DOCSLIB.ORG

Ghana's Role in the Nigerian

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ghana's Role in the Nigerian International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926 Vol.1, Issue.3, December, 2014 Ghana’s Role in the Nigerian War: Mediator or Collaborator? Johnson Olaosebikan Aremu Ekiti State University, Ado- Ekiti, Nigeria Abstract This article attempts an exploration of Ghana’s mediatory role in a bid to broker peace between the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and its dis-affectioned Eastern Region to prevent the impending Nigerian civil war of July 1967 to January 1970. It notes Nigeria’s disappointment in Ghana’s neutrality after the outbreak of war as well as Nigeria’s subsequent accusation of Ghana as a collaborator with the secessionist ‘Republic of Biafra’ throughout the war years. The article carefully interrogates the factors that propelled Ghana’s neutrality and the authenticity or otherwise of Nigeria’s insinuations against her action during the war. It submits that apart from the humanitarian challenge of reducing the carnage of the war, Ghana acted within the ambits of the Organisation of African Unity’s Charter and Resolutions to remain neutral in what was regarded as a ‘purely Nigerian internal affair’. The article concludes that since Ghana was never a party to the war, it should be exonerated from all insinuations as a collaborator with Biafra. Its mediatory role should be commended for promoting peace in the West African sub-region. Keywords: Nigeria, Ghana, Civil War, Conflict, Biafra 1 International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926 Vol.1, Issue.3, December, 2014 Introduction One of the major events that have generated controversy in Nigeria-Ghana relations in contemporary times was Ghana‟s purported lukewarm attitude to the Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970. Ghana‟s mediatory role between the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and its dis-affectioned Eastern Region to prevent the impending Nigerian civil war of notwithstanding, its neutrality after the outbreak of war (July 1967 to January 1970) provoked insinuations from the Nigerian Government as it was accused of collaborating with the secessionist „Republic of Biafra‟ throughout the war years to decimate the country. It indeed played a significant role in soiling the fragile cordial relations between the two countries. Nigeria-Ghana Relations on the Eve of the Nigeria Civil War It is important to stress that in spite of the volatility of relations between both countries in the early years of their independence, Nigeria-Ghana relations witnessed a great improvement with the ascendancy of the military to power in both countries in early 1966. The overthrow of both Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria (15 January, 1966) and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (24 February, 1966) may indeed be said to have marked the end of the unpleasant rivalry in Nigeria- Ghana relations, even though temporarily. This new-found cordial relation was premised largely on inter-personal relationship that existed between the two military leaders since the period of colonial rule (Aluko, 1976:9). Both Aguiyi Ironsi and J.A. Ankrah were Officers in the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) stationed at Accra until 1956. For more information, See O. Aluko, Ghana and Nigeria; 1957 – 70: A Study in Inter-African Discord (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1976), p.9. Apart from this, the two military leaders had also been contemporaries at the Eaton Hall, England, one of the British military training institutions. Other developments that helped in strengthening the improved bilateral relations between both countries included: the official recognition of the General Ankrah‟s government by Nigeria in February 1966 (Nivan, 1970: 37) and the arduous role played by Nigeria in ensuring the accreditation of the Ghanaian delegation to the defunct Organization of African Unity (O.A.U) Ministerial Council meeting held at Addis Ababa on 28 February, 1966 (Collins,1970:137). These two actions were said to have impressed the Ghanaian authorities so much that they quickly dispatched a high-powered delegation to Nigeria with a goodwill message. In a communiqué issued at the end of the visit, both countries expressed their desire to re-establish and further strengthen their traditional bond of friendship (Idang, 1973:120). This new era of cordial relationship was nearly truncated by the 29 July, 1966 counter- coup in Nigeria which brought about the death of General Aguiyi Ironsi. Idang reports that the news of Ironsi‟s death in the counter-coup was received with mixed feelings by the Ghanaian authorities (ibid: 122). Eventually, however, in a diplomatic way characteristic of experienced statesmen, General Ankrah, sent a congratulatory message to the new Nigerian Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, and commended him (Gowon) for having “a peculiar grasp and understanding of the difficulties afflicting Nigeria” (Gould,1974:356). It was