Hobrazia

[Pragma]

Uncertainty, but quiet celebration, in the Deltarian heartlands
23 February 5689



The ethnic Deltarian heartlands, referred to by endonym 'Adelte Kheku', have been some of the hardest-hit by the Khmishiashvili dynasty's domination of Hobrazia. The rebellion of the 'Brotherhood of the Mountains' in the 40s and 50s solidified a complete collapse in inter-ethnic trust and a perpetual set of off-the-books discriminatory measures against the Deltarian people. It is no surprise, therefore, that across the region the reaction to the revelation of Vasil Khimshiashvili's poor health has been one of sequestered smiles and private celebration.

In 5645, late in the reign of Zaal Khimshiashvili, peaceful protests over poor living conditions and perceived corruption in the city of Zariya were met with a bloody response by national troops in what became a turning point for the Deltarian people. 36 people were killed on the day, and several more in raids that followed as Astoria clamped down on the region.

The insurgency that followed was one of the first major challenges of the reign of Vasil Khimshiashvili, who allied with ethnic Hobrazian elements inside Deltaria as well as minority Hosian-Deltarian clans in a brutal campaign that caused massive internal displacement. The Brotherhood of the Mountains were deemed terrorists, and they did engage in targeted bombings of road checkpoints and ambushes on police vehicles. Those suspected of sympathising with them were dealt with harshly, and their actual members were often subject to extrajudicial violence. 

What happened in eastern Deltaria at that time has been described by Deltarian dissidents and international observers as an act of ethnic cleansing, where hundreds of thousands of lowland Deltarians were forced to flee into the mountainous western regions, leaving towns abandoned. In the decades since, ethnic Hobrazians from the north have moved into municipalities like Zariya and Moluki as empty neighbourhoods became cheap property investments for well-connected businessmen. Those who stayed were mostly Hosians who were not sympathetic to the Ahmadist Brotherhood of the Mountains.

In an attempt to avoid international censure, the regime launched a propaganda campaign which saw Hobrazian-guarded Hosian-Deltarian construction workers put up poorly-constructed concrete towers on the outskirts of existing Deltarian towns to manage the scores of people living in tents. When one collapsed, killing 45 people, coverage was heavily censored in the state-aligned press.

The result is that ethnic Deltarians now make up less than 40% of the entirety of historic Deltaria, but nearly 90% of the population in the four western provinces known as 'Adelte Kheku': Gvardesko, Dzhikhikhabli, Taukhalo and Shunzhukai. These are four of the poorest and least developed provinces in the entire country. Unemployment, especially among the youth, is very high. Around 40% of young ethnic-Deltarian men in the Adelte Kheku are not employed. With the death of the long-time dictator and the ensuing power struggle, Deltarian clan leaders remain uncertain of who can provide them the economic and social support needed. The mass of unemployed fighting-age men in the western Deltarian mountains is a dangerous powder-keg in a nation facing questions about its future.



დემოს ხმაც (Demos Khmats, "Voice of the People") is an online news organization run by members of the anti-Khimshiashvili Hobrazian diaspora.