Noumonde

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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:46 pm

Day 10: Is it a breakthrough?

After 9 days of bitter disputes, deadlocks and sullenness, signs are finally emerging that the Alliance and the National Party, at least, are inching towards agreement.

It has been difficult for journalists at the Convention to clearly establish what went on today, since much of the discussion has been in private committee rooms, rather than in the central assembly chamber, but the scraps of information being leaked via the "grapevine" suggest both the Alliance and the National Party have made significant compromises, and that the Convention chairman, Jacque St. Pierre, is planning to release a "Draft Agreement Plan" very soon. This "Draft Agreement Plan" does not yet have the endorsement of any of the parties, but the Alliance and the National Party have agreed it can form the basis for discussion in the next phase of the talks, whilst the more reluctant Malgy People's Party and the Canrillaise Front have at least agreed to remain engaged in the process.

According to inside sources, the key feature of the "Draft Agreement Plan" will be that the National Party agree to the principle of "Malgy Majority Rule", without power-sharing, but in return the Canrillaise will be guaranteed 40% of the seats in Parliament (despite being only 20% of the population), and significant concessions will be made to the National Party in other key areas.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:30 pm

Day 11: St. Pierre releases "Draft Agreement Plan"

Convention chairman Jacque St. Pierre has unveiled a document called the "Draft Agreement Plan" (DAP), which all 4 parties have agreed can form a basis for the next phase of the talks, although none have formally assented to it. The Alliance and the National Party are said to be closer to agreement at the moment than either the Canrillaise Front or the Malgy People's Party, which are both continuing to engage in the talks, but are believed to be sceptical.

The DAP states that the Federation-appointed Supreme Noumon Authority (SNA) will continue to have ultimate sovereignty over Noumonde for the next 20 years, with the ultimate power to over-rule decisions made by the government, Parliament and the Supreme Court. However, the SNA and Federation leaders have made clear they hope to use these powers "sparingly and ideally not at all", and that the goal of the SNA is to "facilitate Noumonde's journey towards peace, stability and constructive self-government". Furthermore, the DAP guarantees the following for the next 30 years (ie. at least 10 years after planned departure of the Federation):

- There will be no "power-sharing" requirement or "Canrillaise veto", but Canrillaise voters will be able to vote on a separate electoral roll guaranteeing them 40% of the seats in Parliament. This was a huge concession for the National Party to offer, and in return, it looks like the National Party have been allowed to substantially have things their way on a number of other not quite so crucial issues.

- There will be a voluntary land reform program. without compulsory purchases powers being used, to redistribute land from wealthy Canrillaise to landless Malgy. The program will be funded from taxpayers money, and topped up by support from the Federation and the international community.

- King Tristan will remain on the throne as a constitutional monarch, although he will not enjoy the King's traditional prerogatives of being able to refuse to sign legislation into law, appoint ministers and invoke emergency powers legislation. Future monarchs will be appointed by a two-thirds majority vote of Parliament. It will be possible to replace a sitting monarch by passing a "constructive vote of no confidence", specifically replacing the sitting monarch with another named individual. The Malgy People's Party hope that in the long-term this may pave the way towards a "Malgy monarchy", perhaps after King Tristan death. However, despite retaining the throne, the House of Demitreous will be required to give up 90% of its assets and landholdings, which will largely be used to enact land reform.

- The Aurorian Patriarchal Church will remain as the official established church, and continue to receive public funds for faith schools. However, it will be required to give up some more of its land, in order to aid the land reform program. It will also be required to move towards a greater integration of Canrillaise and Malgy pupils in its schools. There will also be a commission established to investigate discrimination against Malgyists (OOC: Malagasy paganism).

- A War Crimes Tribunal will be established, although it will be very limited in scope, focusing on only the most egregious offenders.

- The nation name will remain "Noumonde" and will not be changed to "Firenena", "Noumonde-Firenena" or any other such variation.

- Malgy will be recognised as an official language alongside Canrillaise.

- There will be a Bill of Rights and a Supreme Court, led by 9 Supreme Court Justices, to be confirmed by two-thirds majority votes in Parliament.

- The Supreme Noumon Authority will continue to use only troops from the Federation, and will not involve troops from any other countries.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:04 pm

Day 12: Canrillaise Front haggle over War Crimes Tribunal and official language policy

Today has been a day of feverish efforts by the negotiators to try to persuade the Canrillaise Front (CF) and the Malgy People's Party (MPP) to buy into signing up to an agreement. The more moderate Alliance and National Party are said by Convention chairman Jacque St. Pierre to already by "very, very close" to agreement, but everybody is hoping to get the final agreement signed by all four parties, if possible.

The CF are dissenting from the Draft Agreement Plan on two main points.

Firstly, they are demanding that nobody from General Blanchard's regime should be put on trial for war crimes or human rights abuses. This is a vital issue for the CF, particularly as some of their own senior figures could potentially find themselves prosecuted under such an arrangement. This includes their leader, Count Henri Beaumanoir, who served as General Blanchard's Defence Minister.