this spirit of mutual respect and 2 International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926 Vol.1, Issue.3, December, 2014 understanding between the military leaders of both countries that prepared the ground for Ghana‟s intervention in the impending Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970. This leads us to an examination of the mediatory role played by General Ankrah in a bid to broker peace between the Nigerian Federal government and its Eastern region to prevent the outbreak of civil war in Nigeria. But before then, it is essential to state that the Ghanaian Government‟s intervention in Nigeria‟s political crisis was informed by a number of factors. These included; an attempt to promote on in-house settlement of African disputes devoid of extra-African intervention; the zeal to maintain the territorial integrity of Nigeria; the necessity of maintenance of peace in the West African sub-region; pro-active step aimed at preventing large flows of refugee into Ghana in the event of outbreak of war in Nigeria; the need to unify the Nigerian Army and resolve the internal wranglings among its officers; and most importantly, the humanitarian factor of reducing the carnage of death in the event of outbreak of hostilities between Nigeria‟s Federal Government and the Eastern Region. (Abubakar, 1992) Ghana’s Mediatory Role in the Nigerian Political Crisis: Aburi and After The events that led to the Nigerian civil war (6 July 1967- 15 January, 1970) have been well articulated in previous works that they need no rehearsals in this article. However, for records purposes, it will be succinct to mention some of the recurring ones identified in the literature namely; the 15 January, 1966 coup and its ethnic connotations. Aguiyi Ironsi‟s miscalculated politics of stability necessitating unitarism as against federalism; the 29 July, 1966 counter-coup and the attendant pogroms of Easterners in the North; emergence of Yakubu Gowon as military leader and, the refusal of Odumegwu Ojukwu to recognize his leadership and; the secession of the Eastern region and declaration of independence of the Republic of Biafra in July, 1967 (Ikime, 2002; Onyeoziri, 2002; Elaigwu, 2005; Nwolise, 2002 and Umoru-Onuka, 2002). Consequent upon the massacre of about 30,000 people of Igbo extraction across the Northern part of Nigeria between May and July 1966 (Olomola & Ola, 1989:18), and the large number of easterners flocking back to the Eastern Region, Lt. Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military Governor of the Eastern Region demanded for more security measures for the Igbos as well as more autonomy for the Eastern Region. However, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria under Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon, did not grant the request. This was the beginning of heightened tension within the polity in a build-up towards the civil war. Following from the refusal of the Nigerian government to grant his request, Lt. Colonel Ojukwu in early November 1966 refused to accept Gowon‟s leadership and declined from attending the Supreme Military Council (SMC) meetings henceforth (Ikime, 2002:62; Elaigwu, 1986). However, upon much persuasion, Ojukwu on 23 November, 1966 indicated his willingness to attend the SMC meeting provided such meetings would hold outside the country, claiming that his personal security could no longer be guaranteed anywhere in the country except in the Eastern Region (Ojukwu,1969:14). In an attempt to win over the apparently disgruntled Governor, Yakubu Gowon acceded to Ojukwu‟s demand and the search for a suitable and acceptable venue began in earnest. In 3 International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926 Vol.1, Issue.3, December, 2014 December 1966, the Ghanaian Head of State, General J.A. Ankrah offered to host the mediation meeting. It was perhaps the last major attempt to broker peace between Lt. Colonel Odunmegwu Ojukwu and Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon (Forsyth, 2001; Madiebo, 1980). Eventually, the search for peaceful co-existence of the peoples of Nigeria as one virile, united country took the Nigerian military leaders and senior police officials to Aburi in Accra, Ghana between 4 and 5 January, 1967 (Gailey Jr., 1972:210; Uwechue, 2004; Forsyth, 2001; Ojukwu, 1969). The terms of the agreement signed at the conference popularly known as the Aburi Accord included: the Army was to be governed by the Supreme Military Council (SMC), under the Chairman of the Head of the Federal Military Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; establishment of a military headquarters in which each region was to be represented. It would be headed by the Chief of Staff; Establishment of an Area Command in each region under an Area Commander; the SMC was to deal with all matters of appointment and promotions of people in executive posts in the Armed Forces and the Police and; Military Governors were to have control over Area commands in their regions for the purpose of internal security (Elaigwu, 2005: 18-19; Oluleye, 1985:42; Obasanjo, 1971:47).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ph.D Thesis-A. Omaka; Mcmaster University-History
