Chapter 1109: Chapter 118: Beibu Gulf Territory
After acquiring suzerainty over the Pirate Coast, what is the most desired action by the East African Government or Ernst? Naturally, the answer is to perform a thorough purge of the local indigenous forces. As a typical colonial state, East Africa and the United States can be said to have no difference in this regard.
"Currently, we must first calmly proceed with the power transfer of the Pirate Coast from the United Kingdom, establish a strong ruling foundation on the Pirate Coast, and then seek opportunities for local assimilation," Ernst told the government members.
The expression here is very euphemistic. For East Africa’s standard "assimilation," local Black people feel it deeply, essentially two situations: either get lost or be enslaved to death.
However, the situation in the Persian Gulf Region is far more complex than the mainland of East Africa, which makes the East African Government unable to act rashly right now. After all, Black people are not the dumb political forces like Arabs.
If handled carelessly, East Africa might face the collective political forces of the entire Arab world, so brutal methods like massacres cannot be used.
Of course, there isn’t Pan-Arabism in this era, but with Ernst’s understanding of the local religious forces, if East Africa does this, Arab Countries may reopen old accusations in the future, truly turning East Africa’s colony in the Persian Gulf into a presence akin to Israel, which would be counterproductive.
After all, Israel exists as a wedge in the Middle East situation by the US and Soviet Union, and Ernst intends to build a stable oil and gas production base in the Persian Gulf colony, fundamentally different in nature.
Hence, Ernst said, "The Pirate Coast’s name will temporarily be called the Beibu Gulf Territory, led directly by the Central Government, with military control implemented in the current phase, with the Governor directly appointed by the Central Government."
The name Pirate Coast cannot be used as a regional name, as it has already been incorporated into the East African map; calling it Pirate Coast is neither civilized nor auspicious. The reason for naming it Beibu Gulf Territory is simple: the Persian Gulf is in the Northwest of East Africa, its latitude is higher than the mainland latitude of East Africa in the Northern Hemisphere.
Furthermore, Ernst did not want to use the name Persian Gulf Territory, mainly to avoid connections with surrounding Arab Countries.
As for sharing the name with a certain gulf of the erstwhile Far East Empire, it is not too problematic. At this time, the French colonial government of Vietnam refers to the former Beibu Gulf as "Tokyo Bay," indeed the same as the Tokyo Bay of Japan; these are primarily translation issues.
Of course, considering that currently, many German place names in the Far East Empire are primarily translated by East Africa, the former Beibu Gulf of the Far East Empire may revert to its ancient name "Qiongzhou Sea," or it may be "Qiongzhou Bay."
In summary, Ernst renamed the Pirate Coast to "Beibu Gulf Territory," mainly to de-Arabize it and also to de-Persianize it.
Ernst said, "At this stage, we should not take substantial actions in the Beibu Gulf Territory because international public opinion and regional situations are not favorable for us to do so. Of course, some initial expulsion policies can be carried out once our military control is fully implemented."
The Arab population in the Beibu Gulf Territory is not large, with only a few slightly larger tribes. We will first use Alin Oasis as a base and gradually establish a military management framework for the entire Beibu Gulf Territory.
Speaking of Alin Oasis, renamed New Rhine Oasis, as the current stage troop station and political center of Beibu Gulf Territory.
Alin Oasis, from the name alone, reveals its affinity with East Africa. However, Alin is ultimately an Arab name. Therefore, Ernst still wants to change this oasis to a German name.
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East Africa’s intention to completely transform the Beibu Gulf Territory (United Arab Emirates) into national territory is evidently not an easy task.
Though an agreement with the United Kingdom has been reached, it doesn’t automatically mean that East Africa and local indigenous political forces have reached a consensus; the UK government will no longer manage this mess after signing the agreement with East Africa.
In other words, the Pirate Coast essentially created a power vacuum, and after the British left directly, several tribal forces locally took advantage of the situation to take over the power.
And East African Government is evidently not as agreeable as the British Government, after all, East Africa essentially aims at annexation here and does not need these indigenous governments.
Thus, in a short time, East Africa had military conflicts with several local tribes, something also anticipated by the East African Government.
For the complete conquest of the Beibu Gulf Territory, East Africa, besides deploying a powerful naval force for protection, dispatched elite forces from the Northeast Military District to directly engage several local tribal forces.
The Northeast Military District, centered around the East African Somali area, frequently operates in the Northeast Somalia Desert and other arid regions of East Africa, possessing the most abundant desert combat experience in East Africa.
To support the invasion activities of the Pirate Coast, the Northwest Military District dispatched over three thousand troops, including a principal cavalry regiment composed of camels.
In fact, given the population scale of the Pirate Coast, merely simpler conquest could learn from the United Kingdom’s governance model, and the East African Government wouldn’t need to deploy such a "large-scale" combat force.
However, considering East Africa intends to conduct refined governance here, and the Pirate Coast’s extensive area, unfamiliar territory to East African troops, its population, and water distribution, East Africa out of prudence, directly drew forces from the main national troops for invasion activities on the Pirate Coast.
Of course, the East African Army is not entirely blind here; East Africa also holds plenty of intelligence on the Pirate Coast, and there are guides to support them.
Right, those acting as guides for East Africa are the Omanis, or rather, the original Zanzibar people with long-standing interests with East Africa.
With East Africa’s support, the Zanzibar syndicate reformed composed primarily of original Zanzibar people in East Africa counts as a significant non-government force within the entire Arab region, based in Oman, with trade activities spread throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and even Nanyang and North Africa.
Even with guides and formidable military strength, East Africa’s conquest of the entire Pirate Coast lasted nearly half a year before concluding.
Given the indigenous forces’ mobilized crime across land spanning tens of thousands of square kilometers, complete cleanup is no easy feat.
Moreover, wary of East Africa as a new player, numerous surrounding Arab forces reached out to aid the local indigenous forces on the Pirate Coast.
Hence, to conclude the war, East Africa started to exert pressure on neighboring Arab Countries while thoroughly expelling the original Pirate Coast’s indigenous population. Initially, only a few thousand resided on the Pirate Coast.
As East Africa occupied key local oases, water sources, and villages, these indigenous people displayed ignorance, continuing to covertly support resistance organizations’ guerrilla activities. Therefore, to completely sever these guerrilla forces’ survival space and achieve the East African Government’s "cleansing" activities.
The East African Government dropped pretenses, directly exiling all Pirate Coast’s men, women, seniors, and children to neighboring Arab Countries, which received several thousand people relatively easily, with most fleeing to the Ottoman Empire and a few to Oman.
Meanwhile, the British watched the show throughout, from which the East African Government understood why the British allocated the Pirate Coast to East Africa. Originally, the British governance here was nominally only, so they had long anticipated that East Africa’s takeover wouldn’t proceed smoothly.
Moreover, the surrounding complexity means fully conquering the Pirate Coast would inevitably invite external forces’ interference.
The half-year-long war might be the most troublesome war event East Africa has faced since the South African war.
Just the casualty numbers reached as high as three hundred, primarily from the Pirate Coast’s original guerrilla and surprise attack activities; however, with the war’s end and the Pirate Coast’s original inhabitants cleared by East Africa, the East African Government achieves its goals.
Concerning those discreetly aiding the Pirate Coast resistance organizations during the war, except for the United Kingdom, East Africa responded accordingly, marking East Africa’s inaugural military and political intervention in the Middle East region.
