Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking 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. The creation of the new state that was pushing for recognition was among the causes of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War.
The state was formally recognised by Gabon,Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia. Other nations which did not give official recognition but which did provide support and assistance to Biafra included Israel, France,Spain, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa andVatican City.[2][3] Biafra also received aid fromnon-state actors, including Joint Church Aid,Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, Caritas International, MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.[3]
After two-and-a-half years of war, during which a million civilians died in fighting and from starvation resulting from blockades, Biafran forces agreed to a ceasefire with theNigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria.[4]
Etymology
The name Biafra, like the name Africa, can be traced back to the Moorish Tribe of Bani Ifran, a name meaning the Children of Ephraim. In this setting Ephraim refers to their descent from the Israelite tribe of Ephraim being the House of Joseph.
In this regard the authority of the Biafrans was symbolized by the donning of the Moorish Red Fez which became the sign of an Igbo Chief. The Bani-Ifran also established the "Divination System", which the Igbo call EFA or AFA. This Ephraimite Divination System was practiced by the Prophet Joseph in Egypt and was passed on to his son Ephraim being the progenitor of the Bani-Ifran or Biafran people.
The word Biafra has its generics from “Ephraim”. Researchers hold the view that the region is inhabited by descendants of Ephraim. Mitchell map of 1839 stated that the important estuaries from where the rivers flow into the ocean is called Ephraim town which is located 60 miles from River Nun which is in the south-south Nigeria today. The river is named after Nun the father of Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim. Biblical meaning of the name “EPHRAIM” is “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction”.
History
Secession
Main article: Nigerian Civil War
In 1960, Nigeria became independent of the United Kingdom.[5] As with many other new African states, the borders of the country did not reflect earlier ethnic boundaries. Thus the northern Sudan and Sahelian Savannah region of the country is made up of Muslim majority, while the southern population was predominantly Christian and Animist. Furthermore, Nigeria's oil, its primary source of income, was located in the south of the country.[5]
Following independence, Nigeria was divided primarily along ethnic lines with Hausa andFulani in the north, Yoruba in the south-west,Ijaws and Igbo in the south-east.[5]
In January 1966, a military coup occurredduring which 30 political leaders including Nigeria's Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and the Northern premier, SirAhmadu Bello, were 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.[6][7][8] Many others who held the 1966 coup in mind as being master minded by the "igbo" ethnic group of Nigeria did so because Major Kaduna Nzeogu was perceived to be an "igbo soldier" and he led the coup.
In July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a counter-coup. Muslim officers named a Christian from a small ethnic group (the Angas) in central Nigeria, GeneralYakubu "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.[9]
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".
Biafra as a territory existed long before the amalgamation and independence of Nigeria as a republic. 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 inAburi, 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.[9]
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.[5][9][11] The large amount of oil in the region created conflict, as oil is a major component of the Nigerian economy.[12] 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.[13]
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.[9][14] 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.[9]
During the war there were great shortages of food and medicine throughout Biafra, due largely to the Nigerian government's blockade of the region as suggested by Obafemi Awolowo who claimed that "ALL is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war and I dont see why we should feed our enemies in order for them to fight harder" . Many volunteer bodies organised the Biafran airlift which provided blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra, carrying food and medicines in, and later provided means of evacuation for refugee children. On 30 June 1969, the Nigerian government banned allRed Cross aid to Biafra; two weeks later it allowed medical supplies through the front lines, but restricted food supplies.[14] Later in October 1969, Ojukwu appealed to the United Nations to mediate a cease-fire. The federal government called for Biafra's surrender. In December, the FMG managed to cut Biafra in half, primarily by the efforts of 3 Marine Commando Division of the Nigerian Army, led by then Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, popularly called "The Black Scorpion", and later byOlusegun Obasanjo. Ojukwu fled to Ivory Coast, leaving his chief of staff, Philip Effiong, to act as the "officer administering the government". Effiong called for a cease-fire 12 January and submitted to the FMG.[9]More than one million people had died in battle or from starvation.[15][16] Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria on 15 January.
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