Restore Biafra Now

President of France Charles Degaulle supported Biafra remarks he made at a press conference in Paris on 9th September 1968.

Biafra News Team 0 Archives 04:40

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZTUF03a7HlmHDRFEye_yLoyv78wXZjv4j1rOm_k5ptp6Tqu8rynt2HopclV7VBCl4k_PkO4g-fI1a-kG8P4sjvQEf3GjEQkLiXXFOFEJLKCep9Aei48GS1hg4_gB50jEiTcUt7U2H-M/s1600/De-Gaulle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZTUF03a7HlmHDRFEye_yLoyv78wXZjv4j1rOm_k5ptp6Tqu8rynt2HopclV7VBCl4k_PkO4g-fI1a-kG8P4sjvQEf3GjEQkLiXXFOFEJLKCep9Aei48GS1hg4_gB50jEiTcUt7U2H-M/s1600/De-Gaulle.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">CHARLES DEGAULLE SUPPORTS BIAFRA [Remarks made at a press conference, Paris, on 9 September 1968. (Text by courtesy of the French Embassy, London.) From: Kirk-Greene, vol.2, p. 329]</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a statement made by the President of France, Charles DeGaulle, at a press conference. He gave a speech in this same year endorsing the idea that the province of Quebec could/should secede from the nation of Canada. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What is his view of the situation in Biafra?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What does he think should happen there?</div><div class="MsoNormal">What action does he refuse to take with regard to Biafra? Why?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">President De Gaulle's exchange with a reporter:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Question: The drama taking place in Biafra seems to grow more tragic every day. You have alluded several times to the Biafran problem. Mr. President, could you give us your point of view on this problem?</div><div class="MsoNormal">De Gaulle: I am not sure that the system of federation, which sometimes, in certain parts and from a certain angle replaces that of colonization, is always a very good and very practical system, particularly in Africa. But not only in Africa, for in fact it consists in arbitrarily joining together peoples who are sometimes very different or even opposed to each other and who, therefore, have no desire whatever to be joined. </div><div class="MsoNormal">We see this in Canada, in Rhodesia, in Malaysia, in Cyprus, and we see it in Nigeria. Indeed, why should the Ibos, who are generally Christians, who live in the south in a certain way, who have their own language, why should they depend on another ethnic fraction of the Federation? Since this is what one ends up with once the colonizer has withdrawn his authority. In an artificial federation, one ethnic element imposes its authority on the others.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Even before the present drama in Biafra, one could wonder how Nigeria would be able to live, in view of all the crises the Federation was experiencing. And now that this appalling, enormous drama has occurred, now that Biafra has proclaimed its independence and that, to subdue it, the Federation is resorting to war, blockade, extermination and famine, how can it be imagined that the peoples of the Federation, Ibos included, can resume life together? France, in this affair, has done what was possible to help Biafra. </div><div class="MsoNormal">She has not performed the act which, to her, would be decisive, of recognizing the Biafran Republic, because she regards the gestation of Africa as a matter for the Africans first and foremost. Already, in fact, some States of Eastern and Western Africa have recognized Biafra. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Others appear to be moving in that direction. This means that, where France is concerned, the decision which has not been taken is not ruled out for the future. And indeed, one can imagine that the Federation itself, recognizing the impossibility of keeping on its present organization, may turn itself into some kind of union or confederation that would reconcile Biafra's right to self-determination with continuing ties between it and the whole of Nigeria.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Charles de Gaullev Primary Sources vCharles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France, on 22nd November, 1890. The son of a headmaster of a Jesuit school, he was educated in Paris. He was a good student and at the Military Academy St. Cyr, he graduated 13th in the class of 1912. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, the 6 feet 5 tall de Gaulle joined an infantry regiment commanded by Colonel Henri-Philippe Petain in 1913.</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the First World War de Gaulle was wounded twice in the first few months of the conflict. Promoted to the rank of captain in February, 1915, de Gaulle fought at Verdun where he was wounded again and on 2<sup>nd</sup>March, 1916 was captured by the German Army. Over the next 32 months he was held in several prisoner of war camps and made five unsuccessful attempts to escape.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After the Armistice de Gaulle was assigned to a Polish division being formed in France where he served under Maxime Weygand. He fought against the Red Army during the Civil War and won Poland's highest military decoration, Virtuti Militari. De Gaulle lectured at the French War College where he worked closely with Henri-Philippe Petain. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Over the next few years the two men demanding a small, mobile, highly mechanized army of professionals. De Gaulle's military ideas appeared in his book, The Army of the Future (1934). In the book he also criticized the static theories of war that was exemplified by the Maginot Line. The book was unpopular with the politicians and the military who favoured the idea of a mass army of conscripts during war. In 1936 de Gaulle was punished for his views by having his name taken of the promotion list.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In 1938 de Gaulle published France and Her Army. This book caused a disagreement with Henri-Philippe Petain who accused de Gaulle of taking credit for work done by the staff of the French War College.</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the outbreak of the Second World War de Gaulle took over command of the 5th Army's tank force in Alsace. He soon became frustrated with the military hierarchy who had failed to grasp the importance of using tanks in mass-attacks with air support.</div><div class="MsoNormal">When the German Army broke through at Sedan he was given command of the recently formed 4th Armoured Division. With 200 tanks, de Gaulle attacked the German panzers at Montcornet on 17th May, 1940. Lacking air support, de Gaulle made little impact on halting the German advance.