists also had the implied protection of the Indian Soviets to discourage the foreign prevention of a zero-year condition, but the UAR had... the ability to make the rest of the world argue?

Miraflores

While many foreign-relations communes were very honoured to be used as an example as liberators; most Anarchans were pretty worried about the situation. As many of the more "devout" anarchists were quick to point out that Igomo's authoritarian hegemony of political expression didn't promise a much better future for the African peoples under his reign, and fighting for peace in the world isn't much better. In fact, it's akin to having intercourse in order to preserve ones virtue, as one Anarchan citizen put it(although in much less diplomatic terms).

However, pragmatic Anarchans, particularly the feisty Venezuelans, recognized that supporting African peace and sovereignty was much more important than whatever harebrained scheme the British had concocted. Several communes even offered to take up arms and ship overseas to support the Lusakans in the event of conflict, but were rebuffed by popular opinion. Transport collectives in particular went against Anarchans giving their life for anything less than anarchist insurgency(and most still viewed the Lusakans as little better than the Russian communist party), threatening to strike if the military communes went ahead; and the idea eventually died out.

The Anarchans still largely supported the ANP in support of human rights - The British, French and Russians are viewed as agressors and imperialists, a self-reinforced notion that most anarchan media presents it as, and the foreign relations communes are going hard to work to influence the situation in any way possible.

Particularly Roycelandia and Quinntonia are contacted, and Anarchans lament the fact that their political systems and past conflict over Guyana has not fostered the best of relations, but they still offer what they can in the way of free trade agreements(where such agreements can mesh with Neo-Anarchos' protective labour union system), increased relations and monetary sums. If one or both nations are agreeable, Neo-Anarchos wants them to support the pact in defense of national sovereignty and human rights, and attempt to convince the invaders to back off or reach a peaceful settlement with the Pact through negotiations.

Mumbai is rather surprised at London's reaction, and very happy about it, since most Unioners don't doubt Britain's ability to influence French foreign policy. Whether this ability is real or imagined cannot be said, but it is good at least to know that the INU's first and most reliable western supporter is sympathetic to the Union's cause.

News coming out of The African Commonwealth restores hope in a peaceful settlement to the Zimbabwe Crisis, and it is hoped that Britain's by now well-publicised defiance of the French will have a positive effect on Ndelebe and Igomo. Diplomatic communiques from Mumbai stress that, "If the people of Zimbabwe want to join the ranks of the African Nationalists, they will do so by their own choice. Whether Zimbabwe is incorporated into the ANP as is or whether new elections are held is of no significance. A government derives its mandate to rule from the populace, and if the general populace does not approve of a government that government has no right to exist. If the hearts of the people of Zimbabwe are behind the ANP, they will vote for it, and if not, they won't. The ANP has nothing to lose and everything to gain by agreeing to a peace summit and referendum on Zimbabwean sovereignty."

Mumbai's diplomats draw up a new peace plan:

1. All parties must agree that the people of Zimbabwe constitute the ultimate authority on the nation's political alignment and future. Therefore; Referenda are to be held, at the soonest possible time, to decide whether the Zimbabwean people consent to the continued rule of Robert Mugabe.

2. All parties must agree that the Zimbabwean people have the right to oblige any foreign military force to depart. Therefore; Referenda are to be held, at the soonest possible time, to determine whether LRAC or British Army troops may enter or remain within Zimbabwe.

3. All parties must agree that Zimbabwe is one state, whole and indvisible unless approved by the Zimbabwean people. Therefore; Referenda are to be held, at the soonest possible time, to determine whether Zimbabwe shall retain sovereign rights or consent to annexation by Lusaka.

4. All parties must agree to oppose any invasion of the sovereign state of Zimbabwe, invasion being an attempt by a foreign military to conquer and administer for itself part or whole of the sovereign territory of Zimbabwe.

5. All parties must agree that, the health needs of the Zimbabwean people being dire, no barriers shall be raised to the free and equal distribution of emergency food aid to internally displaced persons or others in need, the free and equal distribution of medical aid, antiretroviral drugs in particular, and the operation of non-governmental, non-profit health organizations working for the betterment of the Zimbabwean people. In order to eliminate the possibility of commercial exploitation, such vital assistance must be rendered free of cost and unconditionally.

6. All parties must agree that it is in Zimbabwe's best interest to not suffer a major war on its sovereign territory and that a peaceful settlement is not only beneficial but necessary, and all parties must agree to adhere to the descisions of the Zimbabwean people expressed in Referenda.

7. Pending the result of certain Referenda, the Zimbabwean Defense Force shall be, at the soonest possible, reorganized in order to oversee the phased withdrawl of foreign military elements. The Zimbabwean Defense Force, being vital to the continued sovereignty of Zimbabwe, shall be retrained and re-armed in accordance with the will of the Zimbabwean people, expressed in Referenda.

