FLNC-Canal Historique
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| FLNC-Canal Historique | |
|---|---|
| FLNC-Canale Storicu | |
 Flag of Corsica with an FLNC wordmark at the bottom, used often during FLNC-CS press conferences | |
| Leaders | Charles Pieri, François Santoni |
| Dates of operation | 25 November 1990 - 23 December 1999 |
| Split from | National Liberation Front of Corsica (1976-1990) |
| Merged into | FLNC Union des combattants |
| Country | Corsica (France) |
| Motives | To establish an independent Corsican state |
| Active regions | Attacks across Corsica and in mainland France, Italy |
| Allies |
|
| Opponents | |
| Battles and wars | Corsican conflict |
The FLNC-Canal Historique (Corsican: Canale Storicu; abbreviated FLNC-CS) was an armed paramilitary and guerrilla organization created in 1990 from a split within the command structure of the original FLNC. The organization was created to be a radically militant force, rejecting the idea of ceasefire with the French government. During Corsica's “Lead Years”, a violent period of intense guerrilla warfare in the 1990s, the FLNC-CS was the most violent and active organization, engaging in intense conflict with both the French government and armed forces, but also with other nationalist organizations, engaging in a war with Alain Orsoni’s FLNC-Canal Habituel (Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA).[1] In 1999, The FLNC-CS became one of the founding members of the FLNC Union des combattants,[2] a guerrilla organization which remains active today following the end of a nine-year long ceasefire.[3]
The FLNC-CS formed after a two-year long dissident campaign within the FLNC, during which brigade leaders and individual divisions of the FLNC began to separate due to their views of the 1988 ceasefire as “illegitimate”.[4] On 25 November 1990, the town of Borgo was invaded, and in the same day during the occupation the dissident militants declared the creation of the “Historic Channel” (Corsican: Canale Storicu; French: Canal Historique) of the FLNC.[1] One month earlier, the “Habituel Channel” (FLNC-Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) was formed out of the dissolution of the brigade council and Orsoni’s seizure of power.[1] These two groups would be engaged in a drawn out civil war until the dissolution of the FLNC-CA in 1997. In 1996, the FLNC-CS would begin to lose footing to Fronte Ribellu, a group that split from the FLNC-CS, and the FLNC-5 May (FLNC-5 Maghju, FLNC-5M), a split of the FLNC-CA dedicated to remaining militant against the FLNC-CS in the face of a “inevitable” FLNC-CA disarming campaign.[5] In 1999, the FLNC-CS southern division leader François Santoni split from the organization to form Armata Corsa, a hyper-militant organization that carried out a large number of assassinations and organized attacks on the FLNC-CS and other guerrillas as well as French authorities. On 23 December 1999, the FLNC-CS, Fronte Ribellu, the FLNC-5M, and a small organization called Clandestinu formed the FLNC Union des combattants to better organize against both Armata Corsa and the French.[1]