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Old 09-27-2009, 10:07 AM
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Mohoender Mohoender is offline
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Default Lower guinea region

When the Twilight War occurs, the five states in this region (Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Togo) have all entered a process of democratization despite important corruption problems. However, the war brings most of these efforts to a progressive end, countries falling one after another.

That move toward chaos starts with Nigeria in the fall of the first year of the Twilight War when a General overthrows the elected president and establishes a new military junta. This time, however, things don’t go as in the past and the junta faces widespread opposition. When civil unrest starts to change into armed rebellion, the Igbo people in Biafra are the first one to act, seizing military supplies and attacking police outposts everywhere. As the army moves in, the Hausa secede and establish an Islamic republic over the Northern provinces, slowly pushing to the south with the declared intention of expending that Islamic state all over the country. As a result, the military is forced to split its forces to face the new threat and the advance in Biafra slows down, quickly meeting with military failures. In fact by early spring next year, the governmental forces lose Port Harcourt and most of the oil producing regions is now devastated. In addition, the Igbo are not the only one to fight in Biafra anymore as they have been joined by several minor ethnic groups. Things goes from bad to worse when the army, exhausted and unable to find enough military supplies on the international market fail to repel all the Hausa. The situation in Nigeria continues to degenerate and two years after the beginning of the civil war casualties increases dramatically. Heavy weaponry is increasingly hard to run and most fighting now involves mostly light weaponry and machetes while aircrafts have been grounded and naval ships are slowly rusting in their harbors. When the nuke fall in 2004, what is left of legal authority, government and rebels alike, collapses and the ethnic conflict keeps building up as it gets in the hands of local petty warlords.

With the quick reduction in international trade, pressure also builds up on Ivory Coast and widespread discontent finally turns into civil war when the government officially implemented a policy discriminating Ivorian of foreign descent. After new death during racial riots, a rebellious movement is created in the north (New Forces) which takes immediate military actions. As an answer to this, the Ivorian army moves north while the Ivorian president favor the creation of various militias to the south (Young Patriots and Lima Militia). The French army could have taken action but in the light of the events in Europe, the French leave Ivory Coast to Gabon and Senegal. With the departure of the French military, the civil war enters a new stage and fighting goes out of hand with massacre of civilians by both sides becoming the rule.

When civil war builds up to the North, as in Ivory Coast and Nigeria, the other countries in the region find themselves in an increasingly difficult situation. When rebellious groups start to cross the borders, their meager forces prove unable to repel them and find themselves in an increasingly difficult situation. That goes out of hand after the nukes start to fall and Ghana and Togo are overwhelmed by civil unrest and ethnic riots. Their government collapses, people go back to their regions of origin and to their natural distrust toward each other.

Benin is the only country to escape that fate as the government, relying on a new but relatively stable democratic system succeeds in united the people under the authority of the state. Nevertheless, as time goes by, the government is forced to withdraw from the northern regions, leaving the entire departments of Alibori and Atakora as well as half of that of Borgou to themselves. As a result of these losses the president realizes that the regular forces have no chance to stop the invasion and he issues a national emergency order allowing for an increase among the popular militia which grows from 4500 to a little more than 45000. This choice proves essential in the surviving of the state as, despite corruption, these militias prove faithful to the idea of Benin and fight with dedication on several occasions. Finally, the situation improves again when that states join the FBU getting much needed military support as a result of this choice.

Nowadays, Southern Benin remains an island of stability in the region and Cotonou has become an essential harbor for commerce and black market in this area. This is true to France of course but also to the various fighting groups wreaking havoc in the other countries and in need of an access to some military supplies. Benin, therefore, became the supply base from which military goods get in the region. Corruption is high but it is turned toward the outside and trying to push a soldier or a militiaman into betraying the government wouldn’t be wise. Outside of Benin, the situation is simply chaos and fighting is everywhere, brutal and bloody.
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