8. In the interest of continuing peace and stability on the African Continent, The Indian National Union volunteers to train and equip Zimbabweans so they are able to improve their nation through their own efforts, without depence on foreign benefactors, and to pay for such training and equipment.


It is hoped that the new plan's much more open language will succed where the others had failed. It seems, to Mumbai's diplomats anyway, that their proposal leaves little room for foreign tampering, and is friendly enough to both sides so as to give the Lusakans what they want and at the same time allows the British to disengage without losing face.

Unfortunately for everyone else with a plan, Igomo -the only man in Africa who actually seemed to be forcing his ideas into action- had mysterious plans of his own. He didn't seem phased by the proposals put forward by ineffectual others.

In Zimbabwe, Igomo's population movement schemes continued, faster since he'd nudged the Commonwealth into helping out, for however much or little they understood the ridiculous scale of his ambition. Thousands of Tanzanians and Zambians were pouring across the border, moving into abandoned farms ruined by Mugabe's land reform and swearing to repair them through Ujamaa, which, though it paid no attention to market-assigned value, did turn out great volume... and volume, in foodstuffs, was something that Zimbabwe certainly could use.

City's air defence force was, by now, starting to fly NT-6L Miggen short-range interceptors and J-22 Orao attackers, not to mention increasing training of local and Zimbabwean pilots aboard G-4 Super Galeb intermediate trainer jets, having struck deals with Portmeirion and Belgrade to replace the Quinntonian and British origin jets that City no longer felt able to maintain, given modern relations.

With that in mind, Igomo was advertising 24 F-20L Tigershark interceptors, 40 F5L Tiger multirole fighters, and 24 Hawk LIFT advanced trainer attack jets for export. All were thought to be in good order, but it was apparent that, when spare parts and repair became an issue, the United African Republic would not be able to rely on Quinntonian and British firms to accept their contracts. The African socialists needed capital, and were prepared to sell their old air force in almost its entirety, before Yugoslavia called in the growing tab...

IC:
A number of Government departments within Strathdonia might respond to the advertisment of the fighters with somethign approaching a positive manner, although shielded in trying to get the Lusakans to see sense.
The basic line is that If Igomo were to be more reasonable and actually take the time to consider the INU's proposal then the SADF would be willing to make a generous offer for the hawks and the Strathdonian foreign and trade & Industry ministries would not stand in the way of Strathdonian companies bidding for the Tigers and tigersharks.


OOC: Yes Strathdonia everyone's favourite distributer of second and third hand fighter aircraft! IIRC the ardour engine of the hawk could actually physically fit inside the tiger... hmmm another license deal to add to the shopping list, me thinks. Of coruse the real question is: Just how close is the Strathdonian Government to bankruptcy? new tanks, a pair of frigates and now another 24 jet aircraft....

While military preparations in Mozambique and Nigeria continue at a feverish pace, intelligence gathering missions accelerate as well, with hundreds of high altitude UAVs, several stealth reconaissance planes, and dozens of satellites scanning the enemy territory with an inhuman fury. However, as the French continue to complicate affairs in India and the Philippines, both Prime Minister Armand and Regent Mubarrak came to the conclusion that it'd be best to avoid becoming entangled in this potentially devastating war. The French had basically alienated the two other members of the coalition, the British and the Strathdonians, so if the Russians entered it'd likely become a three way conflict, which wasn't something that they could afford.

And so, the Nigerian government endorses the Indian Union proposal heartily, although to avoid offending the French, they refrain from actually mentioning where the proposal came from.

A new clause is proposed for the proposed treaty, where a neutral third party would serve as a peacekeeping force, so as to make sure that peace is kept in Zimbabwe without ANP or Holy League/NATO unfairly influencing things.

Mumbai, disheartened at Igomo's refusal to review the new proposal, is rapidly losing sympathy for Lusaka and its presence in Zimbabwe. It is now the majority opinion that, whatever it is Lusaka wants to do, it is going about it in an extremely odd and annoying fashion. For starters, it is by now blatantly obvious that Igomo does not want to negotiate, and will only do so on his terms. It is beyond most Unioner analysts as to why Mr. Derek wants to engage in such a major war, especially after London demonstrated its independence of the Holy League in its reaction to French acts of piracy. France, say mountains of Parliamentary communiques, is the enemy, and not Britain. The diplomatic implications of the Zimbabwe Crisis on the Union's relations with Beth Gellert and Yugoslavia aren't lost on diplomats either, and Igomo promises to take a butcher's knife to the tangled mass of relationships that help to prop-up the INU.

