Batavia to reunite?

ST ANNA/'s-KONINGENWAARDE – Yesterday, an agreement was submitted almost simultaneously to the legislatures of both the St Anna and the 's-Koningenwaarde factions of the Kingdom of Batavia, aiming at reuniting the country after an almost yearlong split. This split, as our readers surely know, occurred on April the 17^th of last year, when colonel Benedictus Windsor staged a coup against General van Veen, who at that time was head of the country. Windsor then immediately went on to invite Jingdao to annex the country. Van Veen, meanwhile, fled to Sint-Anna, which, together with some other possessions of the Kingdom, had not been annexed by Jingdao, and reorganised his government on a forum provided for by the Flemish. Both governments had since then refused to recognise the other one's legitimacy, each of them claiming to be the only true Batavian government, despite the eventual Jingdaoese withdrawal.

There had been several attempts at compromises, but each one of them were, in the end, aborted. It seems, however, that this agreement, signed in loyalist-held Lannion by Vice-Admiral Van Ampersant (representing Sint-Anna) and Trydan van Gebar (representing 's-Koningenwaarde), has a sufficiently broad base of support on both sides to warrant some degree of optimism. We have learned from confidential sources that the proposal enjoys a unanimous support amongst the Sint-Anna political elite, while in 's-Koningenwaarde two of its three active citizens have voted in favour. The main exception appears to be Robert Windsor, who some days ago already indicated that he would have no part in this endeavour; it should, however, be said that he has yet to cast his vote.

The agreement appears to have been kept to a bare minimum. An interim government is to be formed, composed of the aforementioned Van Ampersant and Van Gebar, headed by Max van Schaerbosch, the former Batavian king who chose the Sint-Anna side in the conflict but whose late re-entry into the Batavian public life seems to make him unstained enough for the 's-Koningenwaarde Batavians. This new government is to organise fresh parliamentary elections and to prepare a draft constitution, to be considered and amended by this new parliament. The agreement also states that all persons recognised by at least one of the sides to be a Batavian citizen, shall henceforth be considered a Batavian citizen by the authorities of the newly united Batavia, as well as that all treaties made by one of the parties shall be considered to remain valid. This is especially important to the people on Nova Batavia/the Brettish Isles, as the 's-Koningenwaarde recognition of Brettish sovereignty was, of course, considered void by Sint-Anna. Lastly, the united Batavia shall be hosted on a new, neutral forum, batavie.micronatie.nl.

We, at least, hope this will be the end of a bitterly fought battle, whereby to many a harsh word has fallen and which, frankly, belongs to one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the Dutch sector. Is perhaps the recently signed treaty of recognition between Flanders and Jingdao, two countries whose relationship (although it has always been a tumultuous one) had suffered severely because of the Batavian conflict, a second sign, indicating that this is the time of the Great Détente in the Dutch sector? History has learned that a certain antagonism seems to be inherent to this sector, but one can only applaud those who try to be peacemakers.