Global InformationNigerian Civil War information
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45,000[6]–100,000[10][11] combatants killed 3,000,000-4,000,000 Biafran civilians died from famine during the Nigerian naval blockade[12][full citation needed] 2,000,000–4,500,000 displaced,[13] 500,000 of whom fled abroad[14] | |||||||||
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. Nigeria was led by General Yakubu Gowon, and Biafra by Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka "Emeka" Odumegwu Ojukwu.[15] Biafra represented the nationalist aspirations of the Igbo ethnic group, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the federal government dominated by the interests of the Muslim Hausa-Fulanis of Northern Nigeria.[16] The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded the United Kingdom's formal decolonisation of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and anti-Igbo pogroms in Northern Nigeria.[17]
Within a year, Nigerian government troops surrounded Biafra, and captured coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. A blockade was imposed as a deliberate policy during the ensuing stalemate which led to the mass starvation of Biafran civilians.[18] During the 2+1⁄2 years of the war, there were about 100,000 overall military casualties, while between 500,000 and 2 million Biafran civilians died of starvation.[19]
Alongside the concurrent Vietnam War, the Nigerian Civil War was one of the first wars in human history to be televised to a global audience.[20] In mid-1968, images of malnourished and starving Biafran children saturated the mass media of Western countries. The plight of the starving Biafrans became a cause célèbre in foreign countries, enabling a significant rise in the funding and prominence of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Biafra received international humanitarian aid from civilians during the Biafran airlift, an event which inspired the formation of Doctors Without Borders following the end of the war. The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government, while France, Israel (after 1968) and some other countries supported Biafra.[21] The United States' official position was one of neutrality, considering Nigeria as "a responsibility of Britain",[22] but some interpret the refusal to recognise Biafra as favouring the Nigerian government.[23][24]
The war highlighted challenges within pan-Africanism during the early stages of African independence from colonial rule, suggesting that the diverse nature of African peoples may present obstacles to achieving common unity. Additionally, it shed light on initial shortcomings within the Organization of African Unity.[25] The war also resulted in the political marginalization of the Igbo people, as Nigeria has not had another Igbo president since the end of the war, leading some Igbo people to believe they are being unfairly punished for the war.[26] Igbo nationalism has emerged since the end of the war, as well as various neo-Biafran secessionist groups such as the Indigenous People of Biafra and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra.[27] All the Post-Biafra groups were aimed at agitating for memories and interest of all easterners.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b c d Jowett, Philip S.; Ruggeri, Raffaele (2016). Modern African wars. 5: The Nigerian-Biafran war 1967-70 / Philip S. Jowett ; illustrated by Raffaele Ruggeri. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781472816115.
- ^ a b S.A, Telewizja Polska. "Starve a rebellious nation to death". tvpworld.com.
- ^ Lionel, Ekene (15 April 2018). "Lynn Garrison: Biafran War Pilot Speaks on His Exploits – Military Africa".
- ^ Nkwocha, 2010: 156
- ^ a b c Karl DeRouen & U. K. Heo (2007). Civil wars of the world: Major conflicts since World War II. Tomo I. Santa Bárbara: ABC CLIO, p. 569. ISBN 978-1-85109-919-1.
- ^ a b c Phillips, Charles, & Alan Axelrod (2005). "Nigerian-Biafran War". Encyclopedia of Wars. Tomo II. New York: Facts On File, Inc., ISBN 978-0-8160-2853-5.
- ^ Onyema Nkwocha (2010). The Republic of Biafra: Once Upon a Time in Nigeria: My Story of the Biafra-Nigerian Civil War – A Struggle for Survival (1967–1970). Bloomington: AuthorHouse, p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4520-6867-1.
- ^ West Africa. Londres: Afrimedia International, 1969, p. 1565. "Malnutrition affects adults less than children, half of whom have now died, reports Debrel, who also describes the reorganisation of the Biafran army after the 1968 defeats, making it a 'political' army of 110,000 men; its automatic weapons, ..."
- ^ Stan Chu Ilo (2006). The Face of Africa: Looking Beyond the Shadows. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4208-9705-0.
- ^ Paul R. Bartrop (2012). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide. Santa Bárbara: ABC-CLIO, p. 107. ISBN 978-0-313-38679-4.
- ^ Bridgette Kasuka (2012). Prominent African Leaders Since Independence. Bankole Kamara Taylor, p. 331. ISBN 978-1-4700-4358-2.
- ^ Stevenson 2014, p. 314: "The mass killing during the Nigeria-Biafra War was the result of a 'deliberately imposed economic blockade on the inhabitants of Nigeria's southeastern region by the country's federal government' that led to an induced 'famine in which over two million people died of starvation and related diseases.'"
- ^ Godfrey Mwakikagile (2001). Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria. Huntington: Nova Publishers, p. 176. ISBN 978-1-56072-967-9.
- ^ DeRouen & Heo, 2007: 570
- ^ "Nigeria – Independent Nigeria". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- ^ Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (2020). "A Nation on Paper: Making a State in the Republic of Biafra". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 62 (4): 868–894. doi:10.1017/S0010417520000316. S2CID 224852757.
- ^ Plotnicov, Leonard (1971). "An Early Nigerian Civil Disturbance: The 1945 Hausa-Ibo Riot in Jos". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 9 (2): 297–305. doi:10.1017/S0022278X00024976. ISSN 0022-278X. JSTOR 159448. S2CID 154565379.
- ^ Campbell, Colin (29 March 1987). "Starvation Was The Policy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ "ICE Case Studies: The Biafran War". American University: ICE Case Studies. American University. 1997. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (2020). A history of the Republic of Biafra : law, crime, and the Nigerian Civil War. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108887748.
- ^ Chinua, Achebe (2012). There was a country: a personal history of Biafra. pearson.
- ^ Luepke, Anna-Katharina (2018). The 'Other Side' of the Nigeria-Biafra War: A Transnational History (PDF) (PhD). Bangor University. p. 2. Retrieved 10 January 2023. p. 2:
The United States, on the other hand, professed neutrality considering Nigeria, in the words of an American diplomat, as 'a responsibility of Britain'.
- ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968". Office of the Historian, US State Department. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ Luepke, Anna-Katharina (2018). The 'Other Side' of the Nigeria-Biafra War: A Transnational History (PDF) (PhD). Bangor University. p. 104. Retrieved 10 January 2023. p. 104:
Despite remaining officially neutral and declaring an arms embargo on both sides, the United States leaned more towards federal Nigeria. A report prepared for president Nixon in January 1969 sees U.S. options as limited, arguing that 'our role is important but it alone will not ensure a solution' and 'to the degree that we have leverage, we have it only with the Feds'. The U.S. thus followed a policy described in the report in the following terms: 'support the Feds diplomatically, endorse "One Nigeria" with Ibo protection but refuse to sell arms'.
- ^ Ayittey, George B. N. (November 2010). "The United States of Africa: A Revisit". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 632 (1): 86–102. doi:10.1177/0002716210378988. S2CID 145436388.
- ^ Ugwueze, Michael I. (3 April 2021). "Biafra War Documentaries: Explaining Continual Resurgence of Secessionist Agitations in the South-East, Nigeria". Civil Wars. 23 (2): 207–233. doi:10.1080/13698249.2021.1903781. S2CID 233593634.
- ^ Onuoha, G. (2014). "The politics of 'hope' and 'despair': Generational dimensions to Igbo nationalism in post-civil war Nigeria". African Sociological Review / Revue Africaine de Sociologie. 18 (1): 2–26. doi:10.4314/asr.v18i1 (inactive 31 January 2024). ISSN 1027-4332.
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