San Marco Civil War

San Marco Civil War
Date	15 October 2005 – present
Location	Republic of San Marco
Participants
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Casualties and losses
	190 violent civilian deaths ; 383 total civilian deaths

The San Marco Civil War is an internal conflict in the Republic of San Marco between the San Marco government and the San Marco Federation Army, with UN intervention. The conflict began due to tensions after President Samuel Jones performed a coup d'état, establishing a socialist one-party state, severing all ties to San Marco's former colonial ruler, the Federal States of Zarnos, which caused anger among Federal sympathetic citizens. Protests began in the streets of the capital Sangore, which were violently put down by the Ebrilic Revolutionary Militia, a government allied militia. This event is widely considered to be the start of the civil war. The UN of Zarnos initially deployed approximately 70 peacekeepers on a joint police mission with the intended role of stabilising crime rates during a period of political unrest, with most peacekeepers being tasked with preventing civilian deaths, while others were tasked with protecting public property.

Background

Outside observers are not entirely certain on how the conflict began, however it most likely stems from the colonial past of the island nation. The Kingdom of Clieles had an expansive colonial empire, utilising islands such as Mahe and San Marco to harvest crops such as sugar cane. After the 1913 referendum, Clieles was transformed into a full democracy, and the Federal States of Zarnos were established. After the referendum, the colonial possessions of Clieles were granted independence, and the Federal States installed Prime Ministers to rule under a commonwealth. The Prime Ministers that were elected were usually sympathetic to the Federal States of Zarnos, and saw little electoral competition. A popular leader amongst the native Ebrilic population of San Marco, Samuel Jones, arose as a political competitor of the Prime Minister at the time, Douglas King, however the more dominant population of white settlers prevented him from seeing electoral success. Eventually, the movement for Ebrilic independence grew, with many members becoming more aggressive and violent. This resulted in Jones realising a coup was a more necessary option to take, as the prospect of electoral success was bleak.

Development of the Ebrilic Independence Movement

The Ebrilic Independence Movement developed into an organised militia, with the colours red and yellow, being the colours of the Ebrilic people, developing into the symbol of the movement, with many wearing yellow and red shirts and bandannas to symbolise their allegiance. However, the growing militia also developed a highly volatile aspect, with many leaders of the group encouraging people to take up arms against the government. In response, Douglas King established the San Marco Local Police Force, a small paramilitary unit with barely functional weapons deployed to stop gatherings of Ebrilic protestors. The EIM militia eventually began using weapons at the protests, turning them into riots, with firearms being difficult to import, the machete became a popular weapon for the militia, causing terror among the civilian population, with machete attacks being commonplace, often large crowds of Ebrilic militia would swarm individuals and kill them in brutal machete attacks.

Coup D'état

Jones, now desperate to overthrow the King government, led a group of militia armed with machetes and a small amount of firearms into Parliament House in the capital Sangore to perform a coup on 3 May 1994, which was largely successful, as King gave up office almost immediately. Jones declared himself president, eradicating the constitution, and cutting all ties with the Federal States of Zarnos. He instead created a diplomatic relationship with the Kingdom of West Ganthaenium as part of a defence deal, with joint military supply between the San Marco Military Industrial Corporation and the Kingdom of West Ganthaneum. Douglas King was tried as a political prisoner and executed on 12 May 1994. After the coup, Jones ordered his militia to patrol the streets, and Jones began locking down business and trade. He quickly realised that his militia were not going to be sufficient in assisting his regime in government, so he commissioned the Republican Guard, which is a paramilitary unit that operates as the personal security detachment of Samuel Jones. The Republican Guard are largely underequipped, with outdated firearms, uniforms in disrepair, and unpainted helmets. Boots are not provided to the Republican Guard for cost reduction, and have to be privately procured, and most guardsmen cannot afford footwear and thus are barefoot. The Ebrilic Independence Militia, now the Ebrilic Revolutionary Militia or the ERM became somewhat of a secondary security force, mostly patrolling the streets, while the protection of Samuel Jones was provided by the Republican Guard. The military was also restructured, which before, was a detachment of the Federation Tropics Corps gifted to the King regime by the Federal States as the island’s defence force. The military was restructured to allow for Ebrilics to join, which was banned before. The new military became known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of San Marco.

Response

The citizens of San Marco were generally against the new regime, as San Marco had been experiencing economic upturn over the past few decades under the Federal sympathising Prime Ministers, and began protesting in Sangore, and were largely unopposed, however in the early 2000s, protesters began to be attacked by ERM in rather isolated incidents, however the government denied being linked to the attacks. Eventually, on 15 October 2005, a group of protesters was attacked by a large group of ERM, killing 15 people. Approximately 3 hours after the attack, the government released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, and warned citizens to stop protesting or the attacks would continue.

Initial Conflict

The Isolated attacks on the citizens of San Marco gradually increased and became more systematic, with the ERM raiding houses and targeting businesses.

The National Police had taken the place of the San Marco Local Police Force, and the force was officially dissolved on 22 March 1999, however they continued their duties without permission. Eventually, the ERM became aggressive towards the citizens of San Marco, increasing their attacks, and the Local Police Force was required to intervene to protect citizens from the ERM. In response, the citizens began arming themselves to protect against further ERM attacks, eventually forming the San Marco Federation Army, which became the main rebel group in the San Marco Civil War. The SMFA began to engage in clashes with the ERM, causing fatalities on both sides. Eventually the Revolutionary Army became involved, and sided with the ERM, fighting the SMFA, and conducting several arrests of alleged key SMFA leaders. President Samuel Jones became aware of the rising issue, and in response he deployed his Republican Guard to “defend civilians against the SMFA insurgents”.

Attack on Sangore

On 3 September 2006, the SMFA organised and launched an attack on Sangore, killing an estimated 43 ERM fighters. The Revolutionary Army engaged the SMFA and pushed them out of the city. After the defeat, the SMFA fled north to Benas, San Marco’s second city, and have since held a front line there, receiving support from the Kingdom of West Ganthaenium. The United Nations of Zarnos has sent peacekeepers into San Marco, to assist in civilian evacuation, however the peacekeepers have been targeted by San Marco military units and have taken heavy casualties. As San Marco is not considered an active warzone by the UN, the UN was not permitted to send in fully equipped peacekeepers, instead peacekeepers were sent in an assistant police role, and are equipped with body armour and pistols, and are not permitted headgear. The intended role of the peacekeepers is to “stabilise crime rates during political unrest” and are tasked with preventing civilian deaths in the conflict, however due to the situation, they often find themselves in direct combat with the San Marco military. A total of 23 peacekeepers have been killed so far in the conflict.