Biafra

Republic of Biafra
Biafra
Unrecognized state
1967–1970[1]
Coat of arms
Motto
"Peace, Unity, and Freedom."
Anthem
Land of the Rising Sun
Green: Republic of Biafra.
Republic of Biafra in May 1967
Capital Enugu
Languages Igbo (Predominant)
Efik · Annang · Ibibio · Ijaw
Government Republic
Historical era Cold War
 •  Established 30 May 1967
 •  Rejoins Federal Nigeria 15 January 1970[1]
Area
 •  1967 77,306 km2 (29,848 sq mi)
Population
 •  1967 est. 13,500,000 
     Density 175/km2 (452/sq mi)
Currency Biafran pound
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Nigeria
Nigeria
Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 762. ISBN 0-313-32384-4. 

Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970. It took its name from the Bight of Biafra, the Atlantic bay to its south. 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. Other ethnic groups that constituted the republic were the Efik, Ibibio, Annang, Ejagham, Eket, Ibeno and the Ijaw among others.

The secession of the Biafran region was the primary cause of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War. The state was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia.[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[4]

After two-and-a-half years of war, during which perhaps a 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.[5]

Secession

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 boundaries. Thus, the northern region of the country is made up of Muslim majority, while the southern population is predominantly Christian. Following independence, Nigeria was divided primarily along ethnic lines with Hausa and Fulani majority in the north, Yoruba and Igbo majority in the south-west and south-east respectively.[6]

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. It was alleged to be an Igbo coup because 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.[7][8][9]

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.[10]

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".

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu[11]

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in pursuit of a more agreeable arrangement for peaceful co-existence of all regions in Nigeria proposed for 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.[10]

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.[6][10][12] The large amount of oil in the region created conflict, as oil was already becoming a major component of the Nigerian economy.[13] 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 Easterners.[14]

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.[10][15] 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.[10]

An ex Biafran officer, Sunday Onwuzor Nwiwe, Alias Bazoka, epitomized that Biafrans lost the war as a result of, occidental conspiracy and hunger.

Geography

Satellite pictures of Biafra

Biafra comprised over 29,848 square miles (77,310 km2) of land,[16] with terrestrial borders shared with Nigeria to the north and west, and with Cameroon to the east. Its coast was on the Gulf of Guinea in the south.

The former country's northeast bordered the Benue Hills and mountains that lead to Cameroon. Three major rivers flow from Biafra into the Gulf of Guinea: the Imo River, the Cross River and the Niger River.[17]

The territory of Biafra is covered nowadays by the Nigerian states of Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, and Akwa Ibom. While the Igbo people of the current Nigerian state of Delta were not included in Biafra as per Ojukwu's decree founding Biafra, some Delta Igbo did fight on the Biafran side.

Language

Whilst it existed, the predominant language of Biafra was Igbo.[18] Along with Igbo, there were a variety of other languages, including Efik, Ikwerre, Ogoni, Ijaw, Annang and Ibibio. However, English was indeed the official language.

Economy

An early institution created by the Biafran government was the Bank of Biafra, accomplished under "Decree No. 3 of 1967".[19] The bank carried out all central banking functions including the administration of foreign exchange and the management of the public debt of the Republic.[19] The bank was administered by a governor and four directors; the first governor, who signed on bank notes, was Sylvester Ugoh.[20] A second decree, "Decree No. 4 of 1967", modified the Banking Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the Republic of Biafra.[19]

The bank was first located in Enugu, but due to the ongoing war, the bank was relocated several times.[19] 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.[19] The new currency went public on 28 January 1968, and the Nigerian pound was not accepted as an exchange unit.[19] 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.[19]

In 1969 new notes were introduced: £10, £5, £1, 10/- and 5/-.[19]

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.[19] In uncirculated condition these are very inexpensive and readily available for collectors.

Military

Roundel of the Biafran Air Force.

At the beginning of the war Biafra had 3,000 soldiers, but at the end of the war the soldiers totalled 30,000.[21] There was no official support for the Biafran Army by any other nation throughout the war, although arms were clandestinely acquired. Because of the lack of official support, the Biafrans manufactured many of their weapons locally. Europeans served in the Biafran cause; German born Rolf Steiner was a lieutenant colonel assigned to the 4th Commando Brigade and Welshman Taffy Williams served as a Major until the very end of the conflict.[22] A special guerrilla unit, the Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters, was established, designed to emulate the Viet Cong, targeting Nigerian supply lines and forcing them to shift forces to internal security efforts.[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, two B-26 Invaders, (one piloted by Polish World War II ace 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 early 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 to Biafra the following month, with another aircraft lost on the ferry flight. These aircraft flew missions until January 1970 and were flown by Portuguese ex-military pilots.[24]

Biafra also had a small improvised navy, but it never gained the success their air force did. It was headquartered in Kidney Island, Port Harcourt, and commanded by Winifred Anuku. The Biafran Navy was made up of captured craft, converted tugs, and armor-reinforced civilian vessels armed with machine guns or captured 6-pounder guns. It mainly operated in the Niger Delta and along the Niger River.[25]

