Six

Physical combat came in full force in many regions. Easterners were the targets. Another voice had grown which easily cannot be silenced had emerged on the political and military scene. He was a British trained, the first in Kandala to get a degree Cambridge University but came home to pick a soldier as a job. He was not the type to be intimidated. His father had been the first man to import goods to Africa across the coast and oceans and was called by Lugard the African eyes. His father had so much money that it made him think that he could just do anything and got free. He had been said to have gotten a British parliament only daughter pregnant and failed to appear before the queen on an invitation to come and explained himself. He exerted so much influence that everyone looked up to him as a voice that would speak when it was time for this Kandala region. He had made his many supporters to hate the Union Jack with all their heart because he said it divides the people wherever it goes. He had hated union jack and its message to the extent that he could not bear an English name. It was a symbol of persecution, of domination, a symbol of exploitation. He said that Africa, Kandala had passed the age of petition, the age of resolution, the age of diplomacy, that they were in the age of action — plain, blunt and positive action. That was the thought of everyone from Kandala East. He said, he knew Kandala could never be one. They were too different to be one, to speak and to act as one. As government was busy running the affairs of the country, he was running his mind on this to do to achieve his dreams.

For these three years, this conflict torn the country apart. It was everywhere in the news that this African country was burning. Many had been killed in their homes and offices. It was not yet a full blown war. Some knew it was not going to stop in the way things had been going.  At first many thought it was a disturbance, but the disturbance soon turned into a full-scale insurrection that carried these whole three fruitless years. The remote cause was the death of more great names in the military which many in opposition to the new government plotted.

         A passenger plane with General Udor on board skidded off the runway close to the airport, caught fire and crashed into a crowded office. Everyone died. The plotters armed to the teeth choose to fulfill their agreement with General kofi to eliminate General Udor who would succeed the retiring General or as an option to grant each region a self-government. General Udor had made a speech full of invective against the government in a recent live telecast, challenging the sovereign power of General Kofi who had been a thorn in the flesh of the existing government headed by General Sango. There had been a lot of bad blood between the two families and everyone knew it. They too knew it would end with war and within them, they were preparing for the showdown or a bloody coup. General Udor who was naturally a cautious person anticipated this war, that he sent his children and family out of the country six months earlier.

 In previous crashes where the plane could be diverted to another region, this time there was no demand, no diversion. The deal was carried out as planned. Then Udor died. In schools, barracks, stations and government offices, flag stood up all over the place and in little less than two hours, the news flashed around Kandala and thus and thus around the world.