</div><div class="MsoNormal">De Gaulle was more successful at Caumont (28th May) when he became the only French commanding officer to force the Germans to retreat during the German Invasion of France.</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the 5th June, 1940, the French prime minister, Paul Reynaud, sacked Edouard Daladier and appointed de Gaulle as his minister of war. De Gaulle also visited London but when he returned to France on 16th June he discovered the Henri-Philippe Petain had ousted Paul Reynaud as premier and was forming a government that would seek an armistice with Germany. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In danger of being arrested by the new French government, de Gaulle returned to England. The following day he made a radio broadcast calling for French people to continue fighting against the German Army.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Whereas as President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the USA recognized Vichy France Winston Churchill refused and backed de Gaulle as leader of the "Free French". Henri-Philippe Petain responded by denouncing de Gaulle. On 4th July, 1940, a court-martial in Toulouse sentenced him in absentia to four years in prison. At a second court-martial on 2nd August, 1940, sentenced him to death.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">De Gaulle made attempts to unify the resistance movements in France. In March 1943 Jean Moulin, Charles Delestraint and Andre Dewavrin managed to unite eight major resistance movements under de Gaulle's leadership. However, this good work was undermined when in June, 1943, both Delestraint and Moulin were both arrested by the Gestapo.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">On 30th May 1943, de Gaulle moved to Algeria. The following month the French Committee of National Liberation (FCNL) was established with de Gaulle and Henri Giraud as co-presidents. De Gaulle had difficulty working with his co-president and by July, 1943, had limited Giraud's power to command of the armed forces.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were furious when de Gaulle's announced on 26 May, 1944, that the FCNL will now be known as the Provisional Government of the French Republic. Roosevelt and Churchill refused to recognize de Gaulle's action and decided to exclude him from the planning of Operation Overlord.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Despite objections from Britain and the USA, De Gaulle's Provisional Government was recognized by Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia and Norway. On 13th July, 1944, the governments of Britain and the USA also agreed that de Gaulle could help administer the liberated portions of France.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">De Gaulle reached France from Algiers on 20th August 1944. De Gaulle and his 2nd Armoured Division was allowed to join the USA Army when it entered Paris on 25th August. At a public speech later that day he announced that the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) would be integrated into the French Army and the militia would be dissolved. He also offered posts in his government to leaders of the resistance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Those who took office included Georges Bidault, Henry Frenay and Charles Tillon. De Gaulle was upset by not being invited to the Yalta Conference but he was allowed to represent France as one of the four countries to sign the final instrument of surrender with Germany. France was also given one of the four occupation zones in Germany.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">On 13th November, 1945, the first Constituent Assembly unanimously elected de Gaulle as head of the French government. He held the post until resigning on 20th January, 1946. He then formed the right-wing group, the Rally of the French People (RFP). After initial success it declined in popularity and de Gaulle left it in 1953 and it was disbanded two years later.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After his retirement from politics de Gaulle wrote the first three volumes of his memoirs. He returned to politics in 1958 when he was elected president during the Algerian crisis. He granted independence to all 13 French African colonies but the Algerian War continued until 1962.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">De Gaulle decided that France should have its own atom bomb and repeatedly blocked Britain's attempts to join the European Economic Community. In 1966 de Gaulle withdrew France from the integrated military command of NATO.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Following student riots against his government and negative results in a referendum, de Gaull resigned from office in April, 1969. In retirement he completed his memoirs. Charles De Gaulle died on 9th November, 1970.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Primary Sources</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Main Article </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(1) General Charles de Gaulle, attempted to halt the German invasion of France at Abbeville. He wrote about these events in his book, The Call to Honour (1955) By the evening (28th May, 1940) the objective was reached. Only Mont Caubert still held out. There were a great many dead from both sides on the field. Our tanks had been sorely tried. Barely a hundred were still in working order. But all the same, an atmosphere of victory hovered over the battlefield. Everyone held his head high. The wounded were smiling. The guns fired gaily. Before us, in a pitched battle, the Germans had retired.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Alas! In the course of the Battle of France, what other ground had been or would be won, except this strip of fourteen kilometres deep? If the State had played its part; if, while there was time, it had directed its military system towards enterprise, not passivity; if our leaders had in consequence had at their disposal the instruments for shock and manoeuvre which had been often suggested to the politicians and to the High Command; then our arms would have had their chance, and France would have found her soul again.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(2) Robert Boothby, Boothby: Recollections of a Rebel (1978) Within hours of the French capitulation, Louis Spears invited me to lunch to meet what he called 'a French Brigadier whom I have just brought over from Bordeaux. The Brigadier was de Gaulle; and the lunch party consisted of Spears, his wife (Mary Borden), de Gaulle, Mme. de Gaulle, and myself. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Spears told us about their flight, how they had run out of petrol and had to make a forced landing in the Channel Islands with two minutes to spare. De Gaulle, who was going to make a broadcast that night, told us that he thought of saying: "France has lost a battle, but not the war." We all thought that this was very good. Later on Spears and de Gaulle quarrelled bitterly when Spears was head of a British Mission to the Levant, and tried - rightly - to ease the French out of Syria and the Lebanon. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">There is no doubt that, in addition to being a brave soldier and, with Liddell Hart, the most brilliant military historian of our time, Spears was a natural intriguer.</div><div class="MsoNormal">What is equally beyond doubt is that, if he had not pulled de Gaulle into that aeroplane at Bordeaux, de Gaulle would never have been heard of. Spears, and Spears alone, created de Gaulle; and in so doing made history. De Gaulle knew it, and resented it. When Spears took him to see Churchill, the latter said: "Why have you brought this lanky, gloomy Brigadier?" Spears replied: "Because no one else would come."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(3) General Charles de Gaulle, BBC radio broadcast (18th June, 1940) I, General de Gaulle, now in London, call on all French officers and men who are at present on British soil, or may be in the future, with or without their arms; I call on all engineers and skilled workmen from the armaments factories who are at present on British soil, or may be in the future, to get in touch with me. Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not and shall not die.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(4) General Charles de Gaulle, wrote about Lend-Lease in his book, The Call to Honour (1955)</div><div class="MsoNormal">On March 9th, at dawn, Mr. Churchill came and woke up to tell me, literally dancing with joy, that the American Congress had passed the "Lend-Lease Bill," which had been under discussion for several weeks. There was, indeed, matter of comfort here for us, not only from the fact that the belligerents were from now on assured of receiving from the United States the material necessary for fighting, but also because America, by becoming, in Roosevelt's phrase, "the arsenal of the democracies," was taking a gigantic step toward war. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(5) General Charles de Gaulle, The Call to Honour (1955) Jean Moulin was dropped by parachute in France during the night of January 1st. He carried credentials from me appointing him as my delegate for the non-occupied zone of Metropolitan France and instructing him to endure unity of action among the elements of the resistance there. This would mean that his authority would not, in principle, be disputed. It was therefore agreed that it was he who would be the centre of our communications in France, first with the South Zone, then, as soon as possible, with the North Zone</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(6) General Charles de Gaulle, The Call to Honour (1955) Churchill had made for himself a rule to do nothing important except in agreement with Roosevelt. Though he felt, more than any other Englishman, the awkwardness of Washington's methods, though he found it hard to bear the conditions of subordination in which United States aid placed the British Empire, and though he bitterly resented the tone of supremacy which the President adopted towards him, Churchill had decided, once for all, to bow to the imperious necessity of the American alliance.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(7) Winston Churchill, letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt (16th December, 1941) The German setback in Russia, the British successes in Libya, the moral and military collapse of Italy, above all the the declarations of war exchanged between Germany and the United States, must strongly affect the mind of France and the French Empire. Now is the time to offer to Vichy and to French North Africa a blessing or a cursing. A blessing will consist in a promise by the United States and great Britain to re-establish France as a Great Power with her territories undiminished.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Our relations with General de Gaulle and the Free French movement will require to be reviewed. Hitherto the United States have entered into no undertakings similar to those comprised in my correspondence with him. Through no particular fault of his own movement has created new antagonism in French minds. Any action which the united states may now feel able to take in regard to him should have the effect, inter alia, of redefining our obligations to him and France so as to make these obligations more closely dependent upon the eventual effort by him and the French nation to rehabilitate themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(8) James F. Byrnes, as Secretary of State, attended the Yalta Conference on 4th February, 1945.</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the fall of 1944 the Soviet Union and the Provisional Government of France had entered into a treaty of friendship. It was immediately obvious at Yalta, however, that the treaty and the friendly words exchanged over it by the diplomats had not changed in any degree Marshal Stalin's opinion on the contribution of France to the war. He thought France should play little part in the control of Germany, and stated that Yugoslavia and Poland were more entitled to consideration than France.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When Roosevelt and Churchill proposed that France be allotted a zone of occupation, Stalin agreed. But it was clear he agreed only because the French zone was to be taken out of the territory allotted to the United States and the United Kingdom. And he especially opposed giving France a representative on the Allied Control Council for Germany. He undoubtedly concurred in the opinion expressed to the President by Mr. Molotov that this should be done "only as a kindness to France and not because she is entitled to it."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">"I am in favor of France being given a zone," Stalin declared, "but I cannot forget that in this war France opened the gates to the enemy." He maintained it would create difficulties to give France a zone of occupation and a representative on the Allied Control Council and refuse the same treatment to others who had fought more than France. He said France would soon demand that de Gaulle attend the Big Three's Conferences.