Biafra

 

secessionist state of W Africa, in existence from May 30, 1967, to Jan. 15, 1970. At the outset Biafra comprised, roughly, the East-Central, South-Eastern, and Rivers states of the Federation of Nigeria, where the Igbo people predominated. The country, which took its name from the Bight of Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean), was established by Igbos who felt they could not develop—or even survive—within Nigeria. In Sept., 1966, numerous Igbos had been killed in N Nigeria, where they had migrated in order to engage in commerce. The secessionist state was led by Lt. Col. Chukuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and included some non-Igbos. Biafra's original capital was Enugu; Aba, Umuahia, and Owerri served successively as provisional capitals after Enugu was captured (Oct., 1967) by Nigerian forces. Seeking to maintain national unity, Nigeria imposed economic sanctions on Biafra from the start of the secession, and fighting between Nigeria and Biafra broke out in July, 1967. After initial Biafran advances, Nigeria attacked Biafra by air, land, and sea and gradually reduced the territory under its control. The breakaway state had insufficient resources at the start of the war—it was a net importer of food and had little industry—and depended heavily on its control of petroleum fields for funds to make purchases abroad. It lost the oil fields in the war, and more than one million of its civilian population are thought to have died as a result of severe malnutrition. At the time of its surrender on Jan. 15, 1970, Biafra was greatly reduced in size, its inhabitants were starving, and its leader, Ojukwu, had fled the country. During its existence Biafra was recognized by only five nations, although other countries gave moral or material support.

Bibliography

See A. H. Kirk-Greene, ed., Crisis and Conflict in Nigeria (2 vol., 1971); J. Okpaku, ed., Nigeria, Dilemma of Nationhood (1972); W. E. Nafziger, The Economics of Political Instability: The Nigerian-Biafran War (1982).

Republic of Biafra Unrecognized state ← 1967 – 1970 → Flag Motto Peace, Unity, Freedom Map of Biafra inside Nigeria Capital Enugu Language(s) English Government Republic President Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Historical era Cold War  - Established May 30, 1967  - Disestablished January 15, 1970 Population  - 1967 est.   Currency Biafran pound

The Republic of Biafra was a short-lived secessionist state in southern Nigeria. It existed from May 30, 1967 to January 15, 1970. The country was named after the Bight of Biafra, the bay of the Atlantic to its south.^[1]

Biafra was recognized by a small number of countries during its existence: Gabon, Haiti, Côte d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Zambia. Despite a lack of official recognition, other nations provided assistance to Biafra. France, Rhodesia and South Africa provided covert military assistance. The aid of Portugal proved to be crucial to the republic's survival. Portugal's São Tomé and Príncipe, a pair of islands south of Biafra, became a center of humanitarian relief efforts; Biafran currency was printed in Lisbon, which was also the location of Biafra's major overseas office. Israel also gave Biafra arms that it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, although that same conflict ruled out further assistance. In contrast, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union provided military support for Nigeria,^[2] and the war of Biafran secession ended in a humanitarian catastrophe as Nigerian blockades stopped supplies from entering the region. Hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of people died in the resulting famine.

History

In January 1966, a coup d'etat in the Nigerian government was attempted, initiated by Igbo^[3] officers, which was bloody and short-lived. Since mostly Igbo officers in the Nigerian army survived, in the months of May and September 1966, Igbo migrants living in northern Nigeria were the targets of mass killings.Most of Nigeria's Igbo people, who were then estimated at 7 million, lived in what was then the Eastern Region, which had as military governor the Igbo Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.^[4] He declared the region an independent state with a capital at Enugu.

Nigeria responded initially with an economic blockade and brought military force to bear starting on June 5, 1967. In the ensuing civil war, raids were made by Biafran troops west into Nigeria in July and August. Nigerian troops soon recovered, however, advancing into Biafra and forcing the repeated transfer of the Biafran capital from Enugu to Aba and then Umuahia by the end of the year, and to Owerri in 1969.

By 1970, Biafra had been ravaged by war and was in great need of food supplies. Nigeria banned all Red Cross aid in 1969, though it partially relented two weeks later after widespread international criticism, allowing limited, pre-inspected airlifts of food and other supplies.^[5] Amid economic and military collapse, Ojukwu fled the country and the rest of the republic's territory was re-incorporated into Nigeria. Many people died in the conflict, mostly through starvation and illness. The number of deaths is often cited at one million.^[6]

Nigeria later renamed the Bight of Biafra as the Bight of Bonny.

An excerpt from the last wartime speech of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, head of the Biafran state, follows:

In the three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years, we built bombs, we built rockets, we designed and built our own delivery systems. We guided our rockets, we guided them far, and we guided them accurately. For three years, blockaded without hope of imports, we maintained engines, machines, and technical equipment. The state extracted and refined petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens, we built and maintained airports, we maintained them under heavy bombardment. We spoke to the world through a telecommunications system engineered by local ingenuity. The world heard us and spoke back to us. We built armoured cars and tanks. We modified aircraft from trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In three years of freedom, we had broken the technological barrier. In three years, we became the most civilized, the most technologically advanced black people on earth.