    MERCY ANGELS: THE JOINT CHURCH AID AND THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE IN BIAFRA, 1967-1970 BY ARUA OKO OMAKA, BA, MA A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. Thesis – A. Omaka; McMaster University – History McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2014), Hamilton, Ontario (History) TITLE: Mercy Angels: The Joint Church Aid and the Humanitarian Response in Biafra, 1967-1970 AUTHOR: Arua Oko Omaka, BA (University of Nigeria), MA (University of Nigeria) SUPERVISOR: Professor Bonny Ibhawoh NUMBER OF PAGES: xi, 271 ii Ph.D. Thesis – A. Omaka; McMaster University – History ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1. AJEEBR`s sponsored advertisement ..................................................................122 2. ACKBA`s sponsored advertisement ...................................................................125 3. Malnourished Biafran baby .................................................................................217 Tables 1. WCC`s sickbays and refugee camp medical support returns, November 30, 1969 .....................................................................................................................171 2. Average monthly deliveries to Uli from September 1968 to January 1970.........197 Map 1. Proposed relief delivery routes ............................................................................208 iii Ph.D. Thesis – A. Omaka; McMaster University – History ABSTRACT International humanitarian organizations played a prominent role
    [Show full text]
  • Harnischfeger Igbo Nationalism & Biafra Long Paper
    Igbo Nationalism and Biafra Johannes Harnischfeger, Frankfurt Content 0. Foreword .................................................................... 3 1. Introduction 1.1 The War and its Legacy ....................................... 8 1.2 Trapped in Nigeria.............................................. 13 1.2 Nationalism, Religion, and Global Identities....... 17 2. Patterns of Ethnic and Regional Conflicts 2.1 Early Nationalism ............................................... 23 2.2 The Road to Secession ...................................... 31 3. The Defeat of Biafra 3.1 Left Alone ........................................................... 38 3.2 After the War ...................................................... 44 4. Global Identities and Religion 4.1 9/11 in Nigeria .................................................... 52 4.2 Christian Solidarity ............................................. 59 5. Nationalist Organisations 5.1 Igbo Presidency or Secession............................ 64 2 5.2 Internal Divisions ................................................ 70 6. Defining Igboness 6.1 Reaching for the Stars........................................ 74 6.2 Secular and Religious Nationalism..................... 81 7. A Secular, Afrocentric Vision 7.1 A Community of Suffering .................................. 86 7.2 Roots .................................................................. 91 7.3 Modernism.......................................................... 97 8. The Covenant with God 8.1 In Exile.............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • There Was a Nation: Narrating the Erasure of Biafra and the Marginalisation of the Igbo in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half Of
    9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,,0D\,661 There was a Nation: Narrating the Erasure of Biafra and the Marginalisation of the Igbo in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun Dr. Ranjana Das Sarkhel Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities Shri Shankaracharya College of Engineering and Technology Bhilai, Chhattisgarh India Abstract The Biafra War (1967-70) also known as the Nigerian Civil War was a result of the genocide of the Igbo people. The Igbo were massacred in a series of coup and counter coups during the years that followed Nigeria’s independence. The Igbo dominated eastern region of Nigeria seceded in 1967, declaring itself independent as the Republic of Biafra. As Nigerian forces moved to retake Biafra, a three year war erased Biafra from the map, leaving behind more than a million dead. Nigeria also imposed economic sanctions, blocked international medical aid and relief. While the world community watched in silence the mass suffering of the Igbo, many stories of the war remained untold in the official records. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun presents the human story of this political event which was not only a legacy of colonisation but also reflected the cruel faces of tribalism, oil-politics and economic deprivation. Adichie covers the years leading to the war, the course of the struggle and its aftermath while narrating stories of death and survival, love and loss, betrayal and hope. Her stories are of how the lives of ordinary people are suddenly changed by the horrors of living close to enemy lines, the pain of living in refugee camps and dying without a home.
