The Corsican conflict (Corsican: Conflittu Corsu; French: Conflit Corse) is an armed and territorial conflict on the island of Corsica which began in 1976 between the government of France and Corsican nationalist militant groups, mainly the National Liberation Front of Corsica (Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica, FLNC) and factions of the group. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corsican conflict peaked in the 1980s before Corsican nationalist groups and the French government reached a truce with one of the two main splinters of the FLNC, the FLNC-Union of Combatants (FLNC-Unione di i Cumbattenti, FLNC-UC) in June 2014. In 2016, the other main splinter, the FLNC-22nd of October (FLNC-22 Uttrovi, FLNC-22U) also declared a truce. It is currently ongoing following the 2022 Corsica unrest and the return to arms of the FLNC-UC and FLNC-22U.
1970s: "Drawing Attention to Corsica"
On the night of 4 May 1976, 21 bombs exploded targeting French infrastructure and businesses in the cities of Ajaccio, Bastia, Porto-Vecchio, Corte, Biguglia, Sartène, Francardo, and Ghisonaccia, as well as Marseille and Nice on the French mainland. The next day these attacks were claimed through an anonymous phone call and fliers were left on the streets of Ajaccio titled "The Manifesto of 5 May". These attacks were claimed by a new armed group, formed from the unification of two already existing militant groups, the Fronte Paesanu Corsu per a Liberazione, and Ghjustizia Paolina. the group called themselves the "National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC)", likely named after the group of the same name in Algeria. The FLNC then began a harsh guerrilla campaign against the French government in Corsica, consisting of bombings, ambushes, robbery, kidnappings, and assassinations. the FLNC launched another series of bomb attacks across the island on 20 May.
The series of attacks and the emergence of the FLNC coincided with the trial of ten members of the recently outlawed Azzione Regiunalista Corsa (ARC). The men had been involved in the shooting dead of two French gendarmerie officers during a stand-off in a wine cellar at AleriaRamsay p. 103 on 22 August 1975, involving a dozen armed militants led by local lawyer Edmond Simeoni. One member of the ARC lost a foot in the action when a gendarme fired a rifle grenade.
During the summer of 1976 the FLNC became more active, and on the night of 17 July it carried out a fresh wave of attacks which included a rocket and mortar attack on the gendarmerie in Aghione, which involved the use of an American M79 grenade launcher.Ramsay p. 127 This increased speculation that the FLNC were being supplied by Libya, who were at the time supplying other revolutionary groups in Europe, including the Provisional IRA.
In September 1976 the FLNC were attempting assassinations of high-ranking French military officials in the French Foreign Legion, which had been stationed in Corsica since the end of the Algerian War and had been used in the Corsican conflict as military police. In separate incidents in the town of Corte, a general narrowly missed assassination when his car was riddled with bullets; his driver lost an ear in the attack. Meanwhile, the home of another senior officer in the town was targeted in a bomb attack.Ramsay p. 134 This was in response to the killing of two Corsican shepherds by the Foreign Legion, which sparked mass unrest. On 7 September, seven masked militiamen hijacked and bombed a Boeing 707 parked at Ajaccio's airport.
The beginning of 1977 saw little FLNC activity. In April there were a number of attacks on premises associated with Corsican nationalists and the FLNC. The attacks were claimed by a new group calling itself FRANCIA (Front d'Action Nouvelle Contre l'Indépendance et l'Autonomie).Ramsay, pp. 140–141 Although other anti-separatist groups existed in Corsica, FRANCIA appeared to be the only group capable of carrying out actual attacks. On 14 May this group destroyed the printing presses of Arritti (a Corsican nationalist publication) in a bomb attack. The FLNC responded to the attacks on 24 May by carrying out a daring raid on the French army outpost at Fort-Lacroix, near Bastia, where eight armed militants blew up wireless facilities after subduing the sentries. At the beginning of June they destroyed a large section of Bastia railway station in a bomb attack; a month later the FLNC launched an overnight bomb offensive hitting 27 French targets followed by the bombing of the television relay station at Serra di Pigno.Ramsay p. 141 On the night of 13 January 1978, nine armed militiamen wearing balaclavas stormed and bombed the French air base at Solenzara using 40 kg of explosives, in the so-called "Operation Zara".
The FLNC suffered a serious setback in May 1978 when 27 suspected members were arrested both in Corsica and France.Ramsay p. 150 The police stumbled upon an FLNC weapons-dump in the town of Cardo during an investigation into an ordinary burglary. While at the scene the police noticed men nearby moving what looked like weapons. The incident resulted in over 300 people being questioned and more than 60 detained by the authorities. Other suspects were picked up in Paris, Nice and Lyons. In December 1978 the FLNC increased its attacks on police barracks – in one incident the gendarmerie base at Borgo was raked with heavy machine gun fire – resulting in a fear that the FLNC would now begin to concentrate its attacks on people as well as material targets.Ramsay p. 172 At this time the FLNC also began to demand that their prisoners be treated as political prisoners.
