Nigerian civil war

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The Nigerian Civil War, July 6, 1967 – January 13, 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern 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. The NGO Doctors Without Borders was created in 1971 as an aftermath of the war by Bernard Kouchner and other French doctors who had worked in besieged Biafra.

Contents

1 Military Coup
2 Breakaway
3 Civil War
4 Stalemate
5 Aftermath
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

Military Coup

The claims of fraud led to a military coup on January 15, 1966 by left-leaning junior Army officers mostly majors and captains. This coup led to the accession of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, the head of the Nigerian Army, as President, the first military head of state of Nigeria. The coup benefited mostly the Igbos because most of the coup plotters were Igbos and Ironsi, an Igbo, was thought to have promoted many Igbos in the Army at the expense of Yoruba and Hausa officers. On the 29th of July 1966, the Northerners executed a counter-coup. This coup was led by Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed. It placed Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon into power. Ethnic tensions due to the coup and counter-coup increased and led to the large-scale massacres of Christian Igbos living in the Muslim north.

The discovery of large quantities of oil in the delta of the Niger river, a sprawling network of rivers and swamps that was the southern-most tip of the Country hedged between the South eastern and South western regions, had led to the prospect of the southeast annexing this region to become 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.

Breakaway

The military governor of the Igbo-dominated southeast, 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 on May 30, 1967 (May 29 in some sources). Although there was much sympathy in Europe and elsewhere, only four countries recognized the new republic. It was also said that one of the reasons for Ojukwu declaring the new Republic of Biafra is that he did not recognize Gowon as head of state because Gowon was not the next officer to Ironsi in the military hierarchy. Several peace accords especially the one held at Aburi, Ghana (the Aburi Accord) collapsed and the shooting war followed.

Civil War

The Nigerian government immediately launched a "police action", using the armed forces to retake the secessionist territory. The war began on July 6, 1967 when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra. The right-hand Nigerian column advanced on the town of Nsukka which fell on July 14, while the left-hand column made for Garkem, which was captured on July 12. But the Biafrans responded with an offensive of their own when on July 9, the Biafran forces moved west into the Mid-Western Nigerian state across the Niger river, passing through Benin City to reach Ore just over the state boundary on August 21, just 130 miles east of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. Although Benin City was retaken by the Nigerians on September 22, the Biafrans succeeded in their primary objective to tie down as many Nigerian Federal troops as they could. Four battalions of the Nigerian 2nd Infantry Division were needed to drive the Biafrans back and eliminate their territorial gains made during the offensive. But the Nigerians were repulsed three times as they tried to cross the Niger during October.

The Nigerians then settled down to a period of a siege by blockading Biafra. Amphibious landings by the Nigerian navy led to the capture of two southern towns of Bonny, south of Port Harcourt on July 26, and the port of Calabar on October 18 by elements of the Nigerian 3rd Marine Commando Division. In the north, Biafran forces were pushed back into their core territory, and the capital of Biafra, the city of Enugu, was captured by Nigerian forces belonging to the 1st Infantry Division on October 4. The Biafrans continued to resist in their core Igbo heartlands, which they were soon surrounded by Nigerian forces.

However reorganisation of the Nigerian forces, the reluctance of the Biafran army to attack again, and the effects of a naval, land and air blockade of Biafra led to a change in the balance of 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. But another Nigerian offensive from April to June 1968 begain to close the ring around the Biafrans with further advances on the two northern fronts and the capture of Port Harcourt on May 19, 1968. The blockade of the surrounded Biafrans led to a humanitarian 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 (according to some claims) weapons. Nigeria also claimed that the Biafran government was hiring foreign mercenaries to extend the war. Bernard Kouchner was one of a number of French doctors who volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra. The Red Cross required volunteers to sign an agreement, which was seen by some (like Kouchner and his supporters) as being similar to a gag order, that was designed to maintain the organisation's neutrality, whatever the circumstances. Kouchner and the other French doctors signed this agreement.

After entering the country, the 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. 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. They created Doctors Without Borders in 1971 (Médecins Sans Frontières) Bortolotti, Dan (2004). Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders, Firefly Books. ISBN 1552978656.

Throughout 1968 and into 1969, logistical difficulties kept the Nigerian federal forces from finishing off the war that was effectively in their favour. Despite the foreign aid and the political harm done to Nigeria, the area controlled by the Biafran government grew smaller and smaller. But in June 1969, the Biafrans launched a desperate offensive against the Nigerians in their attempts to keep the Nigerians off-balance and prolong life for their separatist nation as long as possible. They were supported by foreign mercenary pilots continuing to fly in food, medical supplies and weapons. Most notable of the mercenaries was that being of Swedish Count Carl Gustav von Rosen whom led five MFI.9B Minicon small piston-engined aircraft, armed with rocket pods and machine guns, to attack Nigerian military airfields in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin City and Ughelli which destroyed or damaged a number of Nigerian Air Force jets used to attack relief flights including a few Mig-17's and three out of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28 bombers that were used to bomb Biafra villages and farms on a daily basis. Although taken off-guard by the surprise Biafran offensive, the Nigerians soon recovered and held off the Biafrans long enough for the offensive to stall out. The Biafran air attacks did disrupt the Nigerian Air Force from their combat operations, but only for a few months.

The Nigerian federal forces launched their final offensive against the Biafrans on December 23, 1969 with a major thrust by the 3rd Marine Commando Division which succeeded in splitting the Biafran enclave into two by the end of the year. The final Nigerian offensive, named "Operation Tail-Wind", was launched on January 7, 1970 with the 3rd Marine Commando Division attacking, and supported by the 1st Infantry division to the north and the 2nd Infantry division to the south. The Biafran town of Owerri fell on January 9, and Uli fell on January 11. The war finally ended with the final surrender of the Biafran forces in the last Biafra-held town of Amichi on January 13, 1970. Only a few days earlier, Ojukwu fled into exile by flying by plane 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, most of the threatened reprisals and massacres did not occur, and genuine attempts were made at reconciliation.

Aftermath

More than a dozen coups have occurred in Nigeria since 1960. 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 three million people may have died due to the conflict, most from hunger and disease. Reconstruction, helped by the oil money, was swift; however, the old ethnic and religious tensions often remained a constant feature of Nigerian politics. 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.

On Monday 29 May 2000, The Guardian of Lagos reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. In a national broadcast, he said that the decision was based on the principle that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy." It is also thought that Obasanjo was trying to placate the Igbo. During the previous year's election, he had received massive electoral support from the Igbo region. [link]

References

Shadows : Airlift and Airwar in Biafra and Nigeria 1967-1970, by Michael I. Draper (ISBN 1902109635)
On Wings of War: My Life as a Pilot Adventurer, by Jan Zumbach
Warfare of the 20th Century, by Christopher Chant; Chartwell Books, 1988.

External links

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