    [Show full text]
  • ECAH2017 36322.Pdf
    Justice Delayed? The Nkanu Igbo and the Nigerian Army Occupation: 1967-1970 Ngozika Anthonia Obi-Ani, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria Paul Obinwanne Obi-Ani, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria The European Conference on Arts & Humanities 2017 Official Conference Proceedings Abstract The objective of this study is to examine the experiences of the Nkanu Igbo during the civil war. The Nigerian-Biafran Civil War was savagely contested by both sides of the divide. The seceding Biafra had borne the brunt of the pogrom, the counter coup d’état that decimated its officer corps in Nigeria and the sporadic outbursts of sectarian and ethnic cleansing that preceded the declaration of the Republic of Biafra on May 30,1967. In less than three months of the commencement of hostilities, Biafra lost its capital, Enugu, with all its stores. Enugu and its environs are peopled by the Nkanu Igbo and with the retreat of the Biafran forces, civil populace predominantly of the Nkanu Igbo came under the Nigerian army occupation from September 1967 to January 1970. The occupation of Nkanu Igbo was horrendous, with the civilian population subjected to inhuman treatment such as summary execution of suspected Biafran partisans, enforcement of pass system and arbitrary commandeering of young women as sex slaves by the Nigerian army. Unfortunately, this heinous crime against humanity has not received any scholarly attention. This paper is anchored on Mixed Method. Generally, emphasis is on qualitative method for interpretation of results. Tools for data collection are secondary data, newspaper reports, in-depth interviews and expert judgments. The sample is taken from a small group of people from 55 years and above.
    [Show full text]
  • Biafra: Why Igbo Want to Secede
    Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (Nigerian Chapter) Vol. 4, No. 1, 2016 www.arabianjbmr.com BIAFRA: WHY IGBO WANT TO SECEDE Isa Ishaq Ojibara Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria Abstract The Nigeria civil war (1967-1970) provoked by declaration of Biafra republic had indelible imprint on Nigeria state. The post war efforts for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the Igbo secessionist into the post civil war Nigeria through the (3Rs) policy of rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation (the 3Rs) to promote national unity and nationalism have failed to yield desire result. In recent times, specifically in post 2015 general election, there have been new waves of agitations for the Biafra republic by both Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra and Indigenous People of Biafra on one hand and for Niger Delta republic by Niger Delta Avengers on the other, added to terrorism and militancy that are already threatening Nigeria fragile state. The calls for restructuring have been louder particularly from the southern part of Nigeria. Keywords: Civil war, Secession, Self-determination, Nationalism and Restructuring 1 Introduction Nigeria has had an unusual susceptibility to civil war –most populous country in Africa, one of the most diverse countries of the world (both in ethnicity and religion) and with a substantial proportion of its export earnings from crude oil (Collier and Hoeffler, 2002:1-37, Fearon and Laitin, 2006: 1-26). According to (Fearon and Laitin, 2006) these are some of the indicators that determine if a country would go into a civil war in a particular period of time, specifically during the earliest period of independence years (1-4years).
    [Show full text]
  • Use of Propaganda in Civil War: the Biafra Experience. 1
    USE OF PROPAGANDA IN CIVIL WAR: THE BIAFRA EXPERIENCE. PATRICK EDIOMI DAVIES A Thesis in the Department of International Relations The London School of Economics and Political Science Submitted to the University of London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) June 1995 1 UMI Number: U105277 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U105277 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 IH eS£ F 71 L\~L\-lo DC hOOrUftH- USE OF PROPAGANDA IN CIVIL WAR: THE BIAFRA EXPERIENCE. ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of propaganda in the Biaffan war. Nigeria, the show case of British colonial rule and Empire, and transfer to independence, was at the point of disintegration in 1967. A section of the country, the Eastern region had dared to do the unthinkable at that time, to secede. The British and Nigerian governments were determined that it would not happen. The break away region, which called itself Biafra was blockaded by land, air and sea, and starved of weapons and the means of livelihood.
