This thread is open to the members of the Kali Yuga. Non-members wanting to participate ought to send me a TG about participation.
Keep it hard MT, Human Only.
This thread is a direct continuation of 2019 Trouble in Bagongo.
OOC
*** Karaba
The 2nd Bagongo Civil War came and went. 400 000 Miyazenga perished at hands of the Butu extremists, marking the largest genocide in the history of modern Afruika. But even that couldn't turn the tide. FROLIBO has won, and the resulting treaty of Karaba provided for creation of a new nation - the Republic of Rwenjura, out of FROLIBO controlled territories. A population exchange was arranged, with Butu and Miyazenga moving to their respective states.
Arthur Bukenya, the president of Bagongo who started the slaughter, shared the fate of his predecessor, assasinated by the Rhidean mercenaries that he has hired. The new government was led by Roland Mbabazi. Formally, the new government attempted a policy of conciliation; but the fires of anger of the Butu still burned beneath the calm surface. There were daily news coming from the newly formed state of attrocities perpetuated against the Butu by former FROLIBO members; Butu being stripped of their rights and treated like 2nd class citizens. Yet the government did not want, officially, to get involved in another war against FROLIBO.
And so Roland Mbabazi sat in front of a table in the newly constructed new presidential palace that replaced the one that burned down in the riots following the BDF's 2nd defeat against the Butu. The building was built in a brutalist style, composed of massive geometric shapes. Square like collumns covered glass windows, and enormous golden dome rested on top of the building.
He was a short overweight man. His fave was round, with massive cheeks falling to the sides due to fat. Almost no hair covered the top of his head, having been shaven almost to the root. Wide lips emerged from between the cheeks. The president of Bagongo wore a black suit, perfect for his position.
Suddenly the doors opened and a suit clad security guard entered:
"He is here sir!" the guard said.
"Let him in!" replied the president.
The guard stood aside, letting inside a man looking outright bizzare. The man wore a loincloth made out of lion skin, and a skin vest on top of that. Endless feathers hun from his belt, and there was a hairly cap on top of his head. From under it emerged endless strings of jewelry, made from fangs and pearls, that the man wore around both his head and legs. In his hands he held a massive staff with a stuffed bat on top. This was Joseph Kalisa, the most powerful kanga in Bagongo. A witch doctor whose supposed powers were feared from Kigali to Mugusa.
"Honored Kanga." Roland bowed. Even as president he obeyed this man. After all, this man talked to gods themselves. How could he not?
"I have come as ye have asked." replied the witch-doctor drily"State ye problem. "
"Oh honored kanga!" Roland begun "I need your consuel. Certain... supporter has asked me to repay the debts that we took to fight in our war against the cockroaches!"
The witch-doctor connected his eyebrows angrily.
"Ye predecessa ought not to have allied with dis foreigna! " the witch doctor spoke with a nasal, provincial accent "Dis foreigna bled us dry, den left we to rot!"
The president felt fear. He did not want to incur wrath of a man who could easily kill him with a curse. Or worse. What if he man transforms him into a pig?
"But oh honored witch doctor!" he countered "He did, and now we have to clear the mess he made. He brought us all shame by his weak leadership, letting the enemy defeat us!"
The witch doctor pondered for a second. Finally he spoke:
"We should not hand more resourcas of our people to foreignas! Da ancesta spirits have enough of harming of our land wid foreigna machinez and pickaxez!"
Mbabazi suddenly found himself in a bid. His plan was to sell some gold reseres he recently found. But if the kanga disagreed... He wonered if the ancestral spirits could be convinced somehow.
"Could the ancestral spirits be convinced somehow? We could offer them a sacrafice from the Miyazenga that we still have..." he asked.
"SILENCE!" the witch doctor boomed like lightning "OUR LAND BLEEDS DRY! IT BLEEDS DRY DUE TO ABUSEZ! NO AMOUT OF SACRAFICEZ WILL CONVINCE DEM TO CHANGE DEIR MIND!"
"Forgive me!" the man fell on his face before the kanga.
"Do not advocate data again or da most powaful curse I know will fall on you!" threatened Kalisa.
The president rose, still shaking with fear.
"But oh honored kanga what to do then?" he querried "If I do not pay, the foreigner will bring unspeakable evil on our nation! I have to act."
"Let me consult da godz!" the witch doctor replied.
