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HISTORY OF BIAFRA WAR
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was an unrecognized secessionist state in West Africa which existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970; it was made up of the states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria.
FIRST BIAFRA ATTEMPT
Biafra’s attempt to leave Nigeria resulted in the Nigerian Civil War. The state was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia. Other nations, which did not give official recognition but provided support and assistance to Biafra, included Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Rhodesia, South Africa and the Vatican City. Biafra also received aid from non-state actors, including Joint Church Aid, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, and under their direction Caritas International, MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.
Its inhabitants were mostly Igbo, who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. Other ethnic groups that were present were the Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ejagham, Eket, Ibeno and the Ijaw among others.
History Of Biafra War
After two-and-a-half years of war, during which almost two million Biafran civilians died from starvation caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian government and the migration of Biafra’s Igbo people into increasingly shrinking territory, Biafran forces under the motto of “No-victor, No-vanquished” surrendered to the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria. The surrender was facilitated by the Biafran Vice President and Chief of General Staff, Major General Philip Effiong who assumed leadership of the defunct Republic after the original President, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME “BIAFRA”
The country took its name from the Bight of Biafra, the stretch of water to its south at the east end of the Gulf of Guinea. Little is known about the literal meaning of the word Biafra. The word Biafra most likely derives from the subgroup Biafar or BiafadaBiaf of the Tenda ethnic group who reside primarily in Guinea-Bissau. 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. The word Biafar thus appears to have been a common word in the Portuguese language back in the 16th century.
NIGERIAN INDEPENDENCE
In 1960, Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom. As with many other new African states, the borders of the country did not reflect earlier ethnic, cultural or religious boundaries. Thus, the northern region of the country has a Muslim majority, while the southern population is predominantly Christian. Following independence, Nigeria was divided primarily along ethnic lines with a Hausa and Fulani majority in the north, and Yoruba and Igbo majorities in the south-west and south-east respectively.
History Of Biafra War
In January 1966, a military coup occurred during which a group of predominantly Igbo junior army officers assassinated 30 political leaders including Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the Northern premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The four most senior officers of Northern origin were also killed. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the President, of Igbo extraction, and the premier of the southeastern part of the country were not killed and the commander of the army, General Aguiyi Ironsi seized power to maintain order.
History Of Biafra War
In July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a counter-coup. Muslim officers named a General from a small ethnic group (the Angas) 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.
OJUKWU PROPOSED A CONFEDERATED NIGERIA
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu proposed a confederated Nigeria. 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.
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 South Eastern Region’s military governor, announced the Republic of Biafra, citing the Easterners killed in the post-coup violence. The large amount of oil in the region created conflict, as oil was already becoming a major component of the Nigerian economy. 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 and support of most South Eastern easterners.
THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR
The FMG launched “police measures” to annex the Eastern Region on 6 July 1967. The FMG’s initial efforts were unsuccessful; the Biafrans successfully launched their own offensive, occupying areas in the mid-Western Region in August 1967. By October 1967, the FMG had regained the land after intense fighting. 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.
History Of Biafra War
An ex Biafran officer, Sunday Onwuzor Nwiwe, Alias Bazoka, epitomized that Biafrans lost the war as a result of occidental conspiracy and hunger.
History Of Biafra War
It is believed that one of the major factors that sparked the war was the declaration of independence for Biafra made by Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in 1967. He eventually died on the 26th of November, 2011 (aged 78) after a brief illness, many years after the war.