The Matriarchy of Kerlile has refused to confirm or deny any affiliation with the Prime Minister of Greater Acadia, Christine Belle, who was arrested on Friday morning on suspicion of being a member of the “Aurora Programme”, a Kerlian sleeper-agent programme whose existence was revealed in the aftermath of the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War in 2018. The Council of Kerlile released a statement reiterating that the Aurora Programme has been discontinued since 2020, and that any former members of the programme are private individuals who are not employed by the Kerlian government in relation to the programme.
The Council has never openly admitted that the Aurora Programme was a sleeper agent programme, instead insisting that it was an “educational initiative aimed to support orphans”. They did, however, state in 2020 that the programme was discontinued without specifying its initial objective. Despite this lack of overt admission, there have been many all-but-confirmed rumours that the Kerlian government negotiated with several other states regarding Aurora agents, and that Aurora agents were ordered to return to Kerlile in 2020 – with many refusing the order.
Calliope Nussbaum, a Women’s Party member of the Kerlian Parliament, said in a speech following the revelations: “Greater Acadia has a history of attempting to scapegoat Kerlile to cover up their own internal political inadequacies. They have used this bogeyman of so-called Auroras to discredit their female Prime Minister and remove her from power, because they can’t stand the idea that women are actually competent. Mark my words, Belle will be replaced by another stale old man, just like the patriarchy wants.”
It is unknown whether or not the Kerlian government is still in contact with those Auroras who allegedly refused the order to return home in 2020, after a worldwide hunt for Auroras led to the arrests of numerous women across multiple countries on suspicion of being part of the programme. Rumours have also circulated that individuals associated with the programme have been “disappearing” in recent years – with some reports of an altercation in Huenya in 2023 resulting in the kidnapping of several individuals under the protection of former Huenyan leader Yauhmi.
Despite several Women’s Party members of Parliament calling for the government of Kerlile to petition for Belle’s release, Kerlile has issued no official response in this manner to Greater Acadia. Kerlile retains a sizeable military presence in the north-west of the country near the Greater Acadian border, however the numbers have remained stable over the past months with no indication of escalation in that direction. It is worth noting that the Xiomeran military base in Kerlile was built following Kerlile’s 2023 altercation with Greater Acadia after a Kerlian missile test accidentally entered their territorial waters in Lake Wallace.