The president was then a witness of a bizzare ceremony. Suddenly the witch doctor started running wildly across the room. The then danced, leaping into the air again and again waving his staff and shouting something. Suddenly he halted and fell on the floor. Rising from it, he shaked his head, awaking himself from the trance.
"Da ancesta spiritz say dat what you needz is to da west!" he announced "In Kirumba lie rich resources, dat currently lie in da handz of da cockroachez dat exploit our people! You will kill da cockroaches again, and gain the weald needed to pay da debt!"
"But that will mean another war!" the president countered "Do the ancestral spirits want us to start another war after we lost two?"
"You wanted their advice, they have spoken. I have nothing more to tell." the shaman turned around, leaving the president alone to think.
Despite his outward proffesion of Christianity, Mbabzi seen no issue between practicing both religions, even to the point of committing human sacrafices in secret Yawoho rituals. After all the more gods he had on his side, the better it was to him. But for the ancestral spirits of the Butu to advise him to attack Zairo? This was madness. But he could not disobey a direct command from the mebempa .
He pondered about how the attack could be carried out.
Night was slowly falling over the central Bagongolese refugee camp. Around it, the lush mountains of the local landscape were covered by a green carpet of ever blossoming vegetation. One could see giraffess walking in the valleys, streatching their tall necks to graze on the leaves of the trees. Further extended a line of yellow agricultural fields.
Between the hills lied a refugee camp built for the Butu refugees feeling from the FROLIBO advance years prior. As far as eye could see, stretched white and blue tents where the refugees dwelt. Women walked between them, cooking meals on improvised kitchens, and children ran playing.
But today there was a hightened sense of security, as the president himself arrived at the camp. Officially to check on the refugees; but unofficially Paul Ngendandumwe knew why he was here and he resented it.
He was a middle-height man, with his built revealing his military background. Broad shoulders and well toned muscles gave him impression of a man who could fight a gorilla and come on top. He wore an old military uniform, and a black beret was on top of his head. From underneath emerged a pair of glasses in thin frmes, and beard hung from the bottom of his mouth.
He was the infamous "General Malaria" feared all over the nation. Fromerly the cheif of staff of BDF, he was in command during the 2nd Bagongo War. It was on his orders that thousands of Miyazenga were genocided, and he regreted nothing than the fact that he killed for hundred thousand instead of four million. For what they did to his family, he believed that Miyazenga deserved nothing but eternal suffering.
He turned around and walked among the rows of the soldiers who provided the security. Many of the rank and file troops were not even fifteen years old, with the AKs in their hand seeming oversized for them. In his mind though, that was a good thing. The service made them into true men, well capable of killing Miyazenga cockroaches.
He entered a room inside a massive tent. Light was dim, but it allowed it to see the faces of men assembled there. In the middle of the tent was a massive table, and around it sat a group of men with massive bounties on their head for their participation in the genocide.
Gen. Charles Koman, aka "General Bob Marley". Commander of the ill fated 1st Kigali Infantry Division that was destroyed by FROLIBO during the operation Cheetah, and then phyrric victory that was the siege of Kayogoro. It was rumored that his failures made him reconsider his path, and embrace the Rastafari movement - and it shown. From over the military uniform emerged massive dreads that reached his shoulders.
To his right sat the infamous "Nssamba Segubulu" called the "General Ass Nude". As the name said, he wore no clothes, sitting completely naked. His head was bald and there was a necklace made out of bullets around his neck. "Malaria" felt nothing but respect for him. This man was true warrior, known for his bravery and charging Palmyri fortifications completely naked - also rumored to have eaten over one hundred men.
Then sat Thomas Mwamba aka "General Van Damme". He could be instantly recognised by his enormous musculature, that dwarfed even his. He was rumored to have killed a crocodile with his bare hands! Fascination with 80s Holywood action movies was still present in this part of the world.
Next sat a man wearing a mixture of military and street wear. A baseball cap was over his head, and a golden chan was around his neck. This was leader of the infamous gang that turned into a militia during the war, and one of most famous gangsta rap artists of Bagongo - Peter Ngoie aka "Da Busta Head".
And then there was the president himself. "Malaria" could not help but want to strangle the man. He fought bravely, and then was discarded like a trash. How dares this man appear here, calling for a meeting!?
"My friends, thank you for comi..."
"WE ARE NO FRIENDS!" Malaria roared in anger, watching how the man lowered his head in fear.
