Central Usea Treaty Organization

Central Usea Treaty Organization
AKA	Usean Treaty Organization
Years Active	Circa 1996–2003
Location	Usean continent
Leader	Unnamed General Assembly Commissioner
Members	Republic of Amber, Comonan Commonwealth, Federation of Central Usea, United Kingdoms of North Point, Osean Federation, Independent State of Ugellas

The Central Usea Treaty Organization (UTO) was an intergovernmental organization based in central Usea. It was comprised of nations from the region to promote economic and political cooperation across the Usean continent. At some point the Osean Federation joined, however this may be a typo on the map of strangereal nations

History

The Ulysses crisis

After the announcement of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid's impending impact was made by FCU President Robert Sinclair in April 1996, the UTO meet with FCU representatives at an emergency assembly during which various proposals were made to combat the threat of Ulysses. One such system was the National Missile Defense project, intended to destroy the asteroid with surface-to-space missile attacks. The UTO ultimately decided to construct Stonehenge to protect Usea against Ulysses. The STN project was funded by contributions from UTO-member states; the neutral country of San Salvacion was eventually chosen as the site of the railgun system's construction.

Escalating tensions with Erusea

Following the events of the Ulysses disaster, thousands of Usean civilians were killed and a million more were displaced as refugees. In response to the humanitarian crisis, the UTO member nations launched an initiative to relocate these citizens by each admitting a certain percentage of the refugee population. Recovery efforts slowly progressed, until April 2000, when the Federal Republic of Erusea announced that it would be closing its borders and denying entry to all foreign refugees.

Pre-Ulysses tensions between the UTO and Erusea had been high: the FCU, a large contributor to the UTO's coalition forces, had already positioned troops along the Amber-Ugellas border in a tense stand-off with Erusian forces. Following Erusea's decision to seal its borders (see: Usean Refugee Dispute), the UTO levied trade sanctions against Erusian exports, placing considerable pressure on Erusea's unstable economy.

On August 23, 2003, Erusea launched a surprise invasion of neighboring San Salvacion and commandeered the STN facility. Erusea informed the UTO that the coalition forces and support crews stationed at Stonehenge were being held "under protection" by Erusian troops. The FCU demanded an immediate withdrawal from San Salvacion and the STN site under threat of military retaliation.

Formation of ISAF

When it became apparent that Erusea would not withdraw before the FCU's September 14 deadline, the FCU and other UTO-member nations allied themselves to form the Independent State Allied Forces; the ISAF planned to use its combined military strength to oppose Erusian brinkmanship. ISAF soon after declared war on Erusea and was attacked by Erusian forces (backed by Stonehenge) at the ISAF's Istas Fortress GHQ.