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXxZM2eLBdVzN9Rptwy6FJkIZiFsdc5W-70eIqxYkUp976pFYIpcpnpXQBepnQ7vxKDWrIqR7KXR0Mfxo-jEigL_u8uWeSbUDJwd6kOuEdE1BRmZJAbFy7Hq9JvWEipRl27Xz8ITgFEU/s1600/Churchill_De_Gaulle_HU_60057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXxZM2eLBdVzN9Rptwy6FJkIZiFsdc5W-70eIqxYkUp976pFYIpcpnpXQBepnQ7vxKDWrIqR7KXR0Mfxo-jEigL_u8uWeSbUDJwd6kOuEdE1BRmZJAbFy7Hq9JvWEipRl27Xz8ITgFEU/s1600/Churchill_De_Gaulle_HU_60057.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Churchill argued strongly in favor of France's being represented on the Council. He said the British public would not understand if questions affecting France and the French zone were settled without her participation in the discussion. It did not follow, as Stalin had suggested, that France would' demand de Gaulle's participation in the conferences of the Big Three, he added. And, in his best humor, Mr. Churchill said the conference was "a very exclusive club, the entrance fee being at least five million soldiers or the equivalent."</div><div class="MsoNormal">  </div><div class="MsoNormal">(9) Harold Macmillan, speech in the House of Commons (31st July 1961) Therefore, after long and earnest consideration, Her Majesty's Government have come to the conclusion that it would be right for Britain to make a formal application under Article 237 of the Treaty for negotiations with a view to joining the Community if satisfactory arrangements can be made to meet the special needs of the United Kingdom, of the Commonwealth and of the European Free Trade Association.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">If, as I earnestly hope, our offer to enter into negotiations with the European Economic Community is accepted, we shall spare no efforts to reach a satisfactory agreement. These negotiations must inevitably be of a detailed and technical character, covering a very large number of the most delicate and difficult matters. They may, therefore, be protracted and there can, of course, be no guarantee of success. When any negotiations are brought to a conclusion then it will be the duty of the Government to recommend to the House what course we should pursue.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(10) Charles De Gaulle, speech (4th January 1963) The Treaty of Rome was concluded between six continental States - States which are, economically speaking, one may say, of the same nature. Indeed, whether it be a matter of their industrial or agricultural production, their external exchanges, their habits or their commercial clientele, their living or working conditions, there is between them much more resemblance than difference. Moreover, they are adjacent, they inter-penetrate, they prolong each other through their communications. It is therefore a fact to group them and to link them in such a way that what they have to produce, to buy, to sell, to consume - well, they do produce, buy, sell, consume, in preference in their own ensemble. Doing that is conforming to realities.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Moreover, it must be added that from the point of view of their economic development, their social progress, their technical capacity, they are, in short, keeping pace. They are marching in similar fashion. It so happens, too, that there is between them no kind of political grievance, no frontier question, no rivalry in domination or power. On the contrary, they are joined in solidarity, especially and primarily, from the aspect of the consciousness they have, of defining together an important part of the sources of our civilisation; and also as concerns their security, because they are continentals and have before them one and the same menace from one extremity to the other of their territories; finally, they are in solidarity through the fact that not one among them is bound abroad by any particular political or military accord.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Thus, it was psychologically and materially possible to make an economic community of the Six, though not without difficulties. When the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957, it was after long discussions; and when it was concluded, it was necessary in order to achieve something that we French put in order our economic, financial, and monetary affairs and that was done in 1959.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Thereupon Great Britain posed her candidature to the Common Market. She did it after having earlier refused to participate in the communities we are now building, as well as after creating a free trade area with six other States, and, finally, after having - I may well say it, the negotiations held at such length on this subject will be recalled - after having put some pressure on the Six to prevent a real beginning being made in the application of the Common Market. If England asks in turn to enter, but on her own conditions, this poses without doubt to each of the six States, and poses to England, problems of a very great dimension.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">England in effect is insular, she is maritime, she is linked through her exchanges, her markets, her supply lines to the most diverse and often the most distant countries; she pursues essentially industrial and commercial activities, and only slight agricultural ones. She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(11) Paul-Henri Spaak, The Continuing Battle: Memories of an European (1971) A new political event of extreme importance was in the making: General de Gaulle had torpedoed our negotiations without having warned either his partners or the British. He had acted with a lack of consideration unexampled in the history of the EEC, showing utter contempt for his negotiating partners, allies and opponents alike. He had brought to a halt negotiations which he himself put in train in full agreement with his partners, and had done so on the flimsiest of pretexts.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What had happened? There is every reason to believe that it was the attitude adopted by Macmillan at his meeting with Kennedy in Bermuda which so upset the President of the French Republic. Macmillan's crime was to have reached agreement with the President of the United States on Britain's nuclear, weaponry. He had in fact arranged for the purchase of Polaris missiles from the United States. In General de Gaulle's eyes the cooperation with the Americans was tantamount to treason against Europe's interests and justified his refusal to allow Britain into the Common Market. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The General's resentment was all the greater because a few days before the Bermuda meeting he had received Macmillan at Rambouillet. The British Prime Minister, he claimed, had told him nothing of his nuclear plans. On the other hand, de Gaulle gave Macmillan no warning that he was about to torpedo the negotiations in Brussels. I think the full truth about these events still remains to be told. The French and British versions which have been circulating in the chancelleries differ, but what is certain is that France, without consulting her partners, unilaterally withdrew from negotiations to which she had earlier agreed and that she did so, moreover, after first insisting that the Six must present a united front.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We were faced with a complete volte-face. Stunned and angry, our first reaction was to ignore what had been said in Paris and to continue the negotiation as if nothing had happened. The British showed extraordinary sang-froid. Though, deep down, they were greatly shocked, they gave no outward sign of this and continued to present their arguments at the negotiating table with imperturbable calm.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(12) Charles De Gaulle, speech (4th January 1963) I should like to speak particularly about the objection to integration. People counter this by saying: "Why not merge the six states together into a single supranational entity? That would be very simple and practical". But such an entity is impossible to achieve in the absence in Europe today of a federator who has the necessary power, reputation and ability. Thus one has to fall back on a sort of hybrid arrangement under which the six states agree to submit to the decisions of a qualified majority. At the same time, although there are already six national Parliaments as well as the European Parliament and, in addition the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe... it would be necessary to elect over and above this, yet a further Parliament, described as European, which would lay down the law to the six states.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">These are ideas that might appeal to certain minds but I entirely fail to see how they could be put into practice, even with six signatures at the foot of a document. Can we imagine France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg being prepared on a matter of importance to them in the national or international sphere, to do something that appeared wrong to them, merely because others had ordered them to do so? Would the peoples of France, of Germany, of Italy, of the Netherlands, of Belgium or of Luxembourg ever dream of submitting to laws passed by foreign parliamentarians if such laws ran counter to their deepest convictions? Clearly not. It is impossible nowadays for a foreign majority to impose their will on reluctant nations. It is true, perhaps, that in this 'integrated' Europe as it is called there might be no policy at all. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This would simplify a grea many things. Indeed, once there was no France, no Europe; once there was no policy - since one could not be imposed on each of the six states, attempts to formulate a policy would cease. But then, perhaps, these peoples would follow in the wake of some outsider who had a policy. There would, perhaps, be a federator, but he would not be European. And Europe would not be an integrated Europe but something vaster by far and, I repeat, with a federator. Perhaps to some extent it is this that at times inspires the utterances of certain advocates of European integration. If so, then it would be better to say so.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Charles de Gaulle</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Website developed by Peter McMillan </div><div class="MsoNormal">© Spartacus Educational Publishers Ltd Website developed by Peter McMillan</div></div>

President of France Charles Degaulle supported Biafra remarks he made at a press conference in Paris on 9th September 1968.

CHARLES DEGAULLE SUPPORTS BIAFRA [Remarks made at a press conference, Paris, on 9 September 1968. (Text by courtesy of the French Embassy, ...

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The Biafran airlift by NGOs faced federal mercenaries in the skies

Biafra News Team 0 Archives 05:19

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNFy-YnfKvy3AfObD-v9DKulIwiQ7TqcVvTevbaDhwWZ3mR7jotCx81YGBhrP_MlqWGJAziKQIxftGEx6NpDTuCAeLIKBzds_1xLVzuvItijwwmDbc-_OutSmt6b7jLu4P_9Nxkhs2og/s1600/sshot-608.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNFy-YnfKvy3AfObD-v9DKulIwiQ7TqcVvTevbaDhwWZ3mR7jotCx81YGBhrP_MlqWGJAziKQIxftGEx6NpDTuCAeLIKBzds_1xLVzuvItijwwmDbc-_OutSmt6b7jLu4P_9Nxkhs2og/s1600/sshot-608.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="entry"><i>This edited article about Africa originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 623 published on 22 December 1973.</i><br /><div class="alignCenter" style="width: 516px;"><img alt="Mercenaries in Nigeria, picture, image, illustration" class="framed" height="418" src="http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lookandlearn-preview/A/A008/A008002.jpg" width="640" /><br /><div class="caption">A need for the excitement of battle drew white  mercenaries to Africa in the turbulent sixties when civil war brought  horror to Nigeria, by <a href="http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/search.php?search=Graham+Coton&bool=phrase" title="Graham Coton">Graham Coton</a></div></div>The plane droned its way towards Airstrip Annabelle at Uli. Its  Canadian pilot peered ahead and tightened his lips into a white line.  The trouble would start any time now. Even as the thought crossed his  mind, his radio crackled and a mocking voice came out of the purple  night.<br />“Genocide calling. This is Genocide calling. I’m waiting for you, Pete. I’m waiting right here.”<br />It was 1969. While the war between Nigeria and Biafra raged on the  ground, another battle was taking place several thousand feet above.  There, white mercenaries in old transport planes tried to airlift  supplies of food and medicine to the stricken population of Biafra,  while other white mercenaries in Mig fighters buzzed around them,  threatening to shoot them down.