"Please.." he tried to speak but Malaria interrupted him.
"I WILL NOT SHUT UP!" he roared like a lion challenged "WE FOUGHT THE COCKROACHES! WE KILLED THOUSANDS OF HUNDREDS OF THEM! AND YOU CHOSE TO SURRENDER! YOU DISCARDED US LIKE TRASH!"
"WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?" the president suddenly found in himself a bit of courage to fire back "WE WERE LOOSING! BDF WAS CLOSING IN ON KARABA! OUR COUNTRY WAS UNDER SANCTIONS FROM EVERYONE! I HAD TO STOP IT TO PREVENT FROLIBO FROM TAKING IT ALL!"
"AND THANKS TO YOUR GIVING UP, COCKROACHES OPPRESS OUR BROTHERS DAILY!" the general kept roaring. From his early childhood, the Miyazenga were doing everything to earn his hatred. To have his holy war against them lost because of politican's cowardice, and then be purged from the army, made his blood boil.
"AND THEY ONLY DO SO IN RWENJURA AND KIGALI! DO YOU WANT THEM TO DO IT FROM KARABA TO MUGUSA INSTEAD?"
"My friendz." The Rastafarian general intervened speaking with the nasal accent "Please calm down. Dose quarrelz only help de enemy."
Both the president and the former cheif of staff calmed down, but both looked like lions ready to fight.
"My friends, I apologise for what I did. I know that we all had to make hard choices due to the war. I regret nothing, however. However I came here to inquire weather you are ready to fight Miyazenga again. "
This picked Paul's interest. Perhaps the man was not a total coward, and merely had some master plan? In either case it was enough to make him consider it.
"And where would this fight be?" he inquired.
"Zairo." the president said "I know that your units despite being purged from the military never disarmed. We will give you more arms. You will invade the Kirumba province and seize it's wealth for us."
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" this time it was the Rastafarian who was angry "DIS WOULD MEAN DRAGGIN ANODA COUNTRY INTO OUR CONFLICT WITH DA MIYAZENGA!"
"A necessary sacrafice." the president replied "However, one that has high chances of success."
"Zairo is backed by da Eulabai." questioned General Ass Nude "Dey are a wordy foe. Wordy kill, good to eat. Lots of powa gained from eatin' deir strong soul. But hard to kill."
"I have arranged certain help." the president countered "There are parties in this world that do not like the Eulabians."
"Last time we hired foreign mercenaries they killed our president." Malaria was sceptical. The past mecenaries he worked with hated his men and treated them like trash, sending them for certain death.
"Which is why I have hired different mercenaries this time." the president replied.
"I am in!" General Ass Nude proclaimed "WE WILL HAVE OUR VENEGANCA!"
"I am in too." so called "Van Dame" proclaimed "It may be a good way to expand our influence before striking at the cockroaches in the South again!"
"This is madness!" so "Bob Marley" protested "But I will not leave our countrymen at hands of another reprisal like the one that happened in Kayogoro."
"TIME TO ROLL!" shouted the gangster.
Malaria pondered his situation for a minute. Our of all of those gathered, he was the most senior. If he joined, command would be his. But did it have a chance of success? He ran calculations inside his head. Zairean military was weak, but the Eulabian help could turn it around...
"I am in." he said "Twice we lost to the cockroaches. There will not be a third time."
"We shall name our group after our group after September 23rd." Van Dame suggested "After the moment our crusade for liberation begun."
The suggestion was met with a firm agreement. And so, the "rebel" group, S23 Movement, was born.
Preparations for the operation were underway.
Underground command center for the new group was constructed, alongside a network of tunnels that could provide shelter for the fighters. Other militamen hid in caves in the local mountains. They drilled daily and units were formed.
It was at that time that S23 begun infiltration of the Zairo's Kirumba province. Small militiamen cells would cross the border and settle in the area, recruting local Butu. Large bribes were paid for the border guards to allow smuggling of weapons. Those networks would be slowly expanded, gathering intelligence and preparing for activation.
It was that way that "Malaria" learned about a planned speech by the local governor. He has decided to strike during the speech.
Before the offensive begun, the S23 movement forces would travel to the border in small groups, their pickups hard to distinguish from civilian trucks. The soldiers would ditch the uniforms and disperse in the terrain. Radio emissions will be firmly controlled, and contact maintained via motorcycle couriers. Everyone awaited for a radio signal that would give the order to attack.
