The Israeli foreign ministry was determined to establish full diplomatic relations upon that colony's receipt of independence (1 October 1960). "By contrast, 'Biafra' as an Igbo project of collective assertion and liberation was destroyed in 1970 and has been a taboo subject ever senseat least until MASSOB placed it back on the agenda. ", Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), p. 119. On 12 June, after the riots had subsided, a French ministerial council decided to impose an official arms embargo on both Nigeria and Biafra, and to start providing direct humanitarian aid to Ojukwu. "[198], Many volunteer bodies organised the Biafran airlift which provided blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra, carrying food, medicines, and sometimes (according to some claims) weapons. Chronology of the two Liberian Civil Wars The instability of Liberia for the last thirty years is at the heart of the action of women's groups. The plight of the starving Biafrans became a cause clbre in foreign countries, enabling a significant rise in the funding and prominence of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Biafran famine was one of the first African disasters to receive widespread media coverage, enabled by the proliferation of television sets. The Republic of Biafra ceased to exist after its officers surrendered in January 1970. [162], From early on, Israel perceived that Nigeria would be an important player in West African politics, and saw good relations with Lagos as an important foreign policy objective. [69] A group of Igbo officers formed a conspiracy to overthrow the government, seeing the northern prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as allegedly plundering the oil wealth of the southeast. [44] During the 1940s and 1950s, the Igbo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the campaign for independence from British rule. the underlying reasons for their involvement in Liberia. [156] The British-trained Nigerian military tended to be distrustful of the Soviet Union, but the Soviet ambassador in Lagos, Alexander Romanov, a gregarious and friendly man as well as a shrewd diplomat, established an excellent rapport with Gowon and persuaded him that accepting Soviet weapons would not mean subjection to the Soviet Union. In Calabar, some 2000 Efiks were also killed by Federal troops. [33] By contrast the richest of the Igbo often sent their sons to British universities, with the intention of preparing them to work with the British. 304305. Prior to the civil war, the main source of dietary protein was dried fish imported from Norway, which was supplemented by local hogs, chicken and eggs. General Gowon responded by asking Colonel Murtala Mohammed (who later became head of state in 1975) to form another division (the 2nd Infantry Division) to expel the Biafrans from the MidWestern state, to defend the border of the Western state and to attack Biafra. The Nigerian government also made it clear to Shell-BP that it expected the company to pay all outstanding oil royalties immediately. Right-wing and left-wing political groups, and student activists, spoke for Biafra. [245] Outside of the Biafra, atrocities were recorded against the residents of Asaba in present-day Delta State by both sides of the conflict. The Nigerian mass media like every other information media is involved in the gathering, evaluating and distributing of facts about current issues, this was the case in the civil war in Liberia which Nigerian journalist greatly impacted. Military government continued in power in Nigeria for many years, and people in the oil-producing areas claimed they were being denied a fair share of oil revenues. The division was led mostly by northern officers. [258] In 2012, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist movement was founded, led by Nnamdi Kanu. "Further elevating the genocide reproaches, the eastern (later the Biafran) leadership frequently made comparisons to the Holocaust to draw attention to their cause. He, however, appointed Colonel Hassan Katsina, son of Katsina emir Usman Nagogo, to govern the Northern Region, indicating some willingness to maintain cooperation with this bloc. Fairly widespread student-worker unrest diverted the government's attention only temporarily. [210], Humanitarian appeals differed somewhat from place to place. Ojukwu had to deal with an influx to the east of between 700,000 and two million refugees. [213] The use of famine as a conscious tactic by the Federal government who wanted to starve Biafra into submission provoked parallels with the Great Famine of Ireland of the 1840s while many Irish people saw a parallel with Igbo struggle for independence with their own independence struggle. The first prime minister of Nigeria, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was a northerner and co-founder of the Northern People's Congress. The pogroms in the north in 1966 were indiscriminately directed against people from Eastern Nigeria. ", Forsyth, Frederick. He was more of a bad influence than anything else. The Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the Eastern Region developed strong friendships and identified as Igbo which prompted them to help the Eastern Region. Two-thirds of this oil came from the Eastern region, and another third from the newly created Mid-West region. [123] Barua wrote that Ojukwu's leadership, especially his frequent executions of his own officers had a "disastrous impact" on the morale of the Biafran officer corps. "The Biafran crisis was also connected to wider changes in the relief sector. Ironsi was on a visit to Ibadan during their mutiny and there he was killed (along with his host, Adekunle Fajuyi). After counting the disembowelled bodies along the Makurdi road I was escorted back to the city by soldiers who apologised for the stench and explained politely that they were doing me and the world a great favour by eliminating Igbos. [97], When this happened, Ojukwu regarded it as both a failure by Gowon to keep to the spirit of the Aburi agreement and a lack of integrity on the side of the Nigerian Military Government in the negotiations toward a united Nigeria. [66], Using the "martial races" theory first developed under the Raj in 19th-century India, the colonial government had decided that peoples from northern Nigeria such as the Hausa, Kiv, and Kanuri were the hard "martial races" whose recruitment was encouraged while the peoples from southern Nigeria such as the Igbos and the Yoruba were viewed as too soft to make for good soldiers and hence their recruitment was discouraged. By early 1990, tens of thousands of Liberians had fled the country and thousands of civilians and combatants were raped, tortured . In 1970, this figure doubled to 1.08 million barrels/day. [citation needed], The Biafrans responded with an offensive of their own. [134] Hunt's view that the Federal forces were the better organised and would win because they could draw upon a greater population led Wilson to side with Nigeria. [96], Biafran propaganda always blamed military defeats on "saboteurs" within the ranks of the Biafran officer, and both officers and the other ranks were encouraged to denounce suspected "saboteurs". "[148] Biafra, for its part, openly appreciated its relationship with France. 