Around year 213 SE, the empires opened a war for control of Africa. The campaign escalated into mutual nuclear strikes against field formations on the continent, ultimately destroying it completely and making it unfit for life. The Hetmanate Federation pushed its zone of control into Central Africa from its northern holdings. The other two empires, the Empire of the Sun and the Corporate Republic, refused to tolerate this and deployed their own forces onto the continent. Small border clashes detonated into open war, with three armies grinding each other down for three years. Eventually, to break the operational stalemate, the Corporate Republic launched nuclear weapons against Hetmanate positions. This triggered a mutual exchange of nuclear strikes by all three empires, contained to Africa. The deployment of the strongest weapon brought no strategic gain and annihilated an entire continent, leaving a billion dead. Africa itself became a radioactive wasteland over which even aircraft were forbidden to fly. After a hundred years, radiation levels began to fall, but the entire territory remained completely unfit for life.
To halt further escalation, the empires signed the Peaceful Nuclear Treaty, which made the use of nuclear weapons on Earth’s territory impossible.