Freedomtown was the capital city of the small African republic Burunda,[2][1] close to a mountain range.[3]
The city housed the seat of government, the Presidential Palace,[2] and had the airport,[4] including customs for access. Within the urban area there was also a military compound, a church with a bell tower, a hotel that had belonged to the Hilton chain,[2] and public radio stations.[4] The population was mostly black,[2] with a prevalence of the Domi (Earth-616)[2][1] ethnic group, and a white person attracted attention in the streets,[2] although there was a percentage of inhabitants of Chinese origin.[1] The population spoke mainly English and Domi. Local fauna included birds and large dogs,[2] but not other animals seen in rural areas such as gazelles and chickens.[5]
The capital city predated the independence of Burunda, having existed since the times when the territory was a Portuguese colony. In the 20th century, Burudan nationalists challenged Portuguese rule in the conflict called War for Freedom, and gained Burunda's independence in 1971, after which the Burundans renamed their capital city "Freedomtown" even before establishing a republic. Burundans of Chinese origin, who had been brought to the colony by the Portuguese in the 19th century, settled in Freedomtown; these people used black rhinocerous horns for medicinal purposes,[1] and resorted poachers who illegally hunted such animals in Arbiza Plain[5][1] and sold the horns in Bari Station for these to reach the Chinese inhabitants of Freedomtown.[5]
Freedomtown during Bushman's regime.
In recent times, Burunda was a poor and crime-ridden country. Burunda-born mercenary and terrorist Raul Bushman, a member of the Domi ethnic group, staged a military coup in Burunda and proclaimed himself President for Eternity, occupying the Presidential Palace of Freedomtown and eliminating bureaucracy. Burunda became a socialist state and private businesses, such as the Hilton Hotel, were nationalized. The change of government did not benefit the economy,[1] so the inhabitants of Freedomtown resorted to street businesses, begging and prostitution with minimal resources, while the buildings of Freedomtown remained in a dilapidated state, in need of repairs and repairs, yet covered in posters and paintings extolling Bushman's virtues;- except for the Palace, which was cared for, attended at all times and well-protected.[2] Bushman had increased military spending and given the armed forces authority over the population to carry out curfews,[1] review the interior of homes, and retain passports of foreign citizens at customs. During Bushman's term, there was only one hotel in Freedomtown, the former Hilton, and there was only one taxi in the entire city, which did not see much use.[2] The Domi people was especially favored by the regime.[1]
Four years after taking power,[4] Bushman sought revenge on his enemy Moon Knight, for which he kidnapped Moon Knight's girlfriend, Marlene Alraune, and after keeping her in the Burundan embassy in New York, he took her to Burunda,[6] where he kept her in the Presidential Palace, sharing his luxuries with her. Moon Knight traveled to Freedomtown to rescue her using the fake identity of photojournalist Ian Waller; he went through the airport, took a taxi to the hotel, and then left the hotel before the military visited his room to question or arrest him. Disguised as Moon Knight, he went to Freedomtown along the rooftops, climbing the old church to use it as an observation point, and causing an explosion in the military complex to distract the troops.[2] He then infiltrated the Presidential Palace,[2][1] where the troops took him to a yard so that[2] he could fight Bushman hand-to-hand. Moon Knight defeated Bushman[2][1] while Alraune grabbed a weapon and held off the Palace soldiers. They left Freedomtown in a helicopter piloted by Moon Knight's ally, Frenchie, which landed in the same courtyard and left, despite Bushman, breaking his word, urging the soldiers to shoot down the vehicle.[2]
Some time later, three representatives of an international drug cartel visited Bushman in the Presidential Palace of Freedomtown to offer him a society where Burunda's fields would be used to grow coca and poppy. Bushman murdered them in the Palace,[7] then intended to perform his own illegal drug operations without the cartel. The cartel, not wanting their own monopoly threatened, conspired to get rid of Bushman[8][1] by funding an armed revolution made up of disenfranchised Burundans[1] secretly encamped south-west of Freedomtown[4] and, through their mercenary agent Arsenal, recruiting Moon Knight. Moon Knight rejected the involvement of the cartel,[8] but travelled to Burunda to join the resistance.[8][5]
Moon Knight revealed his presence to Bushman knowing that, due to Bushman's personal hatred of Moon Knight, Bushman would devote a military effort to pursuing him, sending troops to the area where Moon Knight had been seen,[5] and unprotecting Freedomtown;[5][4] simultaneously, the resistance led by General Jonathan B'kosa sent its armed troops within a kilometer of Freedomtown, where they would await orders to initiate an attack and take the capital.[4] However, Bushman's Army found the enemy camp and attacked it,[5] killing General B'kosa. The rebel soldiers joined Arsenal,[4][1] who had traveled to Burunda to take revenge on Bushman and Moon Knight,[1] and under Arsenal's orders, the rebels took over the airport, the public radio stations and the Palace, this last attack personally led by Arsenal.[4][1] Bushman's men contacted their President to ask for reinforcements; but Bushman refused to divert troops before capturing Moon Knight, and only ordered the soldiers remaining in Freedomtown, in clearly inferiority, to defend the capital and the regime to the death.[4] The rebels took Freedomtown with ease,[4][1] although not without bloodshed,[4] and Arsenal established a puppet regime. Shortly after, Moon Knight defeated Bushman, who was arrested by his own soldiers.[4][1]
On Earth-TRN1053, Moon Knight also infiltrated the Presidential Palace in Freedomtown to rescue Marlene Alraune, kidnapped by President Bushman. Here, however, when Alraune joined the fray and shoot at the enemy soldiers, she was injured, causing Moon Knight to get distracted at a critical moment - and Bushman took the chance to fatally wound him. Alraune took Moon Knight's body in the helicopter that Frenchie had brought as escape vehicle, but Moon Knight expired while they were still flying over the city.[3]
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