11 However, the immediate precursor dates from 1985: after President Samuel Doe, an ethnic Krahn, stole the presidential elections . Stevenson, "Capitol Gains" (2014), p. 314. In May 1969, Biafran commandos recaptured oil wells in Kwale. "France, however, categorically refused to officially recognise Biafra, a possibility President Charles de Gaulle ruled out as early as 14 December 1967. [137], In the United Kingdom, the humanitarian campaign around Biafra began on 12 June 1968, with media coverage on ITV and in The Sun. As part of the effort to get the Biafran leadership to change its mind, the Federal government placed a shipping embargo on the territory.". [102] The same problems that afflicted the Federal Army also affected the Biafran Army even more whose officer corps was based around former Federal Igbo officers. "[227], The war cost the Igbos a great deal in terms of lives, money and infrastructure. [48][49], NorthernSouthern tension manifested firstly in the 1945 Jos Riot in which 300 Igbo people died[16] and again on 1 May 1953, as fighting in the Northern city of Kano. Ram Nirgad became Israeli ambassador to Nigeria in January. Formal ECOMOG involvement in the Liberian civil war began with military deployment near the capital, Monrovia, in September 1990. [14], These tradition-derived differences were perpetuated and perhaps enhanced by the colonial government in Nigeria. As the war continued, the Nigerian Army recruited amongst a wider area, including the Yoruba, Itshekiri, Urhobo, Edo, Ijaw, etc. [34][35], In the West, the missionaries rapidly introduced Western forms of education. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, while Biafra was led by Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu. [59][60], Widespread reports of fraud tarnished the election's legitimacy. [207] Markpress's portrayal of the war as a struggle for freedom by the Catholic Igbos against the Muslim-dominated north won the support of Catholic opinion all over the world, especially in the United States. In the month that followed Pope Paul VI, the governments of Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America mounted concerted pressure on Biafra. [150] French-aligned Gabon and Cte d'Ivoire recognised Biafra in May 1968. [172] In the spring of 1969, the Nigerians replaced the Egyptian pilots with East German pilots who proved to be considerably more competent. [123] The executions of officers also made it difficult for the Biafran officers to acquire the necessary experience to conduct military operations successfully as Barua noted the Biafran Army lacked both the "continuity and cohesion" to learn from the war. Most wage earners lived in the Lagos area, and many lived in overcrowded dangerous housing. The charities Oxfam and Save the Children Fund were soon deployed, with large sums of money at their disposal. Infamous war lord and dictator Charles Taylor of Liberia accused of mass murder, rape, war crimes, involvement in sex slavery, child abuse, torture, cannibalism, and much more worked. Further feelings of injustice were caused by Nigeria changing its currency, so that Biafran supplies of pre-war Nigerian currency were no longer honoured. [238] This brand was widely feared, as it generally resulted in death by the Biafran forces or even mobs. As part of a wider 'NGO moment', it focused public and official attention on the role of non-state actors and accelerated the emergency of an internationalised, professionalised aid industry that took centre stage in the mid 1980s. China supported arms to Biafra via Tanzania, supplying arms worth some $2million in 19681969. "Thus northern privilege and political hegemony became the dual. Taking into account the temporal scope of the ICC's jurisdiction and the timeframe of the second civil war (i.e., 1999-2003), in theory, the crimes committed during the last year could potentially be prosecuted. The outbreak of civil war in Liberia in 1990 put pressure on the stability of the West African sub-region. Drawing from its findings, the paper argues that Nigeria's involvement in the Liberian peace process was motivated primarily by the need for the ruling military junta in Nigeria to attract external . The other events that also fuelled suspicions of a so-called "Igbo conspiracy" were the killing of Northern leaders, and the killing of the Brigadier-General Ademulegun's pregnant wife by the coup executioners.[14]. 271272. [183] Mercenaries with prior experience fighting in the Congo Crisis were eagerly drawn to Biafra. [50] The political parties tended to focus on building power in their own regions, resulting in an incoherent and disunified dynamic in the federal government. "Realising their slim chances on the battlefield, the Biafran leadership moved the conflict into the propaganda domain. A Commission led by Sir Jeremy Raisman and Ronald Tress determined that resource royalties would now enter a "Distributable Pools Account" with the money split between different parts of government (50% to region of origin, 20% to federal government, 30% to other regions). Pierri, "A New Entry into the World Oil Market" (2013), p. 116. Liberia - First Civil War - 1989-1996 The Liberian Civil War, which was one of Africa's bloodiest, claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and further displaced a million others. French mercenaries went to Katanga to support the Belgian intervention. This decree carved the Eastern Region in three parts: South Eastern State, Rivers State, and East Central State. "Biafra War Documentaries: Explaining Continual Resurgence of Secessionist Agitations in the South-East, Nigeria.". [214], In Israel, the Holocaust comparison was promoted, as was the theme of threat from hostile Muslim neighbours. "Between May and September 1966, northerners murdered between 80,000 and 100,000 Igbos and other easterners resident in the Northern Region. The situation did not look promising for Biafra's propagandists in the international sphere, either. [208] Besides portraying the war as a Christian-Muslim conflict, Markpress accused the Federal government of waging genocide against the Igbos, a campaign that was extremely effective as pictures of starving Igbos won the sympathy of the world. The present country of Benin, west of Nigeria, was still named Dahomey at that time. The first attempt by the 2nd Infantry Division on 12 October to cross the Niger from the town of Asaba to the Biafran city of Onitsha cost the Nigerian Federal Army over 5,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than those in the North. John Lennon.". The First Liberian Civil War was a civil war in Liberia from 1989 to 1997. . [81] 29 September 1966 became known as 'Black Thursday', as it was considered the worst day of the massacres.