    [Show full text]
  • 40+ Years Later…The War Hasn't Ended…
    40+ Years Later…The War Hasn’t Ended… (Published in The Nigeria-Biafra War, edited by Chima J. Korieh, Cambria Press, 2012, 261- 276) Introduction The end of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War was marked by a bold, even if noble “no victor, no vanquished” proclamation for which General Yakubu Gowon has understandably received wide acclaim. But, whether sincere or not, history continues to convey a different message, redefining this otherwise gracious gesture as being more melodramatic than realistic. To begin with, there was indeed an overbearing victor and a compliant vanquished. This is not to downplay the rare and exceptional restoration of stability after the war, which, up until that point, was perhaps only matched by what had occurred at the end of WWII between allied forces on the one hand and the Nazis (and their supporters) on the other. Ongoing or lingering conflicts in nations like Israel, Afghanistan, the Congo and Somalia, and “concluded” conflicts in nations like Liberia and Rwanda reinforce the outstanding manner in which the Nigeria-Biafra War was formally brought to an end. In the former situations, the conflicts have ultimately persisted and even when the weapons have stopped blazing an awkward aura of commotion and unease remains. Without the intervention of the United Nations or its standard peacekeeping force, or of other international initiatives, some of which are drawn out and rarely conclusive, the Nigeria-Biafra peace accord achieved a commendable degree of resolution and restored a profound measure of social normalcy. Yet, it is this seeming state of calm that has proven most effective in masking the truth that the goals of the federal side1 are still being pursued and relentlessly sustained.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Ndozi Onyia, Felix P. C. Obi, Frank Obi Ogosi, and Emmanuel E. K. Onukwu Oral History Interview by Fraser Ottanelli, Decem
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Digital Collection - Holocaust & Genocide Studies Digital Collection - Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center Oral Histories Center December 2009 Henry Ndozi Onyia, Felix P. C. Obi, Frank Obi Ogosi, and Emmanuel E. K. Onukwu oral history interview by Fraser Ottanelli, December 15, 2009 Henry Ndozi Onyia (Interviewee) Fraser M. Ottanelli (Interviewer) S. Elizabeth Bird (Interviewer) Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/hgstud_oh Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, History Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Race, Ethnicity and post-Colonial Studies Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Scholar Commons Citation Onyia, Henry Ndozi (Interviewee); Ottanelli, Fraser M. (Interviewer); and Bird, S. Elizabeth (Interviewer), "Henry Ndozi Onyia, Felix P. C. Obi, Frank Obi Ogosi, and Emmanuel E. K. Onukwu oral history interview by Fraser Ottanelli, December 15, 2009" (2009). Digital Collection - Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center Oral Histories. Paper 24. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/hgstud_oh/24 This Oral History is brought to you for free and open access by the Digital Collection - Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Collection - Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center Oral Histories by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This Oral History is copyrighted by the University of South Florida Libraries Oral History Program on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the University of South Florida. Copyright, 2010, University of South Florida. All rights, reserved. This oral history may be used for research, instruction, and private study under the provisions of the Fair Use.
    [Show full text]
  • A Research Review on 50 Years After the Biafran War
    International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2020 Vol. 5, Issue 1, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 570-578 Published Online May 2020 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com) A RESEARCH REVIEW ON 50 YEARS AFTER THE BIAFRAN WAR Ignatius Nnaemeka Onwuatuegwu PhD Philosophy Department Faculty of Arts Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka Abstract - Nigeria like every other country has values and ideologies held about the need to pursue embarked on the journey for nation-building, good governance from the top government to the grass following the attainment of her independence on root. This notion becomes essential because good the 1st October 1960; however, the nation has governance is principally one of the basic stumbled and have faced great obstacles in her requirements for the attainment of sustainable journey towards nation-building, most of these development in all spheres of the society which is a obstacles have continued to resurface 59 years after basic requirement for national development (Ernst & the attainment of independence in Nigeria. The Young, 2014). Nigeria like every other country has wake of independence no doubt beamed a light of embarked on the journey for nation-building, hope, and lots of aspiration for the Nigerian people, following the attainment of her independence on the st however, these hope and aspirations were soon 1 October 1960; however, the nation has stumbled short-lived by the events that followed the early and have faced great obstacles in her journey towards years of independence. As a nation whose strength nation-building, most of these obstacles have lies in the unity of her diversity, and as a people continued to resurface 59 years after the attainment of whose glory lies in their unique peculiarities and independence in Nigeria.