Legacy

A child suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition during the Nigerian blockade

The international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières originated in response to the suffering in Biafra.[26] 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.[27]

In their study, 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.[28]

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".[29]

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).[30][31]

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 obesity, 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.[32][33]

Movement to re-secede

There is no central authority coordinating the Biafran re-secession campaign. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is one of the numerous groups advocating for a separate country for the people of south-eastern Nigeria.[34] 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.[35] It has two arms of government, the Biafra Government in Exile and Biafra Shadow Government.[36]

The Nigerian government accuses MASSOB of violence; MASSOB's leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was arrested in 2005 and was detained on treason charges. He has since been released. In 2009, MASSOB launched an unrecognized "Biafran International Passport" in response to persistent demand by some Biafran sympathizers in the diaspora.[37] On 16 June 2015, the Supreme Council of Elders of the Indigenous People of Biafra, another pro-Biafra organization, sued the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the right to self-determination within their region as a sovereign state.[38]

Another group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), led by a United Kingdom-based Biafran, Nnamdi Kanu, reinvigorated the quest for Biafran realisation in 2012. He established a pirate radio station to champion the Biafran cause, Radio Biafra, which has been broadcasting at various frequencies around the world. The Nigerian Government, through its broadcasting regulators, the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigerian (BON) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has sought to clamp down on the UK-based station with limited success. On 17 November 2015, the Abia state police command seized an IPOB radio transmitter in Umuahia.[39][40] Mr. Kanu was detained by the federal government and released on April 24th, 2017.

The various groups clamouring for the restoration of the independence of Biafra have often been beset with internal wranglings that have impeded its secessionist efforts. On 19 October 2015, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) disclosed that the director of Radio Biafra and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, does not belong to the movement and was sacked for indiscipline and for inciting violence among members.[41][42]

There has been a renewed, intense agitation for Biafran secession. Since August 2015, protests have erupted in cities across Nigeria's south-east. Though peaceful, the protesters have been routinely attacked by the Nigerian police and army, with scores of people reportedly killed. Many others have been injured and/or arrested.[43] On 23 December 2015, the federal government charged Nnamdi Kanu with treasonable felony in the Federal High Court in Abuja.[44]

According to the South-East Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs), security forces under the directive of the federal government has killed 80 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and their supporters between 30 August 2015 and 9 February 2016 in a renewed clampdown on the movement .[45]

A report by Amnesty International also accuses the Nigerian military of killing at least 17 unarmed Biafran separatists in the city of Onitsha prior to a march on 30 May 2016 commemorating the 49th anniversary of the initial secession of Biafra.[46]

Meaning of "Biafra" and location

Little is known about the literal meaning of the word Biafra. The word Biafra most likely derives from the subgroup Biafar or Biafada[47] of the Tenda ethnic group who reside primarily in Guinea-Bissau.[48] Manuel Álvares (1526–1583), a Portuguese Jesuit educator, in his work Ethiopia Minor and a geographical account of the Province of Sierra Leone,[49] writes about the "Biafar heathen" in chapter 13 of the same book.[50] The word Biafar thus appears to have been a common word in the Portuguese language back in the 16th century.

According to Igbo language, the literal translation: biafra = bia (come) + fra (together).

Historical maps

Early modern maps of Africa from the 15th–19th centuries, drawn by European cartographers from accounts written by explorers and travellers, reveal some information about Biafra:

  1. The original word used by the European travellers was not Biafra but Biafara,[51][52] Biafar[53] and sometimes also Biafares.[54]
    Senegambia 1707
  2. According to the maps, the European travellers used the word Biafara to describe the region of today's West Cameroon including an area around Equatorial Guinea. The German publisher Johann Heinrich Zedler, in his encyclopedia of 1731, published the exact geographical location of the capital of Biafara, namely alongside the river Rio dos Camaroes underneath 6 degrees 10 min. latitude.[55] The words Biafara and Biafares also appear on maps from the 18th century in the area around Senegal and Gambia.[56]
    French map of the Gulf of Guinea from 1849

Maps indicating the word Biafara (sometimes also Biafares or Biafar) with corresponding year:

