After a week of bruising negotiations in Yeocheon, Haesan, the Xiomeran and Milintican governments have reached an agreement for the end of hostilities between them.
The terms of the agreement were not particularly favorable to Milintica. But President Matōchmizalo acknowledged to DTNS that they “could have been far worse”. Under the agreement, labeled the Treaty of Yeocheon, the Milintican government agreed to release a captured Xiomeran surveillance plane and its crew. The Milinticans also agreed to dismantle their aging Karauna nuclear plant in stages, in exchange for sufficient power capacity to replace its output. A combination of solar and wind power equipment will be donated to Milintica out of “surplus stock” by the Xiomeran government. The actual dismantling of Karauna will occur over a year, as the new power producing equipment is brought online. In a significant concession, Xiomera agreed to allow LIDUN to oversee the dismantling of Karauna. The Xiomerans had initially demanded to be allowed to oversee it themselves, but agreed to allow LIDUN to do so as a “neutral party”.
“Our main objective concerning Karauna was to make sure that no future Milintican leader could threaten us or the rest of Caxcana, either through belligerence or through incompetence. That measure was achieved,” Xiomeran Minister of State Toquauhtli told DTNS.
Xiomera will retain its control over the Ngāmotu and Ōkarae islands, which it occupied at the start of its military campaign against Milintica. It will also retain the Chenalco Islands, known as Aoatea in Milintica. The territorial cession was “a tough pill to swallow, but we had the choice of losing three islands of ours, or all of them,” President Matōchmizalo. The President acknowledged that giving Xiomera the islands would be a tough issue for him politically, but said that Neina Arana was ultimately to blame for putting Milintica in “an almost impossible situation at the negotiating table.”
In exchange for the new land, Xiomera did give Milintica another concession. The Xiomerans dropped their previous demand for Milintica to sign a non-aggression agreement with the Empire. Minister Toquauhtli acknowledged dropping that demand would create a political issue itself for the Xiomerans. He dismissed it, however, by stating “we have already shown we can dismantle and destroy Milintica at our leisure.” If Milintica “gives us cause or need to in the future, we shall just come back in and finish the job. And the Milinticans know that. We are confident they will now behave themselves, and will address it if they do not.”
One of the most contentious points of debate – the fate of Neina Arana and her inner council – was likewise a victory of sorts for Milintica. The Xiomerans dropped their demand that Arana and her fellow leaders be sent to Xiomera for trial. Minister Toquauhtli said that “we have made it clear to President Matōchmizalo that if they are too lenient with Arana and her cronies, Xiomera will still take matters into its own hands.” For his part, President Matōchmizalo said that “no one, including the Xiomerans, need fear that Neina Arana and those who helped her will receive anything but the full force and weight of Milintican justice.”
The final Xiomeran demand – a written apology from President Matōchmizalo and his government for “Milintican outrages against Xiomera” – was likewise resolved in a somewhat watered-down fashion. The President agreed to write a formal apology “speaking for Neina Arana and her government, the previous government of Milintica”, thus distancing him and his own government from the apology. This was accepted by the Xiomerans, who deemed it “good enough to satisfy our needs”.
The Milintican government praised the Haesanite negotiators who helped the two sides come to an accord. “We thank both Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Ji-hwan and Minister of Caxcanan Affairs Kim Hae-rin for their excellent efforts in mediating a difficult discussion with a very difficult other side,” President Matōchmizalo said. “It is not an exaggeration to say that things would have gone much worse for us without their efforts to suggest compromises and mediate with the Xiomeran side.”
For their part, the Xiomerans also thanked Haesan and its team for “helping to create a set of terms which satisfies Imperial honor and sufficiently reprimands Milintica for its misconduct, while giving the losing side in this the necessary ways to save face from their debacle.”
