Chapter 768 Peace talks and rescue

On September 5, a consultation meeting on resolving the conflict in Kolo and Benin was held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

In addition to the presidents and delegations of the conflicting parties Kolo and Benin, the meeting also included the relevant envoys of the African Union Council, the Economic Community of West African States, and France, Britain and China.

Kolo President Jammeh Bongo put forward several requirements for resolving the conflict with Benin.

These requirements include that Benin must apologize for allowing the harassment in Kolo before; that domestic armed elements must be strictly controlled from entering Kolo to attack again; that Kolo must compensate for the losses caused by this and that the results of the investigation into the incident be announced.

Of course, Benin did not show weakness either. They strongly condemned the Kolo military forces for entering Benin to carry out operations, believing that this seriously violated Benin's sovereignty, caused casualties to its civilians, and destroyed some of its facilities...

Things have developed to this point. On the surface, the public has its own reasons, but in fact, everyone knows what is going on.

Moreover, Kolo is not afraid of the conflict continuing. Kolo's intelligence agency and Kolo Corps have even planned to provide weapons assistance to small anti-government armed forces, or "terrorists", located in northern Benin near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger...

And after entering the Benin waters to attack, the two frigates of the Kolo Corps, as well as some aircraft and land forces, also conducted a three-day joint exercise in the area near Benin...

Well, it is not a signal of threatening, but it is really ready to familiarize itself with some tactics of joint operations.

This makes Benin very nervous. After all, although their army equipment is what it should be, such as light tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, etc., the power on the sea is dwarfed by that of the Kolo Corps.

And most of the equipment of the Benin Army comes from some "outdated" equipment from France and China, which is very old - relatively advanced, regardless of whether the other party sells it or not, the key is that Benin can't afford it.

As for the equipment of the Kolo Corps, most of them are standard equipment of the British and American coalition forces directly transported back from the Iraqi battlefield. The generation gap between the two sides is very obvious...

Since Benin chose to participate in the peace talks, it also means that they understand that if a more intense conflict really breaks out, they have no chance of winning - and they are not stupid. They may gain some benefits by helping the French, but they will not sacrifice themselves.

Therefore, the final negotiation result will definitely not be who has the loudest voice, who is unreasonable, and who can get the benefits.

It still depends on the strength of each party as support...

Finally, three days later, the "Kobe Abuja Agreement" signed by Kolo and Benin under the coordination of all parties...

It can be said that it was beyond the expectations of many people.

According to this agreement, first of all, Benin is willing to reach a consensus with Kolo on military coordination and cooperation, and the two sides will establish relevant mechanisms, jointly enforce the law, and maintain the safety of the route in the Gulf of Guinea.

Then Benin and Kolo will conduct reciprocal negotiations on finance and trade to initially establish a smooth financial and trade common market.

...

If you don't know that the conflict just broke out between the two sides, just looking at the content of this agreement, you would think that Benin and Kolo are close partner countries...

So whether it is Kolo's President Jammeh Bongo or Benin, they can be said to be mature "politicians" with soft bodies.

It is obvious that Kolo finally gave up the obvious benefits - such as asking Benin to apologize and compensate.

But it got more tangible benefits, which can allow Benin to open up financial and trade markets to Kolo on a larger scale.

Of course, in name, the two sides have a reciprocal relationship, but in essence, in terms of the strength of both sides in finance and trade, this result is definitely the most beneficial to Kolo. Kolo financial institutions and companies, including the United Bank for Africa, will be able to conduct business in Benin more conveniently in the future.

Think about it, who shouted "free trade" the loudest? It must not be a country with a lame manufacturing industry...

As for Benin, they are not stupid. After this incident, although they may be able to get a little benefit from the French, the losses caused by the interruption of trade and other cooperation with Kolo are far greater than what they have gained.

Therefore, after Kolo gave them a way out, they had to change their attitude quickly.

Are they really going to war just because of their temper? What's the benefit? They may not win the war...

At the same time, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is also spreading.

"It is said that the situation in Ireland is not ideal. Their finance minister has already asked the European Central Bank for help when attending a meeting in Brussels..."

In the phone, Daisy told Barron the latest news.

"It is said that in order to prevent the crisis from spreading further to Spain, Hungary and other countries, the European Central Bank is also discussing with Ireland about helping them, but after some of the news was passed back to Ireland, some people were very dissatisfied with the 6% loan interest rate required by the European Central Bank. They thought the interest rate was too high and called it "usury"..."

So far, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and a considerable number of EU member states have provided the first bailout to Greece, which was the first to experience the sovereign debt crisis. According to their requirements, Greece must achieve the first-stage goals they required before considering the next round of bailouts...

It was at this time that Ireland also said that it could not hold on any longer...

In fact, as early as when Iceland's debt crisis broke out after the subprime mortgage crisis, Ireland had already shouted that it could not hold on any longer...

However, Europe did not take any further rescue actions at that time - perhaps after seeing Greece successfully rescued, they did not want to work hard on their own...

Although the actions of the European Central Bank have shown that in order to ensure that the euro does not collapse, they will still provide rescue to some countries in debt crisis.

But like Greece, these rescues will definitely have corresponding conditions and requirements, such as requiring their countries to reduce spending and make their finances healthy. In addition, these rescues will not be free or low-interest loans, but will be given a relatively normal interest rate.

For example, this time they insisted that even if it was a rescue, the loan interest rate for Ireland would not be lower than 6%...

From this, it can be known that the negotiations between Ireland and the European Central Bank on rescue are unlikely to be reached in the short term.