[82][83]. [123] Out of a fear of a coup, Ojukwu created several units such as the S Brigade commanded by himself and the 4th Commando Brigade commanded by the German mercenary Rolf Steiner that existed outside of the regular chain of command. Within each of the three regions the dominant ethnic groups, the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, respectively formed political parties that were largely regional and based on ethnic allegiances: the Northern People's Congress (NPC) in the North; the Action Group in the West (AG); and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in the East. [53] The new constitution of 1946 also proclaimed that "The entire property in and control of all mineral oils, in, under, or upon any lands, in Nigeria, and of all rivers, streams, and watercourses throughout Nigeria, is and shall be vested in, the Crown. "The FMG's major strategic advantage was not its military force, but its diplomatic status: internationally recognised statehood. [17], 45,000[5]100,000[9][10] combatants killed, 2,000,000 Biafran civilians died from famine during the Nigerian naval blockade[11], Within a year, the Federal Government troops surrounded Biafra, captured coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. Each government was entitled to collect royalties from resources extracted within its area. It had an English literacy rate of 2%, as compared to 19.2% in the East (literacy in Ajami (local languages in Arabic script), learned in connection with religious education, was much higher). [185], It was hoped that employing mercenaries in Nigeria would have similar impact to the Congo, but the mercenaries proved largely ineffective since the Nigerian military received much more professional and adequate training compared to the Congolese militias. In turn, this increased the importance of Nigerian oil to the United Kingdom, because Nigerian oil was cheaper than Persian Gulf oil. While the Ibo candidates were regularly selected, scarcely any from non-Ibo areas were recruited. Pierri, "A New Entry into the World Oil Market" (2013), p. 115. [78], In the face of provocation from the Eastern media which repeatedly showed humiliating posters and cartoons of the slain northern politicians, on the night of 29 July 1966, northern soldiers at Abeokuta barracks mutinied, thus precipitating a counter-coup, which had already been in the planning stages. The counter-coup led to the installation of Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Full-text available Jan 2019 Lukong Stella Shulika View Show abstract . The other two pilots were Biafrans: Willy Murray-Bruce and Augustus Opke. [157] The first MiG-17s arrived in Nigeria in August 1967 together with some about 200 Soviet technicians to train the Nigerians in their use. [43] The size of this intellectual class increased significantly in the 1950s, with the massive expansion of the national education program. It was claimed that the foreigners were captured fighting alongside Nigerians against Biafran troops and that they assisted Nigerians in constructing roads to aid them in their operations against Biafra. ; and to what extent was ECOMOG's intervention shaped by Nigeria's hegemonic aspirations. From 22 May to 8 July 1969 von Rosen's small force attacked Nigerian military airfields in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin City and Ughelli, destroying or damaging a number of Nigerian Air Force jets used to attack relief flights, including a few MiG-17's and three of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28 bombers that were used to bomb Biafran villages and farms on a daily basis. [65] The Nigerian Army did not conduct field training, and notably lacked heavy weapons. How The Biafra Civil War Ended. ABSTRACT This study examined the mediatory role of Nigeria during the Liberia civil war. [94] The heavy supply of weapons by the United Kingdom was the biggest factor in determining the outcome of the war. 264265. "Malnutrition affects adults less than children, half of whom have now died, reports Debrel, who also describes the reorganisation of the Biafran army after the 1968 defeats, making it a 'political' army of 110,000 men; its automatic weapons, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStevenson2014 (. [201][202], The crisis brought about a large increase in prominence and funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This was noticed and thankfully acknowledged by the Nigerian government.". With reason. Foccart says de Gaulle's decision to send military assistance to Biafra was made on 27 September 1967, when the General met personally with Houphout-Boigny, who was Biafra's most important African ally throughout the war. However, in 1969, the Biafrans launched several offensives against the Nigerians in their attempts to keep the Nigerians off-balance starting in March when the 14th Division of the Biafran army recaptured Owerri and moved towards Port Harcourt, but were halted just north of the city. [205] However, it was not until Biafra hired the Geneva public relations Markpress in January 1968 that significant international sympathy was won. He introduced the Count to a Canadian method of dropping bagged supplies to remote areas in Canada without losing the contents. The Biafra side received arms and ammunition from France, even though the French government denied sponsoring Biafra. [59] Westerners especially resented the political domination of the Northern People's Congress, many of whose candidates ran unopposed in the election. Milroy was joined by two other Canadian officers in 1968, and the Canadian contingent remained until February 1970. 116117. Political decisions were to be submitted. Olawoyin, "Historical Analysis of NigeriaBiafra Conflict" (1971), pp. At its zenith, the Kingdom controlled most of Igbo land, including influence on the Anioma people, Arochukwu (which controlled slavery in Igbo), and Onitsha land. Civil War: Part I (1989-1997) What became known as the First Civil War began on December 24, 1989, when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL)led by Charles Taylor launched an assault on Doe's forces. He was warned by his advisers that Gowon did not understand the difference and would renege upon the agreement. According to (Ali and Dor, 2017) the second civil war emerged as two rebel groups namely; Liberians United for. In the latter stages, a Southern Federal Military Government offensive managed to break through. [218] Novelist Chinua Achebe became a committed propagandist for Biafra, and one of its leading international advocates. The Biafrans came under immediate fire from the water and the air. Igbos who ran for their lives during the pogroms and war returned to find their positions had been taken over; and when the war was over the government did not feel any need to re-instate them, preferring to regard them as having resigned. Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo--convened in Lagos to sign the treaty . The completion in 1969 of a new terminal at Forados brought production up from 142,000 barrels/day in 1958 to 540,000 barrels/day in 1969. [154], France declared "Biafra Week" on 1117 March 1969, centred on a 2-franc raffle held by the French Red Cross. War exposure of mothers has adverse impacts on next-generation child survival, growth, and education. Levey, "Israel, Nigeria and the Biafra civil war" (2014), p. 273. Log in ; Registration ; Explore . "In May and early June 1968, protests and general strikes in France prevented de Gaulle, Foccart or any other French official from following the situation in Biafra. [232][249] Biafra made a formal complaint of genocide against Igbos to the International Committee on the Investigation of Crimes of Genocide, which concluded that the actions undertaken by the Nigerian government against the Igbo amounted to a genocide. Shell-BP therefore considered carefully a request by the Federal Government that it refuse to pay the royalties demanded by Biafra. [146][147] SAFRAP laid claim to 7% of the Nigerian petroleum supply. in, Ojaruega, Enajite E. "Beyond Victimhood: Female Agency in Nigerian Civil War Novels. "Michal Givoni points out that after June 1967, Israelis viewed the Biafrans as a people threatened in a manner similar to Israel during the crisis period that preceded the war.60 She also notes that Israel's daily newspapers reported frequently and prominently on what they termed the 'genocide' taking place in Nigeria. Pierri, "A New Entry into the World Oil Market" (2013), p. 115. [77][14] On 24 May 1966, the military government issued Unification Decree #34, which would have replaced the federation with a more centralised system. As with many civil wars throughout the world, the Nigerian Civil War is one that is fought between the government . This report examines the role of Liberia's civil society groups in this struggle. The Biafran leadership drew on this representation that many eastern Nigerians had adopted as their self-perception. The Nigeria civil war began in the early hours of the 6 th of July, 1967 when Nigeria responded as was expected by Biafra. A committee was set up for the formation of ECOWAS Cease Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). [165], The Eastern Region began seeking assistance from Israel in September 1966. "Nigerian-Biafran War". [67] In 1958, the policy was changed: henceforward men from the north would make up only 50% of the soldiers while men from the southeast and southwest were each to make up 25%. Passing through the state capital of Benin City, the Biafrans advanced west until 21 August, when they were stopped at Ore in present-day Ondo State, 210 kilometres (130mi) east of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. [26], The semi-feudal and Muslim Hausa-Fulani in the North were traditionally ruled by a conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of emirs who in turn owed their ultimate allegiance to the Sultan of Sokoto. [186] Despite some initial early successes (such as Operation OAU), over half of the 4th Commando Brigade was wiped out by Nigerian forces during the disastrous Operation Hiroshima of 1529 November 1968, resulting in Steiner experiencing depression and a nervous breakdown, leading to his eventual expulsion and replacement by Taffy Williams. [187] Steiner claimed to have fought for Biafra for idealistic reasons, saying the Igbo people were the victims of genocide, but the American journalist Ted Morgan mocked his claims, describing Steiner as a militarist who simply craved war because killing was the only thing he knew how to do well. [68] As part of the Nigerianisation policy, educational standards for officers were drastically lowered with only a high school diploma being necessary for an officer's commission while at the same time Nigerianisation resulted in an extremely youthful officer corps, full of ambitious men who disliked the Sandhurst graduates who served in the high command as blocking further chances for promotion. [90] Its operations were all located offshore of the federally controlled Mid-Western territory; therefore it continued to pay royalties to the federal government and its operations were mostly undisrupted. [14][41], The basis of modern Nigeria formed in 1914 when the United Kingdom amalgamated the Northern and Southern protectorates. After a year of fighting, the rump state was overpopulated, its people impoverished, lacking supplies, food and medicine. On 9 September 1968, United States presidential candidate Richard Nixon stated: Until now, efforts to relieve the Biafra people have been thwarted by the desire of central government of Nigeria to pursue total and unconditional victory and by the fear of the Ibo people that surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. Extensive negotiations took place between Ojukwu, representing Eastern Nigeria, and Gowon, representing the Nigerian Federal military government. The war broke out just a week before the Six-Day War in the Middle East led to the Suez Canal being blocked, forcing oil tankers from the Middle East to use the long route around the Cape of Good Hope, thereby increasing the cost of Middle Eastern oil. Levey, "Israel, Nigeria and the Biafra civil war" (2014), p. 267. Liberian Civil War (Nigerian Intervention 1990-1998)-As a member of Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), Nigeria, along with several other West African nations, sent military forces to try to end Liberia's Civil War. these battles were ended by the Abuja Accord in Nigeria, . [128] Initially, when it was unclear which side would prevail, the United Kingdom took a "wait and see" approach before deciding decisively for Nigeria. On 17 June, a Swiss court sentenced Alieu Kosiah to 20 years' imprisonment for crimes committed during Liberia's civil wars. With federal forces tightening the noose around the secessionist territory, the shrinking Biafran enclave soon encompassed only the heart of Igboland. The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 15 January 1970), also known as the NigerianBiafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. No one was ever held responsible for these killings. [90] In the assessment of a CIA analyst in 1970, France's "support was actually given to a handful of Biafran bourgeoisie in return for the oil. The surrender paper was signed on 14 January 1970 in Lagos and thus came the end of the civil war and renunciation of secession. [196] Among these Christian efforts were the organization Joint Church Aid and Caritas, the latter aligned with various international Catholic aid groups. The tendency of Egyptian pilots to indiscriminately bomb Biafran civilians proved counterproductive in the propaganda war as the Biafrans did their best to publicise cases of civilians killed by the Egyptians. In the United Kingdom, humanitarian aid used familiar discourses of imperial responsibility; in Ireland, advertisements appealed to shared Catholicism and experiences of civil war. This effectively excised the main oil-producing areas from the core Ibo state (East Central State). 