| Coruscant_Journal | Date: Thursday, 13 Oct 2011, 9:30 PM | Message # 1 |
 Major
Group: Administrators
Messages: 98
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Cronese Refugees Killed in ''Accident''
Embaril, Allied Tion Sector — As many as 2,000 refugees of Cronese descent are believed to have been killed when the vessel transporting them to the Cronese Mandate from the planet Embaril opened its loading doors, venting the vessel's atmosphere and exposing its passengers to the vacuum of space. The refugees—some thousands of young men, but many women and children too—had been departing the planet Embaril, the government of which has expressed hostility to the planet's Cronese minority and also chartered the vessel to transport them. Both the government of Embaril and the transport company, TionTrans, claim the event was an "accident," but the Cronese Mandate, which has opened its borders to Cronese refugees, has called for a comprehensive investigation.
"Embaril has become increasingly hostile to the Cronese people," said a spokesman for Robeir XXII, the ruler of the Cronese Mandate, "It would not allow us to transport these refugees to Mandate space, and now thousands of them are dead. Whether directly or indirectly, Embaril is responsible for this." As a result of the incident, Robeir has directed the Senator of the Cronese Mandate to oppose Embaril's petition for Senate representation, which has been pending for some days and which Embaril's Senator-elect McCray claims is necessary to voice his world's opposition to a recent buildup of the Cronese Mandate's fleet and consequent fears of Cronese "expansionism." It's believed that these fears are the reason for Embaril's increasing animosity for its Cronese minority.
Robeir claims that the Cronese Mandate's fleet buildup is for defense purposes only, and that the Mandate has no expansionist ambitions. He has advocated for Cronese refugees throughout the Tion Cluster, and the Senator of the Cronese Mandate had told Senator-elect McCray in advance that "if any passenger on the ship is harmed, it will constitute an act of aggression towards the Mandate and will be responded to in the proper way."
McCray maintains that Embaril is not responsible for what TionTrans claims was an accident. "Deeply sad," McCray told the Senate, but "none of my world's fault or responsibility." According to the company, "the accidental depression of an emergency bulkhead opening subsystem during maintenance" was to blame for opening the ship's loading doors and killing its passengers. TionTrans has offered to pay restitution to the families of those killed, but the Cronese Mandate has not backed down from its claim that Embaril should be held responsible too, and has proposed that Embaril be denied entry to the Senate.
Both sides appear to be avoiding saber rattling, but tensions have undeniably escalated—according to our correspondent, many on Embaril now fear the Cronese Mandate will invade the planet, and the Cronese Mandate fears reprisals against the remaining Cronese minority on Embaril. The Coruscant Journal will continue to follow the dispute and its repercussions in the Imperial Senate as the story develops.
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