# FLNC-Canal Historique

The FLNC-Canal Historique (Corsican: Canale Storicu; abbreviated FLNC-CS) was an armed paramilitary and guerrilla organization created in 1990 from a split within the command structure of the original FLNC. The organization was created to be a radically militant force, rejecting the idea of ceasefire with the French government. During Corsica's “Lead Years”, a violent period of intense guerrilla warfare in the 1990s, the FLNC-CS was the most violent and active organization, engaging in intense conflict with both the French government and armed forces, but also with other nationalist organizations, engaging in a war with Alain Orsoni’s FLNC-Canal Habituel (Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA). In 1999, The FLNC-CS became one of the founding members of the FLNC-Union of Combattants, a guerrilla organization which remains active today following the end of a nine-year long ceasefire.
The FLNC-CS formed after a 2-year long dissident campaign within the FLNC, during with brigade leaders and individual divisions of the FLNC began to separate due to their views of the 1988 ceasefire as “illegitimate”. On 25 November 1990, the town of Borgo was invaded, and in the same day during the occupation the dissident militants declared the creation of the “Historic Channel” (Corsican: Canale Storicu; French: Canal Historique) of the FLNC. One month earlier, the “Habituel Channel” (FLNC-Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) was formed out of the dissolution of the brigade council and Orsoni’s seizure of power. These two groups would be engaged in a drawn out civil war until the dissolution of the FLNC-CA in 1997. In 1996, the FLNC-CS would begin to lose footing to Fronte Ribellu, a group that split from the FLNC-CS, and the FLNC-5 May (FLNC-5 Maghju, FLNC-5M), a split of the FLNC-CA dedicated to remaining militant against the FLNC-CS in the face of a “inevitable” FLNC-CA disarming campaign. In 1999, the FLNC-CS southern division leader François Santoni split from the organization to form Armata Corsa, a hyper-militant organization that carried out a large number of assassinations and organized attacks on the FLNC-CS and other guerrillas as well as French authorities. On 23 December 1999, the FLNC-CS, Fronte Ribellu, the FLNC-5M, and a small organization called Clandestinu formed the FLNC-Union of Combattants to better organize against both Armata Corsa and the French.

## 1988-1990: Dissident Campaign

In May 1988, the FLNC announced a permanent cease on military operations in order to negotiate with the French. Internally, this was a highly controversial decision and it immediately led to the breakup of the FLNC. Several high-ranking officials and division leaders, such as Jean-Michel Rossi (Balagne), François Santoni (Gravona), and Charles Pieri (Borgo-Lucciana) withdrew their brigades from the FLNC and began a campaign against the organization from 1988 to 1989. Further dissident splits followed, including an insurrectionary movement in Ajaccio led by Roger Polverelli, and the followers of the anti-ceasefire movement earned the name “Historicals” (Storichi), likely due to their strong attachment to the hardline militancy of the original FLNC. However, it is important to note that some anti-ceasefire activists did not identify with the Storichi movement and formed their own organizations, like Resistenza or the National Liberation Army of Corsica (Armata di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica, ALNC). In 1990, after Alain Orsoni took over the organization and declared the FLNC-CA, the “Storichi” only gained more influence. On 25 November, a band of Storichi invaded the town of Borgo and occupied it. The same day, in the occupied town, the “Borgo declaration” declared the new FLNC-CS.

## 1990-1996: “Years of Lead” - FLNC Civil War

The 1990s saw a wave of bombings, ambushes, raids, assassinations, and other forms of guerrilla warfare targeted at both the FLNC-CS, FLNC-CA, and France. The large amount earned the era the name “Years of Lead”, much like the one in neighbouring Italy.
In 1991 , shortly after the formation of the FLNC-CS, the rival FLNC-CA was quick to denounce the militant formation of the organization. In March 1991, the FLNC-CA held a meeting in which many high-ranking officials attended where they announced a halt on actions against the French government in order to focus on targeting and dismantling the FLNC-CS.