Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January
1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south).[2] The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo
people who led the secession
due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various
peoples of Nigeria. The creation of the new country was among the complex
causes for the Nigerian
Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War.
Land of the Rising Sun was chosen for Biafra's national anthem, and the
state was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania
and Zambia.
Other nations which did not give official recognition but which did provide
support and assistance to Biafra included Israel, France,Portugal, Rhodesia,
South Africa and the Vatican City.[3] Biafra also received aid from non-state actors,
including Joint Church Aid, Holy
Ghost Fathers of Ireland, Caritas International, MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.[3]
After two-and-a-half years of war, during which a million
civilians had died in fighting and from famine, Biafran forces agreed to a
ceasefire with the Nigerian Federal Military
Government (FMG), and Biafra was
reintegrated into Nigeria.[4]
In 1960, Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom.[5] As with many other new African states, the
borders of the country did not reflect earlier ethnic boundaries. Thus the
northern desert region of the country contained semi-autonomous feudal Muslim states, while the southern population was
predominantly Christian and Animist.
Furthermore, Nigeria's oil, its primary source of income, was located in the
south of the country.[5]
Following independence, Nigeria was divided primarily along ethnic
lines with Hausa and Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the south-west, and Igboin the
south-east.[5] In January 1966, a group of primarily eastern
Igbo led a military coup during which 30 political leaders including Nigeria's
Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the Northern premier, Sir Ahmadu
Bello were killed.[6][7][8]
In July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a
counter-coup. Muslim officers named a Christian from a small ethnic group (the
Anga) in central Nigeria, General Yakubu
"Jack" Gowon, as the head of the Federal Military
Government (FMG). The two coups deepened Nigeria's ethnic tensions. In
September 1966, approximately 30,000 Igbo were killed in the north, and some
Northerners were killed in backlashes in eastern cities.[9]
Now, therefore, I,
Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern
Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles, recited
above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and
called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial
waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title
of "The Republic of Biafra".
In January 1967, the military leaders and senior police officials
of each region met in Aburi, Ghana and agreed on a loose
confederation of regions. The Northerners were at odds with the Aburi Accord; Obafemi Awolowo, the
leader of the Western Region warned that if the Eastern Region seceded, the
Western Region would also, which persuaded the northerners.[9]
After the federal and eastern governments failed to reconcile, on
26 May the Eastern region voted to secede from Nigeria. On 30 May,Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Eastern Region's
military governor, announced the Republic of Biafra, citing the Easterners
killed in the post-coup violence.[5][9] The large amount of oil in the region created
conflict, as oil was a major component of the Nigerian economy.[11] The Eastern region was very ill equipped for
war, out-manned, and out-gunned by the military of the remainder of Nigeria.
Their advantages included fighting in their homeland, support of most
Easterners, determination, and use of limited resources.[12] The British, Soviet
Union, and U.S. support (especially militarily) of the Nigerian
government played a major role in the outcome of the war.[13]
The FMG launched "police measures" to annexe the Eastern
Region on 6 July 1967. The FMG's initial efforts were unsuccessful; the
Biafrans successfully launched their own offensive, taking land in the
Mid-Western Region August 1967. By October 1967, the FMG had regained the land
after intense fighting.[9][14]
In September 1968, the federal army planned what Gowon described
as the "final offensive." Initially the final offensive was
neutralised by Biafran troops. In the latter stages, a Southern FMG offensive
managed to break through the fierce resistance.[9]
On 30 June 1969, the Nigerian government banned all Red
Cross aid to Biafra; two weeks
later it allowed medical supplies through the front line, but restricted food
supplies.[14] Later in October 1969, Ojukwu appealed to United
Nations to mediate a cease-fire. The
federal government called for Biafra's surrender. In December, the FMG managed
to cut Biafra in half, primarily by the efforts of 3 Marine Commando Division
of the Nigerian Army, led
by then Colonel Benjamin Adekunle,
popularly called 'The Black Scorpion' and laterOlusegun Obasanjo.
Ojukwu fled to the Ivory Coast, leaving
his chief of staff, Philip Effiong, to
act as the "officer administering the government". Effiong called for
a cease-fire 12 January and submitted to the FMG.[9] More than one million people had died in battle
or from starvation.[15][16] Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria.
Enclosed in Biafra's borders were over 29,848 square miles (77,310
km2) of land;[1] the land borders were shared with Nigeria to the north and Cameroonto the east.
Its coast was on the Gulf of Guinea in the south.
Biafra has a tropical climate with two distinct seasons, dry and
rainy. From April to October the rainy season takes place, with heavy rain and
high humidity. The heaviest rain occurs between June and July with up to
360 mm (14 in) of rain level. The temperature of the region on a
clear day is 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) high and 22 degrees
Celsius (71.6 degrees Fahrenheit) low. The dry season starts in November and
ends in April. The lowest rain level 16 mm (0.63 in) in February. The
temperature at night reaches 20 °C (68 °F) and in the day has a peak
temperature of 36 °C (96.8 °F).[18]
The predominant language of Biafra was Igbo.[19] Along with Igbo there were a variety of other different languages,
including Efik and Ibibio.
