Corsican conflict

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).