Banjul Crisis

Location

The **Banjul Crisis** was a political crisis within the North African Federation from September 2036 until January 2037following the incapacitation of then-president Torrent Koon; the crisis occurred as the armed forces, Jean Bagasauo's Bovido-loyalist faction and rebel separatists attempted to take the country in different directions. Lasting for several months, the crisis saw the disintegration of the federation as a serious political force, as proxy conflicts within the nation began to destroy the government's ability to function. On January 24, 2037, the North African Civil War erupted, bringing the crisis to and end.

Following President Torrent Koon's incapacitation, he was impeached and replaced with former president Jean Bagasauo, whilst Lassina Zerbo took up the office of vice president simultaneously at the end of September. However within weeks of taking office, the People's Democratic Union for Self Government (UDPPA) was formed under the leadership of Idriss Deby and launched a campaign to "liberate" provinces of the nation from government control and establish a free republic in place of the North African Federation. In late November 2036, Vice President Zerbo defected to the UDPPA, leaving the nation in a constitutional crisis.

In early January 2037, following the signing of an agreement between the North African Federation and the Bovido Imperium, the armed forces under the leadership of General Meles Zenawi attempted a coup d'état against President Jean Bagasauo; despite driving the government from it's capital city, the armed forces remained unable to take over the nation and instead opted to establish the Patriotic National Military Administration, an unrecognised military government in the north of the nation led by General Zenawi which claimed to be the sole administration for the federation.

## History

Following the annexation of the west coast of Africa, a terrorist attack in the newly conquered city of Tangier on September 2, 2036 left President Torrent Koon incapacitated and hospitalised in a coma, leaving the North African Federation without a leader or even a viable successor. As the nation succumbed to political factionalism and disunity, the state of Sudan formally declared it's independence on September 26, 2036 and left the federation the following day. Faced with the prospect of the nation collapsing after the loss of both it's capital city and a major economic hub, the North African Congress launched impeachment proceedings against Torrent Koon, removing him from the positions of president and vice president on September 28, 2036; the same day, the NAC appointed former president Jean Bagasauo to the presidency and congressional leader Lassina Zerbo was selected to become vice president. Despite the appointment of a new government, internal difficulties within the North African Federation continued to persist as the armed forces remained loyal to Torrent Koon, with General Meles Zenawi taking control of the army in the absence of Koon, whilst the threat of attack from the Bovido Imperium or Ducist remained a significant defence issue for the new government. On October 10, 2036, President Jean Bagasauo passed a decree condemning the annexation of north western Africa, and proposed peace talks with Imperator Julios Cragen to return the annexed provinces, alongside extraditing Torrent Koon to face Bovido justice. Within the government, the decree divided the establishment as the leadership of the armed forces sought to preserve the legacy of President Koon whilst many officials within the Christian Loyalist Party aimed to restore relations with the Imperium and ultimately aim for union between the two nations.

### Rebellion

By October 26, 2036, the disunity in government had also manifested into popular dissatisfaction in the establishment and mass protests began to rise up across the sub-Saharan states of the Federation, with rioting groups seeking to topple the local governments imposed during the Red Wave of 2035 and cede from the union. Under the banner of the People's Democratic Union for Self Government (UDPPA), many of these groups formed a unified rebel alliance with militant leader Idriss Deby as leader and launched insurgency campaigns against regional governments; on November 24, 2036, the UDPPA met formally with delegates from the Shanghai Pact, including Persian prime minister Tamim bin Hamad, and formally signed an agreement of support between the two organisations, with the Shanghai Pact to provide resources and training to rebellious groups. On November 27, 2036, Vice President Lassina Zerbo fled the North African Federation and joined the UDPPA's branch in western Sudan, leaving the federation in a governmental crisis once more as the African Federalist Party blocked President Jean Bagasauo's attempts to remove Zerbo from office, effectively leaving the presidential succession at the hands of the UDPPA. In response, the armed forces under the leadership of Meles Zenawi began to force President Bagasauo to take an ever harder line against secessionist groups, whilst hindering efforts by Bagasauo to enter into peace negotiations with the Bovido Imperium. Bilateral talks between the Imperium and the North African Federation formally opened on December 16, 2036, with Bovido Prime Minister Yesu Soong traveling to the capital Banjul on December 25-30 to take part in one-on-one negotiations with President Jean Bagasauo; on December 31, 2036, both parties announced the Banjul Treaty, which formally conceded the annexed portions of north west Africa back to the Bovido Imperium and pledged to extradite former president Torrent Koon in exchange for an end to the hostilities between the two nations and a re-opening of trade between the two countries.

### Coup attempt

 Main article: 2037 North African Coup d'état
Following the signing of the Banjul Treaty between the Bovido Imperium and the North African Federation on December 31, 2036, the armed forces of the North African Federation began to protest even further against the administration of President Jean Bagasauo, souring relations between the Bovido-loyalist government and the Koon-loyalist armed forces led by General Meles Zenawi. As former president Torrent Koon began to make a recovery in late December 2036, the treaty's article requiring the extradition of Koon to the Bovido Imperium helped crystallise the armed forces' opposition to the treaty and the governments which signed it. On January 1, 2036, General Zenawai issued a televised address to the nation calling upon President Bagasauo to revoke the treaty and "preserve the Federation's integrity". On January 12, 2037, the armed forces launched a coup d'état against the government, with soldiers in many of the western parts of the federation seizing control of local institutions and forcefully dissolving them, instead installing regional military governorships. However, despite capturing the capital city of Banjul, the coup plotters failed to seize high ranking members of government, who fled to the city of Yamoussoukro and established it as the new capital for the regime. In the evening of January 12th, both President Jean Bagasauo and General Meles Zenawi made televised statements, both claiming victory in the coup; in effect, the coup had divided the federation, as the armed forces retained sole control over the western coast, whilst the government controlled the south coast and much of the inland regions. On January 13, 2037, Meles Zenawi proclaimed himself as president of the North African Federation and established the Patriotic National Military Administration with himself as the leader, backed up by a large contingent of armed forces loyal to the military government - despite this, a sizeable remnant of the armed forces remained loyal to President Jean Bagasauo's regime, allowing the government to assert it's dominance along the Ivory Coast, at a greatly reduced capability. With the government of the state effectively crippled by the coup, the People's Democratic Union for Self Government (UDPPA) launched an uprising against Bagasauo's administration on January 13, 2037 and began to wrestle control over swaths of the inland sub-Saharan provinces from the government, formally claiming captured regions on January 24, 2037.

## See Also

* North African Federation
* Patriotic National Military Administration
* Conquest of Africa