135136. "The problem was that the oil had to be shipped through Bonny, which at the time was not safe. Heerten & Moses, "The NigeriaBiafra War" (2014), p. 177. A blockade was imposed as a deliberate policy during the ensuing stalemate which led to mass starvation. Levey, "Israel, Nigeria and the Biafra civil war" (2014), pp. A chief function of this political system in this context was to maintain conservative values, which caused many Hausa-Fulani to view economic and social innovation as subversive or sacrilegious. 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. The President, Sir Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo, was on an extended vacation in the West Indies. [129]Nigeria had a navy of only 6 vessels, the largest of which was a frigate; an air force of 76 planes, none of which were fighters or bombers; and an army of 7,000 men with no tanks and a shortage of officers with command experience. Portuguese pilots also served in the Biafran Air Force, transporting weapons from Portugal to Biafra. Every region has experienced armed conflict at some time since the early 1960s (Busumtwi 1999:259). 115116. What factors have caused and sustained war in the two countries? Initially the final offensive was neutralised by Biafran troops by the end of the year after several Nigerian troops were routed in Biafran ambushes. In the face of sustained opposition by the NCNC delegates, later joined by the NPC and backed by threats to view maintenance of the inclusion of secession by the AG as treasonable by the British, the AG was forced to renounce its position of inclusion of the right of secession a part of the Nigerian constitution. [224], This incident caused an international uproar. Total: 374,000 [130] The Mali War [b] is an ongoing armed conflict that started in January 2012 between the northern and southern parts of Mali in Africa. The Biafra strategy had succeeded: the federal government had started the war, and the East was defending itself. ", O'Sullivan, "Humanitarian Encounters" (2014), p. 299. After the war, Gowon said, "The tragic chapter of violence is just ended. The 'Jews of Africa' envisioned their state like an 'African Israel', a new nation born of genocidal violence. Once the oil flow stopped, sitting on a fence ceased to be an option for the British government. The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 - 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Beginning with the Northern Protectorate, the British implemented a system of indirect rule of which they exerted influence through alliances with local forces. Amidst this press blitz, on 31 July 1968, De Gaulle made an official statement in support of Biafra. 318319. By 1810, nearly 75% of Black Americans in the North were free. Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), pp. [194], The September massacres and subsequent Igbo withdrawal from northern Nigeria was the basis for the initial human rights petition to the UN to end genocide and provided a historical link to Biafran claims of genocide during the Nigerian civil war. [20] The United States' official position was one of neutrality, considering Nigeria as "a responsibility of Britain", but some interpret the refusal to recognize Biafra as favouring the Nigerian government. [142] France also sold Panhard armoured vehicles to the Nigerian federal government. [102] Almost all of the junior officers had received their commissions after 1960 and most were heavily dependent on the more experienced NCOs to provide the necessary leadership. Heerten & Moses, "The NigeriaBiafra War" (2014), p. 176. While those that executed the coup were mostly Northern, most of the known plotters were Igbo and the military and political leadership of Western and Northern regions had been largely bloodily eliminated while the Eastern military/political leadership was largely untouched. The roots of Liberia's civil war go far back in Liberian history. The division was commanded by Col. Olusegun Obasanjo (who later became president twice), which succeeded in splitting the Biafran enclave into two by the end of the year. [187] Belgian mercenary Marc Goosens, who was killed by defensive Nigerian forces in a suicide mission during Operation Hiroshima, was reportedly motivated by his hatred of the British government (which supported Nigeria during the war). Civil society groups in Liberia have courageously championed peacebuilding, reconcilia-tion and democratization, but have experienced many difficulties operating under a repressive environment. nigeria's intervention in sierra leone has come at a time when its seven-year presence as head of the ecomog force in liberia, for which the peacekeeping force was created, is coming to an. Thousands from all over the Region turned up daily for recruitment. The United Kingdom subsequently decided to back Nigeria, partly because it was advised that, in the event of war, the odds were 'slightly in favour of the Federal Military Government'. [231] The leader of a Nigerian peace conference delegation said in 1968 that "starvation is a legitimate weapon of war and we have every intention of using it against the rebels". An article in Paris Match of 20 November 1968 claimed that French arms were reaching Biafra through neighbouring countries such as Gabon. [250] In 2022, Carnegie Mellon University professor Uju Anya, whose relatives were displaced and killed as a result of the civil war, expressed a similar sentiment, condemning the United Kingdom as "a thieving raping genocidal empire" in a pair of tweets celebrating the death of Elizabeth II, the nation's reigning monarch at the time of the conflict.