That isn't to say that too many Unioners think Lusaka shouldn't have Zimbabwe and a minority think it is for anyone besides Africans to decide the matter. But most worry that, now that tempers flare and the armies have already been deployed, already trouble-stricken Zimbabwe will be bombed into dust and the only people who will come out the better are the hated French and Russian monarchists.

In London, Union diplomats try and convince the British to wait the crisis out, stressing the futility of attacking Zimbabwe when popular opinion seems to be rather clearly on Igomo's side. As a total war with France looms very large on the horizon, the last place Mumbai wants its principal Western friend is engaged to a major operation already. In Lilongwe, the Strathdonians are also presented a very strong case, made even stronger by the promise of even heavier equipment subsidizations and financial aid, to remain neutral in the event of a war. Mumbai fully understands, they say, if Lilongwe wants to allow British troops and equipment onto its territory and they have every right to do so, but it is very much hoped that the Strathdonians will not participate in what promises to be a very divisive war in any greater measure.

It has been proven rather finally that Igomo won't be placated, no matter how much money or how many settlements Mumbai waves in front of his nose, and it is this dire assessment that gets passed along to London.

Unioners, by and large, can't help but feel a bit silly with regards to Lusaka. Surely, they think, the Lusakans can't be hating the INU as an instrument of foreign coercion? Surely it has only acted in Africa's best interests...

OCC: Eh, I feel like I owe you an apology Lusaka. You expressed to me in a telegram that you'd like to see the issue at hand run its course, and I agree that anything that produces change and forces instability is a good thing in the overall RPing context. I'm sorry if I'm stepping on your toes a bit, with all these attempts at stopping the Zimbabwe war, but it is really something the INU does not want to have to deal with and essentially kills INU relations with Lusaka and the African Commonwealth.

City seemed unmoved by on-going disturbances abroad.

Possibly Igomo simply wasn't convinced that there was any benefit to negotiation: the French were clearly utterly unable to threaten Africa, the Roycelandians were thus far staying out (with an otherwise threatened border), the Quinntonians had no reason to dive in since neither ANP nor UAR discriminated against Christians (though atheism and tribal beliefs were better taught), and, so far as he could see, the British and maybe a third of Mozambique were thinking of fighting his vision. Well, they'd lose. What was all this talk of ANP defeat? Igomo couldn't tell.

In Zimbabwe, African socialism, well, no, it was not competative in the global free market... but it was providing food to the poor, and, more than that, it was making small-holders and soldiers of the unemployed. The ANP way didn't lead to instant prosperity, but who really expected that, besides the spoiled Britons that everyone was currently trying to kill? It stopped hardship, and that was all.

The Strathdonian approach was generating interest in the Social Progress Party, but not yet with Mr.Derek. He thought that better terms would come along, and saw the planes as cast-offs, anyway. Others knew that the world was small, and the UAR hadn't the implicit backing of Soviet powers anymore, but what was to be done?

For now, Igomo pressed on with switching Zambian, Tanzanian, and Zimbabwean populations, even moving Al Khali farmers into Harare, and Zimbabwean homeless into farmsteads outside Dodoma.

(My initial post was erased by a crash, so I've probably missed loads in the re-type, sorry!)

OOC: Oh, an INU post has sprung up between computer crashes of mine!

No, don't worry, Lusakan -whatever that is, anymore- policy is increasingly dictated by Igomo's slightly eccentric whim. He has his world view, and if your proposals don't fit that, they stumble into some pit on the side.

Anyway, neither Igomo nor any of his followers fear defeat in military action against the HL, and probably not against NATO, either, though that's largely dependent upon the UK remaining isolated and Roycelandia uninvolved. A lot of Lusakan compromise goes unsaid: it's in Igomo's abandoment of atheist or tribalist religious enforcement, so as to avoid drawing in Quinntonia, and so on.

Igomo doesn't much care if he isolates the UAR, so long as it's policies continue to produce food -which they will, indeffinitely- and enough profit to import arms, which they will only for as long as he keeps the enemy-of-my-enemy as his friend (i.e. Yugoslavia et cetera). What else does he actually need to survive, really?

News of Lusaka's ridding-itself of so many modern fighters comes at just the right time in the Commonwealth of Mozambique, as relations with the Free State reach an all-time low and the Commonwealth finds itself devoid of supersonic and radar-equipped combat aircraft.

Maputo is definately interested in improving its relationship with Lusaka, especially in light of the potentially quite awkward business in the north, and standing-up to the Free State is seen as a pretty good way to do it. Therefore, the Commonwealth inquires into the availability of perhaps five F5Ls, three single-seaters and two twin-seat trainers. With the MiG-21s only recently sold for scrap (a decision being regretted in light of several attractive upgrade programs), the FAM still has qualified fast jet pilots and the F5L is seen as an easy way to counter the Free State's numerical superiority.