    [Show full text]
  • Echoes of Secession: the Hero, the Rebel, and the Rhetoric of Might in Nigerian Civil War Pictorial Propaganda
    African Studies Quarterly | Volume 17, Issue 3| November 2017 Echoes of Secession: The Hero, the Rebel, and the Rhetoric of Might in Nigerian Civil War Pictorial Propaganda ETIIDO EFFIONG INYANG Abstract: This article evaluates the nature of images that negotiated and sustained secession propaganda during the Nigerian Civil war between 1967 and 1970. More specifically, it examines the character and disposition of the constructed image of the secessionist leader Emeka Ojukwu through a variety of photographs, cartoons, and posters used during the war in order to assess his role and tendencies in the politics of the thirty months war. By studying pre-war ancillary traits of politics and political elites in Nigeria, this article relies on the earlier studies of class conflict in Nigeria to argue that the images offer insights to lingering mutual suspicions and understanding of the war. Introduction … if the power of images is like the power of the weak, that may be why their desire is correspondingly strong, to make up for their actual impotence … what the picture awakens in our desire to see … is what it cannot show. This impotence is what gives it whatever specific power it has.1 The failed secession bid of Biafra from Nigeria in a civil war that ended after thirty months of military hostilities, internal displacements, starvation, and civilian deaths has remained a topic of painful reminiscences. As a result, its discourse has drawn more debates and literature than perhaps any other event in the history of the Nigerian nation. The interests of these reflections on the dark event in the country’s history and the polemics it stimulates have become increasingly varied in substance and facts.
    [Show full text]
  • Nnamdi Kanu Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB
    Received by NSD/FARA Registration Unit 07/08/2020 12:50:26 PM ip Foreign Policy 50 Years On, Biafra's Pain Is Still Fresh Patrick Egwu June 11, 2020 On Jan. 15, 1970, Nigeria's civil war with the breakaway nation of Biafra officially came to an end. The war came after coups and countercoups around the central government, followed by a pogrom in which an estimated 30,000 Igbo people were massacred in the north, causing over a million people to flee into the east. The failed Aburi Accord—a conference convened to address rising tensions between the central government and the Eastern Region in 1967—was the final straw. Nigeria's reintegration of the breakaway state was surprisingly successful, despite the horrors of the war. About 2-3 million people—mostly women and children in Biafra itself—died in nearly three years of conflict. But 50 years later, Biafran independence is once again a powerful cause. On May 30, pro-Biafra groups and their supporters celebrated the anniversary of the declaration of the Biafran Republic on May 30, 1967, by Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu—a 33-year-old Oxford University- educated historian-turned-military officer. With public events canceled, private memories shared with others online became key this year. Prayers in remembrance of the war's victims and survivors dominated, as well as posts and images on social media, sparking more support for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that has long been agitating for an independent state of Biafra. For more than five years now, IPOB and other pro-Biafra groups have been organizing peaceful protests across the country and demanding self-determination.
    [Show full text]
  • Nordic Journal of African Studies 9(1): 98-117 (2000)
    Nordic Journal of African Studies 9(1): 98-117 (2000) Time and Identity: The Legacy of Biafra to the Igbo in Diaspora RAISA SIMOLA University of Joensuu, Finland INTRODUCTION The 30th of May 1997 marked the 30th anniversary of the declaration of independence by Biafra from which the Nigerian Civil War or the Biafran War (1967-1970) ensued. In the course of this paper my interest is focussed on the legacy of Biafra and the Biafran War for the Igbo in diaspora. In the course of my research I followed discussions on the Igbo--net (an Internet discussion group whose identity exists in this double-hyphenated form) throughout 1996, and the material I am drawing on here is based on 40 discussions from 22 Igbo--netters (users of the Internet discussion group), most of whom are Igbo living in the USA. It should also be noted that all of the Igbo--netters mentioned are male. In addition, my attention will be focussed on an article published in 1996, ‘Locating Biafra. The Words We Wouldn’t Say’, which exceeds in length the combined separate writings from the Igbo--net. Further, it is the only writing under consideration produced by an Igbo female. Although my focus here is on the Igbo, among the above- mentioned 22 male Igbo--netters there were also some non-Igbo as well. As Harneit-Sievers et al. (1997) note, commemoration of the Civil War experience in Nigeria continues to be a difficult issue. The date the war started - 6 July 1967 - is commemorated nowadays only within the military, and the day of the official end of the war - 15 January 1970 - is not officially remembered at all.
    [Show full text]