– ^[7]

Legacy

The international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders came out of the suffering in Biafra. During the crisis, French medical volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals, were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army, and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces. French doctor Bernard Kouchner also witnessed these events, particularly the huge number of starving children, and when he returned to France, he publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. With the help of other French doctors, Kouchner put Biafra in the media spotlight and called for an international response to the situation. These doctors, led by Kouchner, concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of victims.^[8]

On 29 May 2000, the Lagos Guardian newspaper reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state of Biafra during Nigeria's 1967-1970 civil war. In a national broadcast, he said the decision was based on the belief that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy". It is also thought, that during the previous year, there had been a public resurgence of pro-Biafra sentiment among a section of the Igbo, who claimed that in the Nigerian federation, they have been marginalised.[1]

Violence between Christians and Muslims (usually Igbo Christians and Hausa or Fulani Muslims) has been incessant since the end of the civil war in 1970.

In July 2006 the Center for World Indigenous Studies reported that government sanctioned killings were taking place in the southeastern city of Onitsha, because of a shoot-to-kill policy directed toward Biafran loyalists, particularly members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).^[9]

Meaning of the word "Biafra" and location of Biafra

Little is known about the literal meaning of the word Biafra. Manuel Alvares (1526-1583) in his work "Ethiopia Minor and a geographical account of the Province of Sierra Leone", writes about the "Biafar heathen" in chapter 13. The word Biafar thus appears to have been a common word in the Portuguese language back in the 16th century.

Historical maps of Biafra

Ancient maps on Africa from the 15th-19th centuries reveal some interesting information about Biafra:

1. The original word used by European travellers was not Biafra but Biafara, Biafar and sometimes also Biafares.
2. The exact original region of Biafra is not restricted to Eastern Nigeria alone. According to the maps, European travellers used the word Biafara to describe the entire region east of the River Niger going down to the Mount Cameroun region, thus including Cameroun and a large area around Gabon.

Maps indicating the word Biafara (sometimes also Biafares or Biafar) with corresponding year:

• 1662
• 1660
• 1707
• 1729

Maps from the 19th century indicating Biafra as the region around today's Cameroon:

• 1843
• Additional maps from the Michigan State University Map Collection

See also

• Auberon Waugh, who named one of his children "Biafra Waugh" in 1968
• Manillas - An early form of coinage from this area
• Nigerian Civil War
• Radio Northsea International - media reports and publications suggest that the financing of this radio ship was derived from income earned by its Swiss owners for their logistic support provided to the government of Biafra. See also Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and section 'Accused': "In the run-up to the trial, the Prosecution had considered bringing charges against Swiss businessman, Edwin Bollier, of the electronics firm Mebo Ag. But the Prosecution decided that, unless evidence to incriminate Bollier were to be adduced during the trial, he would not be included as a co-conspirator in causing the bombing."

References

Additional reading

Nonfiction

Articles

• Secret papers reveal Biafra intrigue. A 2000 BBC article describing the Biafran war as a power contest between Britain, France, and the USSR.
• Biafra: Killer Cessnas and Crazy Swedes, by Gary Brecher A 2004 article on the history of Biafra, including Carl Gustaf von Rosen's support for Biafra and the mass starvation that marked the end of the war.
• Hot Biafra Nights by Zach Dundas. A 2000 interview of author Andrew Vachss, who went to Biafra to serve in the relief effort in 1969.

Books

• Requiem Biafra by Joe Achuzia, ISBN 978-156-256-0. (1986)
• The Biafra Story by Frederick Forsyth, ISBN 0-85052-854-2. (1969)
• Biafra: A People Betrayed by Kurt Vonnegut, from Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons, ISBN 0-385-33381-1. (1974)
• Surviving in Biafra: The Story of the Nigerian Civil War by Alfred Obiora Uzokwe, ISBN 0-595-26366-6. (2003)
• The Banknotes of Biafra by Peter Symes [Printed privately] (2000) [2]
• The Last Adventurer by Rolf Steiner.

Fiction

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a novel in which life in East Nigeria for the Igbo people is juxtaposed with their life during war torn Biafra. ISBN 978-0-00-720028-3. (2006)
• The Ship's Cat by Jock Brandis, a fictional account of the Oxfam Air Relief flights that penetrated the military blockade around Biafra.
• "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd includes a section describing Nigerian life and the collapse of the Biafran republic
• "Sugar Baby" by Chinua Achebe is a short story that takes place in Biafra

"Destination Biafra" by Buchi Emecheta a novel set during the Biafran War "Estragement" by Elechi Amadi a novel about the aftermath of the Biafran War

Music

• Roland_the_Headless_Thompson_Gunner by Warren Zevon, 1978
• San Francisco punk band Dead Kennedys lead singer Jello Biafra takes his stage name from the republic.

External links

• Biafraland - site of the Biafra Actualization Forum
• Writer Okey Ndibe's memoir of the Biafran War in Guernica (guernicamag.com)
• These Women Are Brave - A project on Igbo women's experiences during the Biafran war. Includes video and audio recordings of oral histories.
• MASSOBUSA - United States website of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra

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