Banana Soldiers Arrive In Pearu Among Rising Tensions
By J. "Greenie" Pearson of the Pearu Post-Gazette
Troops from the Republic of Bananastan, colloquially known as the Banana Republic, landed in Pearu on Tuesday in preparation for joint military games with the Pearuvian military. The military games come among high tensions between FATO and its archrival, the Melon Pact. The military exercises were moved up from early next year to illustrate FATO's dedication to protecting Pearu. On Tuesday Bananian president Juan Banana announced that some of the Bananian army would remain stationed in Pearu indefinitely to help deter Melonese aggression.
FATO, the Fruit Alliance Treaty Organization, includes the Republic of Bananastan, Pearu and a number of other northern nations. The organization has the stated goal of providing mutual defense for all its members. The alliance was formed in the aftermath of the Great War to safeguard the north from the expansion of revolutionary Seedist ideology promoted by the Melon Pact. FATO has been most worried about Pearu given its close proximity to the Melon Pact.
Pictured: Banana troops in Pearu near the Pearuvian mountains
While relations between the two blocks have never been warm, they have become exceptionally strained in the last few years. Expansionist policies on the part of the Melon Pact have raised alarm in Pearu. Last summer Melon Pact forces invaded the Seedist Republic of Cantaloupe, or SRC, deposed the government and installed a puppet regime. The SRC had historically been aligned with the Melon Pact, but widespread pro-democracy and pro-nortern protests undermined the government and forced it to make concessions at odds with the Melon Pacts' interests. In response columns of Melonian tanks rolled into the Cantaloupee capital of Cantalouple and installed a more loyal allied government.
The new Cantoloupee government has worried northern foreign policy experts. Formerly, the SRC was nominally allied with the Melon Pact, but the new administration applied for formal admission to the Melon Pact immediately after entering office. In early June the Melon Pact accepted the SRC's application, and in July the SRC and the Watermelon Union struck a deal to permanently station Watermelonese soldiers in the SRC.
The prescence of Watermelonese soldiers in the SRC has spooked FATO leaders and pushed them to take action to counteract Melonese influence. FATO has paid special attention to Pearu which lies on the SRC's northern border. Any further expansion by the Melon Pact would likely need to come through Pearu.
Melon Pact diplomats have reacted badly to the planned military games. Watermelonese Premier Vasily Rinds called the war games "An unprecedented show of anti-revolutionary malice." Supreme Leader Harry Spanspek of the SRC's puppet regime has asked other Melon Pact nations to send further military support to offset "threats posed by northern forces on our border".
President Banana flew to the Pearuvian capital, Pearis to meet with Prime Minister Raymond Concorde. The two are hammering out the final details of plans to establish a base for the Bananian air force outside of the Pearuvian second city, Pearsepolis. Other FATO allies have begun talks with the Pearuvian goverment to station military units within the borders of their vulnerable ally.