<br />In 1963 Nigeria had been a republic. It had four main peoples: the  Hausa and Fulani in the north; the Yoruba in the south-west; and the Ibo  in the south-east. There were significant religious and cultural  differences between the peoples, and the republic was built on shaky  foundations. Eventually a group of Ibo army officers overthrew the  government and took control. Six months later, a counter-coup by Hausa  officers was successful and brought General Gowon to power.<br />Four years of friction passed; then the eastern Ibo province under  the leadership of Colonel Ojukwu seceded from the federal republic and  renamed itself the republic of Biafra. Civil war broke out – a war of  unforgettable horror.<span id="more-16060"></span><br />One of its most horrifying aspects was the mass starvation and  disease which inflicted the Biafran population. Communications in the  province were destroyed and, without food and medicine, people died in  thousands then hundreds of thousands. Another horrifying feature of the  war was the ruthless manipulation of the facts about this crisis by the  public-relations teams which were employed to publicize the claims and  counter-claims of both sides.<br />The sight of dying children accompanied by accusation and  counter-accusation by the two leaders became so common in the newspapers  and on TV that people became immune to the horror.<br />Eventually, the big relief organisations went into action. Experience  of natural, as well as man-made, disasters had enabled them to mount  swift rescue operations. Food and drugs were soon on their way to the  main Biafran airfield at Uli. Other, smaller relief operations raised  funds, bought supplies and chartered out-of-date planes to carry them.  But they lacked experienced pilots to fly in the goods. So they turned  to mercenaries.<br />The mercenaries’ role in the twentieth century had changed  dramatically. Instead of being an essential feature of major warfare, as  they had been in the Middle Ages, or a useful tool as they had been in  the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, their trade in the days of  global war had almost become extinct. Only in the little wars, fought in  remote corners of the world, could they find employment.<br />German pilots, French legionnaires, British infantrymen – men who  could not settle down in peace-time, men who needed the excitement of  war and of killing – found themselves directing civil wars in South  America and the Middle East. But their appearance in Africa, in the  Congo, during the turbulent ‘sixties, brought them again into the public  eye. Thereafter they could be identified in several of the coups that  shook the emergent states of Africa. And when Biafra seceded and the  federal troops moved against her, mercenaries were employed on both  sides.<br />But they were getting old and the young men who followed them lacked  their experience. Both the federal government and the Biafrans found  them an expensive luxury. The pilots were an exception. They were  essential to the federal government, in particular, for flying its Mig  fighters, to bomb Uli and to disrupt the airlift. So, two mercenary  pilots sharing a drink in one of the mercenaries’ haunts in London,  Brussels or Lagos, might find themselves a few days later, trying to  outwit each other in the skies above Biafra.<br />The federal government’s harassment of the airlift operations was  based on the belief, quite true, as it happened, that guns as well as  supplies were being brought into the rebellious province. Independent  operators were making use of the airspace cleared for genuine relief  work to fly in loads of arms and ammunition for the Biafrans. The  federals bombed the airstrip and were prepared to force down any planes  which they suspected of gun-running. It was clear to everyone that  sooner or later a genuine relief-plane would be damaged.<br />One of the most formidable of the federal mercenaries was Genocide –  known only by his call-sign. A cynical ruthless flier, he frightened off  several relief pilots and was an ever-present worry to the rest. He  adopted the technique of listening to their radio conversations with the  controllers at Uli and of picking up personal information about them.  He would call them by name and make his threats personal, just as they  were coming in to land, with devastating effect.<br />One Canadian pilot was an old hand. He was getting used to Genocide.  He had learned that the best way to control his nerves was to talk back.<br />“Same old routine?” he asked, over his radio. “Can’t you think of a new approach?”<br />Genocide laughed. “Getting through to you am I Pete?” he sneered. “What are you running tonight. Guns?”<br />The Canadian groaned theatrically. “Guns? We’re piled high with dried stock-fish, man. Can’t you smell it up there?”<br />Genocide laughed and went off the air. The Canadian put down the nose  of his plane and landed gently on the Uli runway. As he taxied to a  halt, he saw in the light of the flares that the mechanics and  loading-crews were running for cover. Over the noise of his own engine,  he heard the whine of a diving fighter. Suddenly Genocide’s Mig appeared  and neatly bracketed the runway ahead with two sticks of bombs. Turning  in from a fresh angle he pinned down the waiting crews with a long  spurt from his guns. The Canadian froze. Then his radio crackled.<br />“That was pretty close, eh Pete?” chuckled Genocide. “Next time it will be closer still.”<br />He went as swiftly and silently as he had come. The ground crew emerged from their hiding-places. Pete relaxed.<br />The Canadian survived the war. So, it is thought, did Genocide. But  others were not so lucky. And, in the end, the worst happened. A Swedish  Red Cross plane was shot down by a federal mercenary pilot. The  incident caused serious diplomatic repercussions and brought the airlift  to a halt. The federal government ignored its fierce critics, however,  and concentrated on winning the war. This it did when Biafra was finally  over-run.<br />Many thousands died from sickness and starvation in that war. But their numbers would have been greater but for the airlift.</div><div class="notice">This article and image(s) are available for licensing: click on an image to see further details and licensing options; <a href="http://www.lookandlearn.com/contact.php?subject=licensing">contact us</a> about licensing textual content.</div>

The Biafran airlift by NGOs faced federal mercenaries in the skies

This edited article about Africa originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 623 published on 22 December 1973. A need for the excite...

