SEPTEMBER 5, 2020
President Hallowell takes aim at Athara Magarat in widening Thunderbolt controversy
President Alasdair Hallowell (center) and the directors of the Export Bank of Almorea take questions at the Falmouth Commercial Center in Falmouth, Baranor province, on September 5, 2020 FALMOUTH- President Alasdair Hallowell levied accusations of corruption and malice against Athara Magarat today, after a Magarati-made missile exploded on an Almorean naval base.
The explosion, which killed 26 sailors and injured 50 others, occurred at the Valemalart naval base in Culawee province on Friday morning. A Thunderbolt missile, which is used as an anti-ship weapon by the Almorean Navy, was being loaded onto the destroyer ANV
Thunderer when it suddenly detonated. Eyewitnesses described a large blast that flipped over vehicles and blew a hole through the dock, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. First responders and naval medics arrived quickly on the scene, only to find that the explosion had taken a horrible toll.
The deadly accident was greeted with shock and grief across Almorea, with President Hallowell proclaiming a day of mourning on September 7.
At an event with the directors of the Export Bank of Almorea in Falmouth, Baranor province, Mr. Hallowell accused the Magarati government of deliberately allowing its exporters to sell poorly-made missiles to Almorea, under the terms of the AMRETA trade deal between the two nations signed in late 2018. He also blamed Magarati companies for unfair trade practices, and mentioned other Almorean grievances against Athara Magarat, such as the ongoing controversy over the Central Canal.
"The Magarati government will be called to account for allowing this accident to happen," the president said. "We are going to get to the bottom of it, and whoever was in Almorea that helped them out, they're going to be punished too."
Deputy President Nora Soodalter, accompanied by defense leaders and members of Congress, attended a wreath-laying ceremony at NFA Valemalart this afternoon. After a 26-gun salute was fired, the black-clothed dignitaries processed to the base's chapel, where they paid their respects to the dead.
Rear Admiral John Mercier, the commanding officer of the naval base, released a video statement in which he honored those killed in the accident, commending them as "brave sailors" and describing the accident as "one of the worst tragedies in the Navy's history."
The Almorean secretary-general desígnate of the Raedlon Organization of States, former president Andrew F. Crawford, called on the international community to "unite against Athara Magarat's corrupt and self-serving sale of faulty bombs."
The Hallowell administration has taken an increasingly anti-Magarati line as the December 2020 legislative elections approach. In the spring of this year, Mr. Hallowell deployed 400 troops to the Central Canal in response to Magarati threats to the area's sovereignty. Analysts say that the explosion controversy provides the president with a perfect excuse to step up his rhetoric against Athara Magarat.
According to multiple sources in Carldon Hall, Mr. Hallowell and his advisers believe that a strong anti-Magarati stance will help win over voters who are typically opposed to the president's liberal Almorean Party (AMP), including conservative Nyssics in Almorea's northern provinces, and elderly Almoreans who tend to view Athara Magarat with hostility as a result of the Magarati invasion of Almorea in the Imperial War. The AMP needs to gain 3 seats in the Senate from the conservative Federal Party to win a majority.
The Hallowell administration's efforts to paint Athara Magarat as an adversary may be hampered by well-known corruption in Almorea itself. Donald Hauke, the trade secretary who negotiated the 2018 AMRETA deal, was forced to resign in late 2019 after it emerged that he took Magarati bribes.
Jon Fitzlane (F-Frasyrland), the leader of the Senate and chairman of the Federal Party, announced this afternoon that he blamed the president just as much as the Magarati government for the explosion. "This horrible, reprehensible tragedy would not have happened," Mr. Fitzlane said, "if Almorean officials under this administration acted with even a modicum of honesty and legality."
Mr. Fitzlane called on the Justice Department to investigate trade officials and the Naval Logistics Bureau over the explosion. Representatives at the federal attorneys' office could not be reached for comment.
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