The 2005 Crisis - Five years on
It's strange to think that a nation could have gone through so much in a few months, and yet show no physical scars of the misdeeds done. At least, on the surface, it would appear that way. Boiling beneath the surface, the damage is all too clear. Turning down a side street in the culture district, one is immediately confronted with an outburst of the political tension beneath - flyposters from the anti-fascist union, along with layers of angry graffiti in a constant arguement. Most worringly is the PRA stencil, in the midst of it all, sprayed in colours visible even under the torrent of abuse. It is clear that Alfegos still remains a divided country, under the just-stable coalition run by President Da'rel.
His nomination as a Hero of Alfegos, 1st class, has been seen by many of both sides to be just in the work he has done. Nearing the end of his term as President, it is likely he will be re-elected not only to continue his re-unification of the nation, but to hold this divided country apart. No leader has seen such difficult choices before - to oppose the mass foreign expansionism that started the crisis in the first place, yet continue with the relations needed to keep the country running and rebuilt, and expand. In 2007, the recovery was officially deemed over, as the economy exploded across the nation. With the launch of the Fegosian space programme, expansion of her armed forces and massive increase in influence overseas, the nation has seen staggering growth. Yet have the lessons of the past been forgotten by many of the citizens enjoying new prosperity?
In Milkavich it seems, the hotbed of extremism and the city that bore the greatest brunt of the liberation operation, opinions are still mixed. Buildings outside the gleaming new central district, outside the huge blast walls and defensive gates still closed after curfew, show the scars of every conflict of the 20th century. A proud landlord walks along the front of an apartment block, showing the hundreds of bullet holes riddling the surface.
"They never give up without a fight here - and when you get people taking cover in here, as a hardpoint right next to central district defences, you'd expect it to get rather hectic here. In fact, I'm suprised my building's still standing. Proper engineering that is." Here and there, patches of different-coloured cement show where the larger holes and craters have been filled in. On the poorer-maintained buildings, huge craters have been patched over with corrugated tin and steel. Yet the condition of the district, and the hope of some people within, can expect to get better.
"We've been told that we're going to be recieving the 2011 funding in this district, as one of three having priority to being regenerated. This whole district is going to be much, much better - just as long as it remains stable."
The aftermath of a PRA truck bomb, just outside Centre-south District
It's one way that the government have managed to coax the people into supporting their cause, rather than that of extremist groups that are still endemic to the city - bribery, so to speak. Only districts with no anti-government groups present can receive the funding, and as such both locals and government officials have been working together. Yet this has never been enough. Even as I look around a surprisingly clean part of the city, a military convoy rolled past - a mix of Fegosian and Katanozagi armoured infantry, keeping the peace on the streets. In the distance, the echo of gunfire is just audible, some of the nearby districts much less table than here. But with nearly eighty million in the urban area of Milkavich and Peri'vi, it will take a long time until any permanent solution is reached.
North District Central School, Milkavich - Scars from numerous battles with the PRA clearly show
Crossing the province by airship, since the central region of Milkavich is still impassable due to the guerilla presence, I stepped off just south of the border in Il'vi, a seaside resort that has seen much suffering throughout the years. From firebombings to huge street fights in the 2005 crisis, Il'vi was the one city that the dictator did not want to let go, lest the whole of Zevkhay province be liberated. It was a quicky victory for the Alliance, yet one which had a heavy impact on the populace. On a hilltop above the city, a white marble column marks the centre of the National War Memorial, flame still burning atop its plinth, with the most recent additions to the cemetary visible across the hillside. To this day, there are still those who went missing during the crisis - eight thousand in total - and who have never since been found. Many are thought to have been taken care of by the government during its early days, executed and buried in graves that will never be found, either out at sea or in the Gra'fegos. People are still trying to recover data in the few supposedly destroyed archive servers, the government trying to deny all knoweldge of its planned programme of genocide by setting fire to the Ministry of Records. Until then, questions will be asked as to the true extent of the programme of disappearance and murder, and whether the government has eliminated all potential for such to happen again on such a scale.
Qe'so Er'i is a journalist for the National Fegosian Post, who is currently working alongside ANN in producing a new series of documentaries investigating the 2005 crisis
