Also, called: Nigerian-Biafran War
YEARS: 1967-1970 | DEATHS: 1500000
The Nigerian Civil War, 1967– 1970, was an ethnic and political conflict caused by
the attempted secession of the South-eastern provinces of Nigeria as the
self-proclaimed republic of Biafra. The war became notorious for the starvation
in some of the besieged war-bound regions, and the consequent claims of genocide
made by the largely Igbo people of those regions.
Causes
of the Conflict
The conflict was the result of serious tensions, both
ethnic and religious, between the different peoples of Nigeria. Like most modern
African nations, Nigeria was an artificial construct, put together by agreement
between European powers, paying little regard to historical African boundaries
or population groups. The Nigeria which received independence from Britain in
1960 had a population of 60 million people of nearly 300 differing ethnic and
tribal groups.
Of the ethnic groups that made up Nigeria, the largest
were the largely Muslim Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the half-Christian,
half-Muslim south-west, and the Igbo in the predominantly Christian south-east.
At independence a conservative political alliance had been made between the
leading Hausa and Igbo political parties, which ruled Nigeria from 1960 to 1966.
This alliance excluded the western Yoruba people. The well-educated Igbo people
were considered by many to be the main beneficiaries of this alliance, taking
most of the top jobs and leading business opportunities in the Nigerian
federation.
The Yoruba westerners had supported a left-leaning, reformist
party, the Action Group, which was antipathic to the conservative northern
muslim bloc. A "palace coup" by conservative elements in the west, led to the
formation of a more conservative Yoruba party, the NNDP, prepared to go into
alliance with the Hausa northerners. This new political alliance excluded the
Igbo-dominated East from power, and threatened to roll back the gains of the
Igbo elite.
The elections of 1965 saw the Nigerian National Alliance of
the Muslim north and the conservative elements in the west, face off against the
United Progressive Grand Alliance of the Christian east and the progressive
elements among the westerners. The Alliance of North and West won a crushing
victory under Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, amid claims of widespread electoral
fraud.
Military Coup
The
claims of fraud led to a military coup by left-leaning Igbo officers. General
Ironsi became head of state. Some months later, a counter coup by northern
officers placed General Yakubu Gowon into power. Ethnic tensions increased, with
massacres of Christian Igbos living in the Muslim north.
The discovery of
large quantities of oil in the south-east of the country had led to the prospect
of the south-east becoming self-sufficient and increasingly prosperous. However
the exclusion of easterners from power made many fear that the oil revenues
would be used to benefit areas in the north and west rather than their own.
All these factors led to a growing pressure in the Igbo east for secession.
Break away
The military
governor of the Igbo-dominated south-east, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, citing the
northern massacres and electoral fraud, proclaimed with southern parliament the
secession of the south-eastern region from Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra, an
independent nation. Although there was much sympathy in Europe and elsewhere,
only four countries recognized the new republic.
Civil War
The Nigerian
government immediately launched a "police action", using the armed forces to
retake the secessionist territory.
At first Nigerian progress was slow, and
failures of its larger army to invade the territory of the new republic led to a
growth in worldwide support for Biafra. Biafran troops crossed the Niger River,
entered the mid-western region, and launched attacks close to Lagos, the then
Nigerian capital.
However reorganisation of the Nigerian forces, and the
effects of a naval, land and air blockade of Biafra led to a change in the
balance of forces. Biafran forces were pushed back into their core territory,
and the capital of Biafra, the city of Enugu was captured by Nigerian forces.
The Biafrans continued to resist in their core Igbo heartlands, which were soon
surrounded by Nigerian forces.
The Swedish eccentric, Count Carl Gustav von
Rosen also led a miniCOIN brigade in action, his BAF (Biafran Air Force)
consisted of three Swedes and two Biafrans.
Stalemate
From 1968 onward, the war fell into a lengthy stalemate, with Nigerian forces
unable to make significant advances into the remaining areas of Biafran
control. The blockade of the surrounded Biafrans led to a humanitarian and
propaganda disaster when it emerged that there was widespread civilian hunger
and starvation in the besieged Igbo areas. An overused tactic of the Nigerian
forces had been the sabotage of farmland, and this was now beginning to affect
the Biafran population. Images of starving Biafran children went around the
world. The Biafran government claimed that Nigeria was using hunger and
genocide to win the war, and sought aid from the outside world.
Many
volunteer bodies organised blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra,
carrying food, medicines, and sometimes (it was claimed) weapons. Nigeria also
claimed that the Biafran government was hiring foreign mercenaries to extend
and lengthen the war.
Aftermath
Despite the foreign
aid, and the political harm done to Nigeria, the area controlled by the Biafran
government grew smaller and smaller. A final surrender of Biafran forces took
place in 1970 when Ojukwu fled to the republic of Côte d’Ivoire, leaving his
deputy Philip Effiong to handle the details of the surrender. To the surprise of
many in the outside world, the threatened reprisals and massacres did not occur,
and genuine attempts were made at reconciliation.
The war cost Nigeria a
great deal in terms of lives, money and its image in the world. It has been
estimated that up to a million people may have died due to the conflict, hunger
and disease. Reconstruction, helped by the oil money, was swift; however, the
old ethnic and religious tensions often remained. Military Government continued
in power in Nigeria for many years, and people in the oil-producing areas
claimed they were being denied a fair share of oil revenues. Laws were passed
mandating that political parties could not be ethnically or tribally based;
however, it has been hard to make this work in
practice.
SOURCE(S):
http://www.war-memorial.net/Detail.asp?ID=140
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