France FLNC-Canal Historique Jacques ChiracAlain JuppéJean-Louis DebréJacques ToubonClaude Érignac Charles PieriFrançois SantoniJean-Guy TalamoniPierre LorenziJean-Dominique Allegrini The Tralonca peace campaign was a 10-month period of negotiations and an attempted settlement between the government of France and the National Liberation Front of Corsica-Canal Historique (Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica-Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS), the largest Corsican paramilitary group at the time.

The agreements were meant to bring stability to a then war-ridden Corsica in hopes of an eventual peace with all of the factions present during the period.

[3] The project was spearheaded by French prime minister Alain Juppé and FLNC-CS co-leader François Santoni.

[4] The agreements failed largely due to the unwillingness of the French authorities to accept amnesty proposals and cease arrests of alleged FLNC-CS members, as well as Juppé’s general hostility towards Corsican separatists.

[5] The process was interrupted multiple times due to wars between nationalist groups, most notably resulting in the death of an FLNC-CS officer and president of A Cuncolta Naziunalista, Pierre Lorenzi, who was assassinated by members of the rival FLNC-5 May.

[6] On 10 January 1996, the process officially began when the FLNC-CS held a press conference in the occupied town of Tralonca and declared a truce of 3 months, with the possibility to renew the peace if negotiations continued with positive progress.

[4] The beginning of a peace process worried many loyalists in the Corsican Assembly that concessions would be made regarding the status of Corsica.

Thus, on 16 January, a group of loyalist councilors paid a personal visit to prime minister Alain Juppé, expressing their opposition to institutional change in Corsica.

[4] In the National Assembly, Jean-Louis Debré and Alain Juppé were harshly criticized by conservative deputies for negotiating with the FLNC-CS, whom they perceived as “terrorists”.

[7] On 9 February, minister of justice Jacques Toubon visited Corsica to discuss the peace process and assess the situation.

[4] On 21 August, François Santoni harshly criticized Juppé and the state of the peace deals in the weekly editorial U Ribombu.

[4] On 5 October, the FLNC-Canal Historique, against the words of Santoni, prematurely ended the truce by committing a large bomb attack on the city hall of Bordeaux, Palais Rohan.

[4] On 8 March, a machine-gun attack targeted the home of Guy Benhamou, a journalist for the newspaper Libération, an expert on Corsican affairs, and a pro-peace activist.

[4] On 12 March, Alain Orsoni, leader of the FLNC-CA, denounced the peace deal between the FLNC-CS and the French government.

[12] On 17 October 1996, the FLNC-CS committed two large bomb attacks in Nîmes, targeting the local tax office and the courthouse.

Shortly after the meeting, a judicial investigation is opened into the FLNC-CS guerrillas present in Tralonca during the initial press conference on 10 January.

The response would be of unexpected scale.”On 22 October, a parliamentary committee on the FLNC-CS was officially formed, composed of 40 members, none of which are deputies or senators from Corsica.

Tralonca’s failure influenced the creation of the Matignon agreements, a series of negotiations between nationalist organizations, both military and political, and the government, which began in November 1999.

[17][12] The failure of the Tralonca peace campaign was cited by François Santoni as one of the many reasons for his departure from the FLNC-CS and his creation of Armata Corsa.