An early institution created by the Biafran government was the
Bank of Biafra, accomplished under ‘Decree No. 3 of 1967'.[20] The bank carried out all central banking
functions including the administration of foreign exchange and the management
of the public debt of the Republic.[20] The bank was administered by a governor and four
directors; the first governor, who signes on bank notes, was Sylvester Ugoh.[21] A second decree, ‘Decree No.4 of 1967’, modified the Banking Act
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the Republic of Biafra.[20]
The bank was first located in Enugu, but due to the ongoing war,
the bank was relocated several times.[20] Biafra attempted to finance the war through
foreign exchange. After Nigeria announced their currency would no longer be
legal tender (to make way for a new currency), this effort increased. After the
announcement, tons of Nigerian bank notes were transported in an effort to
acquire foreign exchange. The currency of Biafra had been the Nigerian pound,
until the Bank of Biafra started printing out its own notes, the Biafran pound.[20] The new currency went public on 28 January 1968,
and the Nigerian pound was not accepted as an exchange unit.[20] The first issue of the bank notes included only
5 shillings notes and 1 pound notes. The Bank of Nigeria exchanged only 30
pounds for an individual and 300 pounds for enterprises in the second half of
1968.[20]
It is estimated that a total of £115–140 million Biafran pounds
were in circulation by the end of the conflict, with a population of about 14
million, approximately £10 per person.[20]
At the beginning of the war Biafra had 3,000 troops, but at the
end of the war the troops totalled 30,000.[22] There was no official support for the Biafran army by another
nation throughout the war, although arms were clandestinely acquired. Because
of the lack of official support, the Biafrans manufactured many of their
weapons locally. A number of Europeans served in the Biafran cause; German born Rolf Steiner was a Lt. Colonel assigned to the 4th Commando
Brigade and Welshman Taffy Williams served as a Major until the very end of the
conflict.[23]
The Biafrans managed to set up a small yet effective air force.
The BAF commanders were Chude Sokey and later Godwin Ezeilo, who had trained
with the Royal Canadian Air Force.[24] Early inventory included two B-25 Mitchells, one B-26 Invader (piloted by Polish pilot Jan Zumbach, known
also as John Brown), a converted DC-3 and one Dove.
In 1968 the Swedish pilot Carl Gustaf von Rosen suggested the MiniCOIN project to General Ojukwu. By the spring of
1969, Biafra had assembled five MFI-9Bs in Gabon, calling them
"Biafra Babies". They were coloured green, were able to carry six
68 mm anti-armour rockets under each wing and had simple sights. The six
aeroplanes were flown by three Swedish pilots and three Biafran pilots. In
September 1969, Biafra acquired four ex-Armee de l'Air North American T-6Gs,
which were flown successfully to Biafra the following month, with another
aircraft lost on the ferry flight. These aircraft flew missions until January
1970, flown by Portuguese ex-military pilots.[24]
The international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières ("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.[25]
In their book, Smallpox and its
Eradication, Fenner and colleagues
describe how vaccine supply shortages during the Biafra smallpox campaign led
to the development of the focal vaccination technique, later adopted worldwide
by the World Health Organization, which led to the early and
cost effective interruption of smallpox transmission in west Africa and
elsewhere.
On 29 May 2000, the Lagos Guardian newspaper reported that the now ex-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".[26]
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.[citation needed]
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).[27][28]
In 2010, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, showed that Igbos born
in Biafra during the years of the famine were of higher risk of suffering from
overweight, hypertension and impaired glucose metabolism compared to controls
born a short period after the famine had ended. The findings are in line with
the developmental origin of health and disease hypothesis suggesting that
malnutrition in early life is a predisposing factor for cardiovascular diseases
and diabetes later in life.[29][30]
The Movement for the Actualization
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) advocates a separate country for the Igbo people of
south-eastern Nigeria.[16] They accuse the state of marginalising the Igbo
people. MASSOB says it is a peaceful group and advertises a 25-stage plan to
achieve its goal peacefully.[31] there are two arms to the government, the Biafra Government
in Exile and Biafra Shadow
Government.[32] The Nigerian government accuses MASSOB of
violence; MASSOB's leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was arrested in 2005 and is being
detained on treason charges; MASSOB is calling for his release. MASSOB is also
championing the release of oil militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is facing similar
charges.[16] In 2009, The MASSOB launched "the Biafran
International Passport" in response to persistent demand by Biafrans in
diaspora.[33]
Little is known about the literal meaning of the word Biafra. It
is not part of the Igbo language. It is
unclear whether the origin of the word Biafra has any relationship to "Bia",
the Igbo word for "Come". The word Biafra most likely derives from
the subgroup Biafar or Biafada[34] of the Tenda ethnic group who reside primarily in Guinea-Bissau.[35] Manuel
Álvares (1526–1583), a
Portuguese Jesuit educator, in his work "Ethiopia Minor and a
geographical account of the Province of Sierra Leone", writes about the "Biafar heathen" in chapter 13 of the same book.[36] The word Biafar thus appears to have been a common word in the
Portuguese language back in the 16th century.