The second issue they are holding out on is the proposal to make Malgy an official national language. The CF have offered a counter-proposal, whereby Bretillaise (OOC: Breton) and Occilaise (OOC: Occitan) would also join Malgy in becoming an official language alongside Canrillaise, the current official language. This is being seen as a "spoiling proposal", because less than 0.05% of the population speak either Bretillaise or Occilaise, and giving them the status of official languages is widely seen as impractical. "We can't have every public signpost in 4 different languages, 2 of which nobody speaks," was the comment of Masoandro Androkae, the Alliance leader.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:15 pm

Day 13: Kalistani stadium sucked into Noumon peace talks fiasco

Day 13 of the peace talks has been witness to what has probably been one of the most bizarre episodes to occur during any peace negotiations in Terra in recent memory.

This time, a logjam in the talks occurred about 3.15pm, with the Malgy People's Party (MPP) signalling they would refuse to sign any agreement unless Dah is "completely demolished, reduced to rubble and the rubble taken away and incinerated, so not a trace of it remains upon the earth".

Jacque St. Pierre, the Convention chairman, General Fabien Leroux, the Federation-appointed Governor of Noumonde, and other top Federation officials then embarked on feverish round of phone calls to the owners of the Dah Stadium in Kalistan and the Kalistani government, trying to explore what the options would be in term of getting the stadium obliterated.

Sources say the Kalistanis were most shocked and confused by these strange conversations, but nevertheless persisted in dialogue for well over an hour, keen to avoid any potentially embarrassing situation where the Noumon peace talks might somehow even theoretically break down on account of a stadium in Kalistan which is best-known for its music festivals.

Later on, the situation began to make sense. It transpired the Dah the MPP want demolished is not the Dah Stadium in Kalistan, but the Dah Mansion in north-eastern Noumonde, where one of General Blanchard's most notoriously brutal stooges, General René Gaubert, operated from during the years of the dictatorship.

The parties have now agreed that in order to placate the MPP, the Dah Mansion can be demolished.

It now looks like the four parties are close to reaching an agreement, although it may take a day or a few more days before the final details are ironed out.

Jacque St. Pierre and General Fabien Leroux have apologised to the Kalistanis for the confusion, and thanked them for their time, understanding and patience.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Doc » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:17 pm

Primary: Institutionalist Party of Kalistan (IPoK), 5146-

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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Tue Oct 16, 2018 1:35 am

PEACE DEAL SIGNED IN NOUMONDE

At the beginning of the process, few were optimistic that it would happen, but against all the odds - and after overcoming countless hurdles - the peace talks have ended in a deal, to be known as the Noumonde Peace Agreement. All four parties have signed up, namely the Alliance for Progress, the Malgy People's Party, the National Party and the Canrillaise Front.

The main difference to the earlier Draft Agreement Plan is that, as a concession to the Canrillaise Front, there will be no war crimes prosecutions. However, there will be a voluntary Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which will be able to invite individuals to attend its discussions and share their experiences, although it will not have the authority either to compel attendance or to impose any criminal punishments.

In return for this, the Canrillaise Front acceded to the Agreement and dropped its demand for Bretillaise and Occilaise to be recognised as official languages.

To summarise the main points from the final agreement:

The Federation-appointed Supreme Noumon Authority (SNA) will continue to have ultimate sovereignty over Noumonde for the next 20 years (ie. until April 4490), with the ultimate power to over-rule decisions made by the government, Parliament and the Supreme Court. However, the SNA and Federation leaders have made clear they hope to use these powers "sparingly and ideally not at all", and that the goal of the SNA is to "facilitate Noumonde's journey towards peace, stability and constructive self-government". Furthermore, the following are guaranteed for at least the next 30 years (ie. at least until April 4500, 10 years after planned departure of the Federation):

- There will be no "power-sharing" requirement or "Canrillaise veto", but Canrillaise voters will be able to vote on a separate electoral roll guaranteeing them 40% of the seats in Parliament. This was a huge concession for the Canrillaise parties to offer, and in return, it looks like they have been allowed to substantially have things their way on a number of other not quite so crucial issues.

- There will be a voluntary land reform program. without compulsory purchases powers being used, to redistribute land from wealthy Canrillaise to landless Malgy. The program will be funded from taxpayers money, and topped up by support from the Federation and the international community.

- King Tristan will remain on the throne as a constitutional monarch, although he will not enjoy the King's traditional prerogatives of being able to refuse to sign legislation into law, appoint ministers and invoke emergency powers legislation. Future monarchs will be appointed by a two-thirds majority vote of Parliament. It will be possible to replace a sitting monarch by passing a "constructive vote of no confidence", specifically replacing the sitting monarch with another named individual. The Malgy People's Party hope that in the long-term this may pave the way towards a "Malgy monarchy", perhaps after King Tristan death. However, despite retaining the throne, the House of Demitreous will be required to give up 90% of its assets and landholdings, which will largely be used to enact land reform.