Maps from the 19th century indicating Biafra as the region around today's Cameroon:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ogbaa, Kalu (1 January 1995). Igbo. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8239-1977-2. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Biafra | secessionist state, Nigeria". Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  3. ↑ Biafra Free State
  4. 1 2 Nowa Omoigui. "Federal Nigerian Army Blunders of the Nigerian Civil War – Part 2". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  5. ↑ Barnaby Philips (13 January 2000). "Biafra: Thirty years on". BBC News. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  6. 1 2 Barnaby Philips (13 January 2000). "Biafra: Thirty years on". The BBC. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  7. ↑ Nowa Omoigui. "OPERATION 'AURE': The Northern Military Counter-Rebellion of July 1966". Nigeria/Africa Masterweb.
  8. ↑ Willy Bozimo. "Festus Samuel Okotie Eboh (1912–1966)". Niger Delta Congress. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "1966 Coup: The last of the plotters dies". OnlineNigeria.com. 20 March 2007.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Biafran Secession: Nigeria 1967–1970". Armed Conflict Events Database. 16 December 2000.
  11. ↑ "Ojukwu's Declaration of Biafra Speech". Citizens for Nigeria. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  12. ↑ "Biafra Spotlight - Republic of Biafra is Born". Library of Congress Africa Pamphlet Collection - Flickr. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "ICE Case Studies". American University. November 1997.
  14. ↑ Nowa Omoigui (3 October 2007). "Nigerian Civil War file". BBC. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
  15. ↑ "On This Day (30 June)". BBC. 30 June 1969. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  16. ↑ Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 762. ISBN 0-313-32384-4.
  17. ↑ "Nigeria". Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 June 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  18. ↑ Ònyémà Nwázùé. "INTRODUCTION TO THE IGBO LANGUAGE". Archived from the original on 18 August 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Symes, Peter (1997). "The Bank Notes of Biafra". International Bank Note Society Journal. 36 (4). Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  20. ↑ Ivwurie, Dafe (25 February 2011). "Nigeria: The Men Who May Be President (1)". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  21. ↑ "Operation Biafra Babies". Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  22. ↑ "The Last Adventurer" by Steiner, Rolf (Boston:, Little, Brown 1978)
  23. ↑ Jowett, Philip (2016). Modern African Wars (5): The Nigerian-Biafran War 1967-70. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Press. ISBN 978-1472816092.
  24. 1 2 Air Enthusiast No. 65 September–October 1996 pp 40–47 article by Vidal, Joao M. Texans in Biafra T-6Gs in use in the Nigerian Civil War
  25. ↑ Jowett, Philip (2016). Modern African Wars (5): The Nigerian-Biafran War 1967-70. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Press. ISBN 978-1472816092.
  26. ↑ "Founding of MSF". Doctors without borders. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  27. ↑ Bortolotti, Dan (2004). Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders, Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55297-865-6.
  28. ↑ http://whqlibdoc.who.int/smallpox/9241561106_chp17.pdf
  29. ↑ "Site cidi.org". Iys.cidi.org. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  30. ↑ "Emerging Genocide in Nigeria". Cwis.org. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  31. ↑ "Chronicles of brutality in Nigeria 2000–2006". Cwis.org. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  32. ↑ "Hypertension, Diabetes and Overweight: Looming Legacies of the Biafran Famine, PLoS ONE". Plosone.org. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  33. ↑ "Nigeria: Those Born During Biafra Famine Are Susceptible to Obesity, Study Finds". The New York Times. 2 November 2010.
  34. ↑ Senan Murray (3 May 2007). "Reopening Nigeria's civil war wounds". BBC. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  35. ↑ Estelle Shirbon (12 July 2006). "Dream of free Biafra revives in southeast Nigeria". Reuters.
  36. ↑ "Biafra News – 04.13.2009". Biafra.cwis.org. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  37. ↑ "MASSOB launches "Biafran Int'l Passport" to celebrate 10th anniversary". Vanguardngr.com. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  38. ↑ "Court determines suit between Nigeria, Biafra on Sept 22". sunnewsonline.com. 18 July 2015. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  39. ↑ "Radio Biafra Transmitter's Found in Umuahia, Abia State "
  40. ↑ "Radio Biafra Container With Massive Transmitter Found In Nnamdi Kanu's Village - NewsRescue.com".
  41. ↑ "Confusion, as MASSOB disowns Radio Biafra boss, Nnamdi Kanu - Vanguard News". 19 October 2015.
  42. ↑ "Arrested Radio Biafra boss is not our member – MASSOB leader, Uwazuruike". 19 October 2015.
  43. ↑ "Half a century after the war, angry Biafrans are agitating again". The Economist. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  44. ↑ "FG Files Fresh Treason Charges against Nnamdi Kanu" Archived 24 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  45. ↑ "Biafra will not stand, Buhari vows - Vanguard News". 6 March 2016.
  46. ↑ "Amnesty accuses Nigerian army of killing at least 17 unarmed Biafran separatists - News by Country - Reuters". line feed character in |title= at position 81 (help)
  47. ↑ "Biafada: A language of Guinea-Bissau".
  48. ↑ "The Joshua Project: Biafada, Biafar of Guinea-Bissau".
  49. ↑ "Africa Focus: Ethiopia Minor and a geographical account of the Province of Sierra Leone : (c. 1615): Contents".
  50. ↑ "Manuel Álvares, Chapter 13: The Biafar Heathen".
  51. ↑ "Map of Africa from 1669". USA: Afriterra Foundation, The Cartographic Free Library. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  52. ↑ "Map of Africa from 1669" (zoom). USA: Afriterra Foundation, The Cartographic Free Library. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  53. ↑ "Map of West Africa from 1729". USA: University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  54. ↑ "Map of North-West Africa, 1829". USA: University of Texas Libraries. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  55. ↑ Zedler, Johann Heinrich. "Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenchafften und Künste". Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 10 May 2017. page 1684
  56. ↑ "1730 map - L’Isle, Guillaume de, 1675-1726". Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Library. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
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