Guyane (1983: Doomsday)

TODAY
The former French colony of French Guyana is today a country unified with the former neighbour state of Suriname with a unique legal status. It is since January 1st 2009 under direct administration by the League of Nations. A 3-person High Commission consisting of a French a Suriname and a LoN representative head the government.

A large number of International companies and organisations have settled in the territory, taking advantage of both the ideal location in between the SotuhAmerican/European Hemispheres and the extremely attractive and liberal tax laws. The country is often considered la "Suiza Suramericana", the "South American Switzerland". The economy is in stable growth and the perspectives are promising. The commander of the French-Foreign Legion in the "Korou Incident", Jean-Pierre Alazaire, has been President since 1997 and is now the "French" representative in the new LoN - Administration.

THE KOUROU INCIDENT
French Guyana itself faired relatively well, the French-like authorities keeping control by early declaring martial law. The sudden loss of French aid sent the economy into free fall, but the overall situation was stable.The importance of a small country like French Guyana being relatively low, normally its neighbours would not have paid much attention to it as everyone was concerned wih securing it´s own nations survival. But in the case of French Guyana the existence of the ESA "Guiana Space Centre" made it interesting for it neighbours as the base survived Doomsday without being hit. Quickly,the neighbouring states got word of the valuable installation surviving and rallied to gain their advantage in the supposed power vacuum. The WWII - fate of german rocket technology seemed to be repeating...

But the Detachment of the French Foreign Legion securing the insallaion did not abandon post. A detachment of elite units from Brazil arrived on November 2nd, 1983. Stunned by the still-functioning defense of the French Foreign Legion, the Brazilians tried to take the installation by force. But after a short siege, the commanding officer of the Legion regiment demanded a cease-fire or threatened to destroy the whole installation. He also demanded official negotiations with the Brazilian government and demanded French Authority of the country as a whole being respected and untouched.

3 days later, the Brazilians retreated and an official emissary arrived.

After long negotiations between teh local authorities and Brazil an agreement was made. French Guyana was put under joint Brazil/French administration and access to the facilities to Brazil scientists -for peaceful use- was granted. The failure in the "Kouru Incident" costed the Brazilian military commander its post, but the then commander of the FFL is now the French Representative in the LoN Government of Suriname/French Guyana.

The following years
The following years were dominitad by the urge to secure supplies to the population and to maintain the installations at Korou. A stable and lasting cooperation and relation between Brazil and the local French authorities manifested.Then, in 1999, a sudden move by Suriname stunned the French Guyanians already thinking about becoming a state of Brazil.

Suriname Surprise
In 1999, the Suriname leader offered a formal unification of the two countries into a state based on the old Switzerland, maintaining neutrality from the larger neighbour state while being able to benefit from both the increasing South American integration as well as the European Remainder Governments (along with the ANZC) becoming interested in the countries - mainly due to Korou, of course.

After a short period of intense discussion within the government and a quite neutral reaction from Brazil it was decided to hold a referendum about the proposal in both countries in July 2000. After a very intense campaign the proposal to unify was approved by an overall margin of 57% (French Guyana 53, Suriname 65%).

So a complicated constitution was ratified, modeled on the old Swiss system including many elemtns of direct democracy. As a concession o Brazil the country declared the "everlasting neutrality" and neglected t have an army on its own (apart from the FFl guarding Kourou). The new state came into being January 1st 2001, coinciding with the first start of a new "Odysee " Rocket from Korou.