- The Aurorian Patriarchal Church will remain as the official established church, and continue to receive public funds for faith schools. However, it will be required to give up some more of its land, in order to aid the land reform program. It will also be required to move towards a greater integration of Canrillaise and Malgy pupils in its schools. There will also be a commission established to investigate discrimination against Malgyists (OOC: Malagasy pagans).

- There will be a voluntary Peace and Reconciliation Commission, but without authority to compel attendance or impose criminal punishments.

- The nation name will remain "Noumonde" and will not be changed to "Firenena", "Noumonde-Firenena" or any other such variation.

- Malgy will be recognised as an official language alongside Canrillaise.

- There will be a Bill of Rights and a Supreme Court, led by 9 Supreme Court Justices, to be confirmed by two-thirds majority votes in Parliament.

- The Supreme Noumon Authority will continue to use only troops from the Federation, and will not involve troops from any other countries.

- The Dah Mansion, which formerly belonged to the notorious General René Gaubert, will be completely demolished, reduced to rubble and the rubble taken away and incinerated, so not a trace of it remains upon the earth.


The Peace Agreement is being seen as a great political coup for Jacque St. Pierre, the long-suffering Convention chairman, General Fabien Leroux, the Federation-appointed Governor of Noumonde, and for the Federation generally.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Wed Oct 17, 2018 12:24 am

October 4470

NOUMONDE ELECTS FIRST MALGY GOVERNMENT

Noumonde has held its first parliamentary election since the Federation invasion, and the results were as follows:

Reserved Canrillaise seats (200)

National Party - 114 seats
Canrillaise Front - 48 seats
Action Canrillaise International - 22 seats
Alliance - 16 seats

Non-Canrillaise seats (300)

Alliance - 153
Malgy People's Party - 99
National Party - 27
Firenenan Freedom Party - 21

This meant the total seat allocations for each party were as follows:

Alliance - 169 seats
National Party - 141 seats
Malgy People's Party - 99 seats
Canrillaise Front - 48 seats
Action Canrillaise International - 22
Firenenan Freedom Party - 21


The Alliance Party and the Malgy People's Party, who together control 268 of the 500 seats, have announced they will form a government - the first all-Malgy government in history. Masoandro Androkae, the Alliance leader, becomes Prime Minister, and Barijaona Rahantasoa, the Malgy People's Party leader, becomes Deputy Prime Minister.

Two new parties have entered parliamentary politics, both of them opposed to the Noumonde Peace Agreement. Action Canrillaise International is well-known already as a hardline Canrillaise group originally established by General Blanchard, and widely suspected (but not proved) to be linked to the violent Canrillaise Liberation Army. It is led by General Blanchard's granddaughter, Leila Lajoie. Meanwhile, the Firenenan Freedom Party is a Malgy group opposed to the concessions made to the Canrillaise at the peace talks. Its leader, Tisbite Rakotovahiny, is a former deputy chairman of the Alliance, and many of its leading figures have previously been prominent in either the Alliance or the Malgy People's Party.

The results from the separate Canrillaise and non-Canrillase electoral rolls show voting in Noumonde is still heavily centred around ethnicity, although both the Alliance and the National Party have demonstrated a limited ability to appeal to voters in both of the main communities.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:16 am

Royals in Palace squatting protest

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Palais de Cristal

Norbert's former King Norbert and his wife, Her Majesty Queen Claudine the King's Mother, are causing a great political rumpus by refusing to vacate the Palais de Cristal, despite it being a condition of the Peace Agreement that it - along with much of their estate - must be surrendered to the government in order to help fund land redistribution in favour of poor landless Malgy.

King Tristan, their son, is pleading with them to be reasonable and go and live instead in one of their numerous other palaces and mansions. However, the royal couple are adamant that "This is where want to live in our retirement" and "None of the other places are big enough for us".

Prime Minister Masoandro Androkae is threatening to send the bailiffs in to evict them unless they vacate the premises.

King Tristan is stuck in the middle of the dispute, desperately trying to control the embarrassment it is causing to the monarchy. Last week he proposed a compromise solution, whereby his parents would be allowed to keep Palais de Cristal in return for surrendering other parts of their estate to the government. However, this offer was rejected both his parents and the government. Two days ago he proposed a second compromise solution, whereby his parents would be allowed to "buy back" the Palace from the government using their vast assets. Again, this proposal was also turned down by both sides.

King Tristan's sister, Princess Ségolène, has taken the side of her parents, saying "They are an elderly couple who have served this nation to their utmost for the whole of their lives, and it is cruel and humiliating to evict them from their home - this is a gross breach of their human rights and their dignity".

In Parliament, the Canrillaise Front and Action Canrillaise International are angrily defending the cause of Norbert and Claudine, whilst the Malgy People's Party and sections of the Alliance are demanding the royal couple should be treated, in the words of one MP, "just like any other illegal squatters". National Party MPs are so far retaining a studious silence, hoping the controversy will somehow blow itself out and go away.
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Re: Noumonde News Service

Postby Aquinas » Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:11 am

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