Nigeria Biafra Genocide War

Biafra News Team 0 Archives 05:10

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAuz5FqVf-gqHrtkslZU1-S5Kp_N8OELVZcZhMs5xJRA2oNeJSWhWBuYH3D9ESkUlAJBIgpCB6QLk516iKUy38sFOWJGXtQm1j1z7alNdaJWnKjGF5tLvIxuQ7S7_nYTWKJahf4HcJqw/s1600/1J-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSAuz5FqVf-gqHrtkslZU1-S5Kp_N8OELVZcZhMs5xJRA2oNeJSWhWBuYH3D9ESkUlAJBIgpCB6QLk516iKUy38sFOWJGXtQm1j1z7alNdaJWnKjGF5tLvIxuQ7S7_nYTWKJahf4HcJqw/s1600/1J-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="278" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Throughout the remainder of 1966 and into 1967,  the FMG sought to convene a constituent assembly for revision of the  constitution that might enable an early return to civilian rule.  Nonetheless, the tempo of violence increased. In September attacks on  Igbo in the north were renewed with unprecedented ferocity, stirred up  by Muslim traditionalists with the connivance, Eastern Region leaders  believed, of northern political leaders. The army was sharply divided  along regional lines. Reports circulated that troops from the Northern  Region had participated in the mayhem. The estimated number of deaths  ranged as high as 30,000, although the figure was probably closer to  8,000 to 10,000. More than 1 million Igbo returned to the Eastern  Region. In retaliation, some northerners were massacred in Port Harcourt  and other eastern cities, and a counterexodus of non-Igbo was under  way.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The Eastern Region's military governor, Lieutenant Colonel  Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was under pressure from Igbo officers to  assert greater independence from the FMG. Indeed, the eastern military  government refused to recognize Gowon's legitimacy on the ground that he  was not the most senior officer in the chain of command. Some of  Ojukwu's colleagues questioned whether the country could be reunited  amicably after the outrages committed against the Igbo in the Northern  Region. Ironically, many responsible easterners who had advocated a  unitary state now called for looser ties with the other regions.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The military commanders and governors, including Ojukwu, met in  Lagos to consider solutions to the regional strife. But they failed to  reach a settlement, despite concessions offered by the northerners,  because it proved impossible to guarantee the security of Igbo outside  the Eastern Region. The military conferees reached a consensus only in  the contempt they expressed for civilian politicians. Fearing for his  safety, Ojukwu refused invitations to attend subsequent meetings in  Lagos.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In January 1967, the military leaders and senior police officials  met at Aburi, Ghana, at the invitation of the Ghanaian military  government. By now the Eastern Region was threatening secession. In a  last-minute effort to hold Nigeria together, the military reached an  accord that provided for a loose confederation of regions. The federal  civil service vigorously opposed the Aburi Agreement, however. Awolowo,  regrouping his supporters, demanded the removal of all northern troops  garrisoned in the Western Region and warned that if the Eastern Region  left the federation, the Western Region would follow. The FMG agreed to  the troop withdrawal.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In May Gowon issued a decree implementing the Aburi Agreement.  Even the Northern Region leaders, who had been the first to threaten  secession, now favored the formation of a multistate federation.  Meanwhile, the military governor of the Midwestern Region announced that  his region must be considered neutral in the event of civil war.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The Ojukwu government rejected the plan for reconciliation and  made known its intention to retain all revenues collected in the Eastern  Region in reparation for the cost of resettling Igbo refugees. The  eastern leaders had reached the point of ruptive in their relations with  Lagos and the rest of Nigeria. Despite offers made by the FMG that met  many of Ojukwu's demands, the Eastern Region Consultative Assembly voted  May 26 to secede from Nigeria. In Lagos Gowon proclaimed a state of  emergency and unveiled plans for abolition of the regions and for  redivision of the country into twelve states. This provision broke up  the Northern Region, undermining the possibility of continued northern  domination and offering a major concession to the Eastern Region. It was  also a strategic move, which won over eastern minorities and deprived  the rebellious Igbo heartland of its control over the oil fields and  access to the sea. Gowon also appointed prominent civilians, including  Awolowo, as commissioners in the federal and new state governments, thus  broadening his political support.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">On May 30, Ojukwu answered the federal decree with the  proclamation of the independent Republic of Biafra, named after the  Bight of Biafra. He cited as the principal cause for this action the  Nigerian government's inability to protect the lives of easterners and  suggested its culpability in genocide, depicting secession as a measure  taken reluctantly after all efforts to safeguard the Igbo people in  other regions had failed.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Initially the FMG launched "police measures" to restore the  authority of Lagos in the Eastern Region. Army units attempted to  advance into secessionist territory in July, but rebel troops easily  stopped them. The Biafrans retaliated with a surprise thrust into the  Midwestern Region, where they seized strategic points. However,  effective control of the delta region remained under federal control  despite several rebel attempts to take the non-Igbo area. The federal  government began to mobilize large numbers of recruits to supplement its  10,000-member army.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">By the end of 1967, federal forces had regained the Midwestern  Region and secured the delta region, which was reorganized as the Rivers  State and Southeastern State, cutting off Biafra from direct access to  the sea. But a proposed invasion of the rebel-held territory, now  confined to the Igbo heartland, stalled along the stiffened Biafran  defense perimeter.