[251][252]. There was widespread suspicion that the Igbo coup plotters had tipped him and other Igbo leaders off regarding the pending coup. France and Portugal used nearby countries in their sphere of influence, especially Cte d'Ivoire under President Flix Houphout-Boigny, as waystations for shipments to Biafra. These transactions were arranged through the "Biafran Historical Research Centre" in Paris. By 10 July 1967, the 1st Brigade had conquered all its assigned territories. Full Access Fee: 4,000 Get the complete project For example Khobe (2000) proclaims that ECOWAS was successful, but other authors such as Gberie (2003) disagree with such . [177], Biafra appealed unsuccessfully for support from the Organisation of African Unity (the precursor to the African Union). Taylor was exiled to Nigeria, UN Peacekeeping forces (UNMIL) were ordered to enter Monrovia, and a transitional government was put in place to begin the process of holding democratic elections. The First Liberian Civil War was an internal conflict in Liberia from 1989 until 1996. The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government, while France, Israel (after 1968) and some other countries supported Biafra. The Biafran towns of Owerri fell on 9 January, and Uli on 11 January. German mercenary Rolf Steiner was placed in charge of the 4th Commando Brigade of the Biafran Armed Forces and commanded 3,000 men. It has been going on for almost a decade; prompted by the rise in Islamic radicalism throughout parts of Northern Africa (The Biafran War 1). In a national broadcast, he said that the decision was based on the principle that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy. This research focuses on the involvement of the Nigerian mass media in the Liberian conflicts. The conflict killed over 200,000 people and eventually led to the involvement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the United Nations. 34, through which the federation was abolished and replaced with a unitary system. [96] Fighting ended a few days later, with the Nigerian forces advancing into the remaining Biafran-held territories, which was met with little resistance. Introduction: The Civil War in Nigeria is what can be described as a bi-African conflict. Before, during and after the slaughter, Col. Gowon could be heard over the radio issuing 'guarantees of safety' to all Easterners, all citizens of Nigeria, but the intent of the soldiers, the only power that counts in Nigeria now or then, was painfully clear. [138][153] By the Biafran leadership and then around the world, the pogroms and famine were classified as genocide and compared to The Holocaust; hypothetical Judaic origins of the Igbos were used to bolster comparisons with Jews in Germany. For many Christian clerics and laypeople, the war seemed to be a cosmic drama fought between a vulnerable Christian Biafra and a northern Muslim-dominated federal Nigeria. [223], In May 1969 a company of Biafran commandos raided an oil field in Kwale and killed 11 Saipem workers and Agip technicians. NY: Putnam, p. 176, Farran, Roy. [74] He also preferentially released northern politicians from jail (enabling them to plan his forthcoming overthrow). The coup, also referred to as "The Coup of the Five Majors", has been described in some quarters as Nigeria's only revolutionary coup. He will require all the international help and recognition he can get. This changed in 1956 when Shell-BP found large petroleum deposits in the Eastern region. "The oil revenue issue, however, came to a head when Gowon, on 27 May 1967, divided the country into twelve states. [161] In its first major statement on the war in September 1968, the New China Press Agency stated the People's Republic of China fully supported the justified struggle for liberation of the people of Biafra against the Nigerian government supported by "Anglo-American imperialism and Soviet revisionism". Lack of medicine also contributed. The Red Cross required volunteers to sign an agreement, which was seen by some (like Kouchner and his supporters) as being similar to a gag order, that was designed to maintain the organisation's neutrality, whatever the circumstances. "Some six thousand Rivers people were sent to different refugee camps in the Igbo hinterland.". [51], In 1946, the British divided the Southern Region into the Western Region and the Eastern Region. 189190. Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), pp. [34][106] The Nigerian soldiers who were supposed to defend the MidWestern state were mostly Igbo from that state and, while some were in touch with their Biafran counterparts, others resisted the invasion. [139] However, France did not recognise Biafra diplomatically. After facing unexpectedly fierce resistance and high casualties, the western Nigerian column advanced on the town of Nsukka, which fell on 14 July, while the eastern column made for Garkem, which was captured on 12 July. [62], In addition to Shell-BP, the British reaped profits from mining and commerce. 115116. With the stalling on the payment for Biafra, the government instructed Shell-BP to stop operations in Biafra and took over from the company. [153] Maurice Robert, head of Service de Documentation Extrieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE, the French foreign intelligence service) African operations, wrote in 2004 that his agency supplied the press with details about the war and told them to use the word "genocide" in their reporting. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions in August 1996. . President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in the First Liberian Civil War which led to two years of peace. [164], Israel did not begin arms sales to Nigeria until after Aguyi-Ironsi came to power on 17 January 1966. [75] Aguyi-Ironsi rejected a British offer of military support but promised to protect British interests. "In the struggle over the national wealth, control depended on who dominated the government at the centre. Consequently, the Yoruba were the first group in Nigeria to adopt Western bureaucratic social norms. [166] In 1968, Israel began supplying the Federal Military Government with armsabout $500,000 worth, according to the US State Department. That the FMG could argue that it was a sovereign government facing an 'insurgency' was decisive. Ojukwu suggested on 10 August 1967, that Biafra introduce compulsory French classes in secondary, technical and teacher training schools, in order to "benefit from the rich culture of the French-speaking world". The Nigerians were repulsed three times as they attempted to cross the River Niger during October, resulting in the loss of thousands of troops, dozens of tanks and equipment. [231] Ekwe-Ekwe places significant blame on the British government for their support of the Nigerian government, which he argued allowed for their depredations against the Igbo to continue. [171], President Gamal Abdel Nasser dispatched pilots of the Egyptian Air Force to fight for Nigeria in August 1967, flying the recently arrived MiG-17s. [14], Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960, with a population of 45.2 million made up of more than 300 differing ethnic and cultural groups[citation needed]. Now the Igbos, concentrated in the East Central State, would lose control over most of the petroleum, located in the other