Nchamere Nd'Igbo: The Pogrom, War And Starvation: Evidence Of Anti-Igbo Pogrom

BY EZE IHENETU After Nigeria won its independence from Britain in 1960, it was divided into three separate territories, consisting of three-hundred ethnic groups. It was a hasty and disorganized arrangement that almost failed . The northern part of the country was dominated by the Hausa and Fulani people, practitioners of a strict brand of Islam and a monarchal government; the southwest was composed mostly of the Yoruba people, who were also a monarchal government, albeit less despotic; and the southeast portion of the fledging independent country was dominated by the Igbo people, proponents of a political system that was similar to a western democracy. Igbo lands were apportioned between six-hundred sovereign villages. Every Igbo citizen was allowed to participate in the government of their village, and gain political and economic status through acquisition instead of inheritance. There was severe friction between these three territories. The British government saw the discord a...

Desperately starved children in a refugee camp near Aba in 1968. Image: AFP BY FREDERICK FORSYTH It is a good thing to be proud of one’s country, and I am – most of the time. But it would be impossible to scan the centuries of Britain’s history without coming across a few incidents that evoke not pride but shame. Among those I would list are the creation by British officialdom in South Africa of the concentration camp, to persecute the families of Boers. Add to that the Amritsar massacre of 1919 and the Hola camps set up and run during the struggle against Mau Mau. But there is one truly disgusting policy practised by our officialdom during the lifetime of anyone over 50, and one word will suffice: Biafra. This referred to the civil war in Nigeria that ended 50 years ago this month. It stemmed from the decision of the people of the eastern region of that already riot-racked country to strike for independence as the Republic of Biafra. As I learned when I got there as a BB...

Malnourished Biafran children fed by a French medical personnel inside the French Hospital in Libreville, Gabon March 15, 1969. "The images in the media of malnourished children in the belly swollen disrupt international opinion Humanitarian organizations attempt to bypass Lagos reluctance suspects. - rightly -. Humanitarian convoys carrying weapons and mercenaries Of ' vols- pirates' are organized to bring food to the dying populations , " says Le Figaro . Doctors, especially French, come to treat the victims. The Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) movement was founded after this war.Image: AFP On January 15, 1970, this region of south-eastern Nigeria signed his surrender, ending a civil war that started in the spring of 1968 and that left millions of people dead and displaced. Even today, this history constitutes a veritable "black hole" in the collective memory of the country. "A fine mustache and a big smile, General Gowon (President of Nigeria, ...

Leslie Mitchell with her daughters (l-r) Uche, Nnenna and Adaora in 1968. Image: Leslie Mitchell via The Portsmouth News BY ELISE SARGENT It may have happened more than 50 years ago, but Leslie Mitchell can still remember keenly the horrors she experienced in Nigeria after the county won its independence from Britain. In a country ravaged by civil war, Leslie and her young family were forced to join the procession of thousands of refugees searching for safety amid shocking violence and hunger. Along the way they picked up a desperately ill little girl who was simply abandoned by the side of the road. And they watched in terror as people were set on fire by mobs for supporting the ‘wrong’ side in the war. The breakaway republic of Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, where Leslie's husband Len was from, existed for just 30 months between 1967 and 1970. However, the destruction that ensued wrought repercussions through the generations. But how did Leslie end up there? From...

School children gather at the courtyard reminiscing the effects of the tragic. Image: A. Abbas/Magnum Photos (1971) BY LAWRENCE FELLOWS JANUARY 13, 1970 LAGOS, NIGERIA (THE NEW YORK TIMES) —Biafra, with its last de fenses crumbling and its supplies of food and ammunition exhausted, capitulated yesterday to the Nigerian Government. Brig. Philip Effiong, the Bi afran Chief of Staff, who took over the leadership Saturday night when Gen. Odumegwu Ojukwu fled the besieged remnant of the secessionist region, announced on the Biafran radio this afternoon that the attempt at secession had failed. [Unconfirmed reports from Lusaka, Zambia, said Monday night that General Ojukwu was expected to arrive with in the next day. It was un derstood that Zambia had of fered him asylum. Page 15.] Brigadier Effiong ordered Biafran forces to disengage from battle in an orderly fashion and said that he was sending representatives to Nigerian field commanders to negotiate an armistice. Gowo...

Loading of Joint Church Aid relief supplies on island of Sao Tomé. Photo: Peter Williams PETER WILLIAMS /CONCERN WORLDWIDE In the late 1960s, a rebellion in West Africa resulted in brutal warfare, the world’s first televised famine, an incredible humanitarian intervention, and the birth of several aid organizations — including Concern Worldwide. On July 6th 1967, an uprising began in Eastern Nigeria with the aim of gaining independence for the state of Biafra and its mostly Igbo population. The military government moved swiftly to crush the rebellion, and what followed was a two-and-a- half year war that would result in at least two million civilian deaths. The toll would have undoubtedly been higher were it not for the efforts of an ad hoc coalition of international humanitarian organizations and the establishment of what became known as the Biafran airlift. The secession attempt met with an unmerciful response, displacing millions of people who became further isolated by the ...

Biafran refugees flee federal Nigerian troops on a road near Ogbaku, Image: Kurt Scumpf/AP BY CHIGBO ARTHUR ANYADUBA During the massacre of Igbos in Nigeria between 1966 and 1970, one to three million people died . In the decades since, writers have worked to make sense of the immense human tragedy. These literary representations of the massacres use the Holocaust as an important point of reference. The war in Nigeria, with its associated mass atrocities, is arguably one of the first major moments in postcolonial Africa when accusations of genocide were made. Following military coups in Nigeria in 1966, the military and ethnic extremists systematically targeted and killed Igbos across the then Northern and Western regions of Nigeria . Massacres of Igbos and other Easterners across the country led to thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions. The massacres led the Eastern Region of Nigeria to declare its secession from Nigeria. The region was renamed the republic of Biaf...