1980s: "A New Offensive" In 1979 the number of FLNC attacks increased; in a two-month period from January to the beginning of March there were over 115 bomb attacks on the island.Ramsay p. 173 On 11 March 1979, the FLNC carried out 32 bomb attacks simultaneously targeting banks and financial institutions on the island. However, in July a number of their members were captured and sentenced to long prison terms resulting in a lack of action or activity on the part of the FLNC. The Front announced it would now launch a "new offensive in the liberation struggle" and advised Corsicans who were members of the police or Army to leave the island.Ramsay p. 184 On 10 March, ten banks across Corsica were car-bombed by the FLNC. Then on 10 April three banks in Paris were also damaged in explosions, and later the Paris Law Courts were devastated by a time-bomb which cost over 3 million francs worth of damage. The late 1970s and early 1980s marked a decisive change of FLNC policy, similar to the one employed by the Provisional IRA. The FLNC now decided to "Bring the Corsican problem to the French" by carrying out bomb attacks on the French mainland. On 6 May 1979 the FLNC managed to bomb 20 banks in Paris and on 30 May more banks were damaged by explosions.Ramsay p. 174 The beginning of June saw the FLNC switch back to activities on the island itself with twenty-five major explosions coupled with a car bomb attack on the Police Headquarters in Paris. On 14 May 1980 the FLNC bombed the Law Courts in Paris and also carried out a machine-gun attack on four gendarmes who were guarding the Iranian embassy, wounding three.Ramsay p. 191
The year of 1980 also saw FLNC supporters becoming more visible in terms of protests and political activity. The FLNC continued to call for their prisoners to be given political status. Mass demonstrations in support of political status for Corsican prisoners were common and FLNC supporters were active in all protests which could be classified as "Corsican V French".Ramsay pp. 174–175 In November 1980, 12 FLNC prisoners in Paris went on hunger-strike in a protest against the inequality of treatment for Corsican nationalist prisoners. This protest overlapped with that of six IRA hunger strikers in Northern Ireland.Ramsay p. 197 The Corsican prisoners were force-fed for a number of weeks before they ended their strike. On 1 April 1981 the FLNC called a ceasefire for the duration of the Presidential Elections and following the victory of François Mitterrand, announced they would extend the ceasefire to "see how things develop".Rasay pp. 200–201 Following this, the FLNC began extensive talks with the Mitterrand government, resulting in the creation of the Corsican Assembly and the establishment of a university on the island. The University would open the next year.
On 18 September the FLNC announced the end of its ceasefire at a press conference held in the mountains of central Corsica. They condemned the autonomists for attempting to use the "usual useless channels" of the political system and opposed French "appeasement policies" before stating that the armed struggle would resume and that the FLNC would not lay down its arms.Ramsay p. 205
On 11 March 1982 the FLNC carried out 25 bombings across the island. This attacks followed the armed assault on 11 February on a recreation centre of the French Foreign Legion by FLNC militants in the area of Sorbo-Ocognano, where Corporal First Class Renato Rossi was killed and legionnaire Maurice Steinte wounded.
On 19 August 1982 the FLNC launched its most spectacular blue night with the so-called "violente nuit bleue", during which 99 attacks were carried out against government targets.
In 1983, the FLNC began a campaign against the Mafia, most notably the southern Valinco gang. On 17 June, FLNC brigade leader Guy Orsoni, brother of the later FLNC-Canal Habituel leader Alain Orsoni, is kidnapped and murdered by Mafiosi associated with the Valinco gang. It is alleged that the Valinco gang had a series of backroom dealings with French authorities in order to kill Guy Orsoni. The FLNC, during a press conference, cites the inability and supposed unwillingness of French authorities to catch the perpetrators as evidence of a conspiracy. By the end of 1983, the Valinco gang leader and two of his children had been targets of assassinations, and a third had fled to Miami, Florida.
In the mid-1980s the organisation also stepped up its attacks against suspected drug dealers, killing four in the space of twelve months in 1986.
In May 1988, after a period of intense guerrilla warfare (392 attacks in 1985, 522 attacks in 1986, and a likely similar number in 1987) a truce was agreed between the French government and the FLNC. However, the ceasefire did not sit well with certain members of the organisation, resulting in a split within the movement.Charters p. 104 The so-called "Habituels" remained pro-ceasefire, advocating for a political agreement to autonomy. The "Historiques", however, maintained a stance of armed struggle in order to gain total independence from France. The split led to a violent three-sided guerrilla war between the Historiques, Habituels, and the French government.
1990s: Internal feuds and the assassination of Claude Érignac The 1990s saw the FLNC organisation tear itself apart through a series of deadly internal feuds. Much of the reason for the splits and feuds was the political rivalries of the members within the organisation as well as personal disputes. In 1990, The FLNC officially split into two organizations, the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) and the FLNC-Canal Historique (Canale Storicu, FLNC-CS). Other anti-ceasefire activists from the FLNC created a new militant group, Resistenza. These three groups would be the main armed forces opposing French rule in Corsica in the early 90s. Another Group, the National Liberation Army of Corsica (Armata di Liberazione Naziunale di a Corsica, ALNC) became active in 1989-1990, but joined the FLNC-CS after a brief armed campaign. Meanwhile, other small groups such as the radical anti-drug and anti-mafia "A Droga Basta" began to form, carrying out attacks and guerrilla campaigns that typically got overshadowed by the sheer scale of the FLNC's.