two areas. In 2021, tensions between IPOB and the Nigerian government escalated into the violent Orlu Crisis, with IPOB declaring that the "second Nigeria/Biafra war" had begun. Colonel Victor Banjo, who led the biafran forces on the 9 th of August, 1967, was executed as ordered by the President of Biafra and General of the Biafran army, late Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu on 22 nd of September, 1967. [90] Forced to choose a side, Shell-BP and the British government threw in their lot with the Federal Government in Lagos, apparently calculating that this side would be more likely to win the war. In the post-independent period, statehood in Africa has been characterized by internal wars. [188] Journalist Frederick Forsyth quotes Taffy Williams speaking of his Biafran subordinates, "I've seen a lot of Africans at war. Most recently, Nigerian troops were the military backbone of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), from 2003-2018, helping to restore security throughout a country that had undergone a brutal civil war. conflicts, civil wars, intra-state conflicts or new wars (Kaldor 1999:33-118; 2006:72-94; 2012:71-118). Phillips, Charles, & Alan Axelrod (2005). On 19 May 1968 Port Harcourt was captured. The news of this payment reached the Federal government, which immediately extended the shipping embargo to oil tankers. [173], The United States was officially neutral in regard to the civil war,[174] with U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk stating that "America is not in a position to take action as Nigeria is an area under British influence". The Federal Government would be much better placed both internationally and internally. On 26 September, the Biafran capital, Enugu, was shelled for the first time by Federal Nigerian forces. Nigerian leaders are largely responsible for these unstable external relations. 133134. [102] Social status in the Army was extremely important and officers devoted an excessive amount of time to ensure their uniforms were always immaculate while there was a competition to own the most expensive automobiles and homes. Impacts vary with age of exposure. [66] At the time of independence in 1960, of the 257 officers commanding the Nigeria Regiment which became the Nigerian Army, only 57 were Nigerians. [195] Awareness of a mounting crisis rose in 1968. The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an anti-Taylor rebel group backed by the government of Guinea, invaded northern Liberia in April 1999. Heerten & Moses, "The NigeriaBiafra War" (2014), p. 177. [213] The Irish journalist John Hogan who covered the war noted: "The threat of famine, combined with an independence struggle, had an almost irresistible political and emotional impact on Irish public opinion, which became hugely supportive of the regular airlifts, via the off-shore Portuguese island of So Tom, of food and medical supplies to the beleaguered infant republic". Nigeria's need for more aircraft, which the United Kingdom and the United States refused to sell, led Gowon to accept a Soviet offer in the summer of 1967 to sell a squadron of 17 MiG-17 fighters. He showed how one sack of food could be placed inside a larger sack before the supply drop. Its facilities had been damaged and needed repair. [70] Of the seven officers killed, four were northerners, two were from the southeast and one was from the Midwest. West Africa. As with many other authoritarian religious and political systems, leadership positions were given to persons willing to be subservient and loyal to superiors. [132] As the British High Commissioner in Lagos wrote to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs on 27 July 1967: Ojukwu, even victorious, will not be in a strong position. At the same time, Gowon declared "total war" and announced the Federal government would mobilise the entire population of Nigeria for the war effort. These oilworks, under the control of the Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company (jointly owned by Shell and British Petroleum), controlled 84% of Nigeria's 580,000 barrels per day. People from other regions were quick to take over any house owned by an Igbo, especially in the Port Harcourt area. The Nigerian Army had no training or experience of war on the operational level, still being primarily an internal security force. Governments of the global south were particularly hesitant. "France, too, pursued contradictory policies, selling Nigeria Panhard light armoured cars and halting all arms transfers to Lagos only later that year, by which time it was supplying the Biafrans via the Ivory Coast and Gabon. I've seen men die in this war who would have won the Victoria Cross in another context". [139][144] To some extent, also, France repeated its earlier policy from the Congo Crisis, when it supported the secession of the southern mining province Katanga. The Nigerian Civil war, which lasted from July 1966 to January 1970, remains the most significant event in the country's post-independence history in ways reminiscent of the American Civil War. On December 24, 1989, a band of Libyan-trained rebels led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast. Over the objections of some member states, . [241][242], Minorities in Biafra suffered atrocities at the hands of those fighting for both sides of the conflict. In particular, it resulted in a massive spending increase through state funds and public donations, leading to the growth and proliferation of NGOs. It did not escape the notice of worldwide Christian organisations that the Biafrans were Christian and the northern Nigerians controlling the federal government were Muslim. Summary The outbreak of the Liberian civil war As noted in the previous chapter, the Liberian Civil War broke out on 24 December 1989 when Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) forces invaded Liberia through Nimba County from neighbouring Cte d'Ivoire. [234], Ethnic minorities (Ibibio, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Ogoni and others) made up approximately 40% of the Biafran population in 1966. [213] The pro-Biafra British journalist Frederick Forsyth started covering the war in the summer of 1967 for the BBC, became angry at the pro-Nigeria stance of the British government and resigned in protest in September 1967. At the time of independence in 1960, the North was by far the most underdeveloped area in Nigeria. [139], When Nixon became President in 1969, he found there was little he could do to change the established stance aside from calling for another round of peace talks. His Biafran Air Force consisted of three Swedes: von Rosen, Gunnar Haglund and Martin Lang. "The prolific independent scholar Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is perhaps the most outspoken articulator of this paradigm, which also depicts the Nigerian state as a prison house of nations, especially for the Igbo.". [169][170] The nations of sub-Saharan Africa tended to support the Arabs in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute by voting for resolutions sponsored by Arab states at the United Nations. This analogy originated in ethnological genealogies that cast the Igbos as the 'Jews of Africa', even as one of Israel's 'lost tribes'. But Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin stated to their chagrin in October 1967 that "the Soviet people fully understand" Nigeria's motives and its need "to prevent the country from being dismembered. Even with the use of smaller tankers, the short haul from Nigeria to the United Kingdom was still more profitable than the Cape route used for Gulf oil. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo and loyalist head of the Nigerian Army, suppressed coup operations in the South and he was declared head of state on 16 January after the surrender of the majors. These moves represented a significant diplomatic success given the Muslim orientation of the northern-dominated government. Resentment of politicians ran high and many campaigners feared for their safety while touring the country. [124], Towards the end of July 1967, Nigerian federal troops and marines captured Bonny Island in the Niger Delta, thereby taking control of vital Shell-BP facilities. It also encouraged many humanitarian activities aimed at reducing the . In the Rivers area, ethnic minorities sympathetic to Biafra were killed in the hundreds by federal troops. Buy the book [70], This coup was, however, not seen as a revolutionary coup by other sections of Nigerians, especially in the Northern and Western sections and by later revisionists of Nigerian coups. In the international press, Igbo refugee camps were compared to Nazi extermination camps. 270271. With this method many tons of food were dropped to many Biafrans who would otherwise have died of starvation. Thirty tons of mortar rounds were delivered in April. Nigeria, had in October 1990, deployed over 5,000, about 84%, of the 6,000 troops that were sent to Liberia during the first civil war, which began in 1989. The pre-1966 tax-sharing agreements on mineral wealth were changed to okay favour the Federal government at the expense of the state. Falola, Toyin, and Ogechukwu Ezekwem, eds. Besides killing much of Nigeria's elite, the "Majors' Coup" also saw much of the leadership of the Nigerian Federal Army killed with seven officers holding the rank above colonel killed. [102] The killings and purges perpetuated during the two coups of 1966 had killed most of the Sandhurst graduates. [109], As Nigerian forces retook the MidWestern state, the Biafran military administrator declared it to be the Republic of Benin on 19 September, though it ceased to exist the next day. Heerten & Moses, "The NigeriaBiafra War" (2014), pp. Yet, we are as responsible for the creation of Liberia as the British for Nigeria and the . After the publication of images of starving Biafran children in the western media, analogies and comparisons with the Holocaust abounded internationally. They made up the first classes of African civil servants, doctors, lawyers, and other technicians and professionals. In the Aburi Accord, finally signed at Aburi, Ghana, the parties agreed that a looser Nigerian federation would be implemented. " Uche, "Oil, British Interests and the Nigerian Civil War" (2008), pp. At the end of the war, only N20 was given to any easterner regardless of the amount of money he or she had had in the bank. (2nd ed.). The government declared an arms embargo but maintained arms shipments to Biafra under cover of humanitarian aid. [190] But another Nigerian offensive from April to June 1968 began to close the ring around the Biafrans with further advances on the two northern fronts and the capture of Port Harcourt on 19 May 1968. In some cases, they did so in quite a direct fashionAfrica Concern, for example, established its own telex service to send up-to-date reports to the major Irish media outlets straight from west Africa, and in so doing had a considerable influence on the news agenda.". Shell-BP made the payment, and the government established a blockade on oil exports. After the successful peace mission, an election was held which brought Charles Taylor to power. [99], The UK, which still maintained the highest level of influence over Nigeria's highly valued oil industry through Shell-BP,[100] and the Soviet Union supported the Nigerian government, especially by military supplies. The country remained at peace only two years before LURD began its military campaign. When the Biafran crisis erupted, it offered an opportunity to renew this emphasis on the country's responsibilities, O'Sullivan, "Humanitarian Encounters" (2014), p. 305. Most notable of the mercenaries was Swedish Count Carl Gustav von Rosen who led air attacks with five Malm MFI-9 MiniCOIN small piston-engined aircraft, armed with rocket pods and machine guns. [66] Despite the reforms, only an average of two Nigerians per year were awarded officers' commissions between 194855 and only seven per year from 1955 to 1960. In the years following the end of the American Revolutionary War, Northern States progressively abolished slavery. De Gaulle was very reluctant to send weapons from French stocks, and only agreed when Foccart suggested sending captured German and Italian weapons from World War II with the serial number scratched off. The Belgians were helping Tshomb fight Congolese forces loyal to Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, who was supported by the Soviet Union. 3.2 Civil War and Displacement in Liberia In 1816, a group of wealthy and influential American citizens, connected by their antislavery beliefs, formed the American Colonization Society. On 17 October 1967 Nigerians invaded Calabar led by the "Black Scorpion", Benjamin Adekunle, while the Biafrans were led by Col. Ogbu Ogi, who was responsible for controlling the area between Calabar and Opobo, and Lynn Garrison, a foreign mercenary. They were tried by a Biafran court and sentenced to death. Population pressure in the Igbo homeland, combined with aspirations for monetary wages, drove thousands of Igbos to other parts of Nigeria in search of work. This was considered an opportune time to develop this relationship with the federal government. Nwosu, Maik. "The Nigerian government subsequently made it explicit to Shell-BP that it expected the company to pay the outstanding oil royalty immediately. Therefore, it does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed during Liberia's first civil war spanning from 1989 to 1996. The Knesset publicly debated this issue on 17 and 22 July 1968, winning applause from the press for its sensitivity. 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