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">A stalemate developed as federal attacks on key towns broke down  in the face of stubborn Biafran resistance. Ill-armed and trained under  fire, rebel troops nonetheless had the benefit of superior leadership  and superb morale. Although vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the  Biafrans probed weak points in the federal lines, making lightning  tactical gains, cutting off and encircling advancing columns, and  launching commando raids behind federal lines. Biafran strikes across  the Niger managed to pin down large concentrations of federal troops on  the west bank.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In September 1968, Owerri was captured by federal troops  advancing from the south, and early in 1969 the federal army, expanded  to nearly 250,000 men, opened three fronts in what Gowon touted as the  "final offensive." Although federal forces flanked the rebels by  crossing the Niger at Onitsha, they failed to break through. The  Biafrans subsequently retook Owerri in fierce fighting and threatened to  push on to Port Harcourt until thwarted by a renewed federal offensive  in the south. That offensive tightened the noose around the rebel  enclave without choking it into submission.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Biafran propaganda, which stressed the threat of genocide to the  Igbo people, was extremely effective abroad in winning sympathy for the  secessionist movement. Food and medical supplies were scarce in Biafra.  Humanitarian aid, as well as arms and munitions, reached the embattled  region from international relief organizations and from private and  religious groups in the United States and Western Europe by way of  nighttime airlifts over the war zone. The bulk of Biafra's military  supplies was purchased on the international arms market with unofficial  assistance provided by France through former West African colonies. In  one of the most dramatic episodes of the civil war, Carl Gustav von  Rosen, a Swedish count who at one time commanded the Ethiopian air  force, and several other Swedish pilots flew five jet trainers modified  for combat in successful strikes against Nigerian military  installations.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Biafra's independence was recognized by Tanzania, Zambia, Gabon,  and the Ivory Coast, but it was compromised in the eyes of most African  states by the approval of South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, and Portugal.  Britain extended diplomatic support and limited military assistance to  the federal government. The Soviet Union became an important source of  military equipment for Nigeria. Modern Soviet-built warplanes, flown by  Egyptian and British pilots, interdicted supply flights and inflicted  heavy casualties during raids on Biafran urban centers. In line with its  policy of noninvolvement, the United States prohibited the sale of  military goods to either side while continuing to recognize the FMG.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In October 1969, Ojukwu appealed for United Nations (UN)  mediation for a cease-fire as a prelude to peace negotiations. But the  federal government insisted on Biafra's surrender, and Gowon observed  that "rebel leaders had made it clear that this is a fight to the finish  and that no concession will ever satisfy them." In December federal  forces opened a four-pronged offensive, involving 120,000 troops, that  sliced Biafra in half. When Owerri fell on January 6, 1970, Biafran  resistance collapsed. Ojukwu fled to the Ivory Coast, leaving his chief  of staff, Philip Effiong, behind as "officer administering the  government." Effiong called for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire  January 12 and submitted to the authority of the federal government at  ceremonies in Lagos.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Estimates in the former Eastern Region of the number of dead from  hostilities, disease, and starvation during the thirty-month civil war  are estimated at between 1 million and 3 million. The end of the  fighting found more than 3 million Igbo refugees crowded into a  2,500-square-kilometer enclave. Prospects for the survival of many of  them and for the future of the region were dim. There were severe  shortages of food, medicine, clothing, and housing. The economy of the  region was shattered. Cities were in ruins; schools, hospitals,  utilities, and transportation facilities were destroyed or inoperative.  Overseas groups instituted a major relief effort, but the FMG insisted  on directing all assistance and recovery operations and barred some  agencies that had supplied aid to Biafra.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Because charges of genocide had fueled international sympathy for  Biafra, the FMG allowed a team of international experts to observe the  surrender and to look for evidence. Subsequently, the observers  testified that they found no evidence of genocide or systematic  destruction of property, although there was considerable evidence of  famine and death as a result of the war. Furthermore, under Gowon's  close supervision, the federal government ensured that Igbo civilians  would not be treated as defeated enemies. A program was launched to  reintegrate the Biafran rebels into a unified Nigeria. A number of  public officials who had "actively counselled, aided, or abetted"  secession were dismissed, but a clear distinction was made between them  and those who had simply carried out their duties. Igbo personnel soon  were being reenlisted in the federal armed forces. There were no trials  and few people were imprisoned. Ojukwu, in exile, was made the  scapegoat, but efforts to have him extradited failed.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">An Igbo official, Ukapi "Tony" Asika, was named administrator of  the new East Central State, comprising the Igbo heartland. Asika had  remained loyal to the federal government during the civil war, but as a  further act of conciliation, his all-Igbo cabinet included members who  had served under the secessionist regime. Asika was unpopular with many  Igbo, who considered him a traitor, and his administration was  characterized as inept and corrupt. In three years under his direction,  however, the state government achieved the rehabilitation of 70 percent  of the industry incapacitated during the war. The federal government  granted funds to cover the state's operating expenses for an interim  period, and much of the war damage was repaired. Social services and  public utilities slowly were reinstituted, although not to the prewar  levels.  </span></div>

Nigeria Biafra Genocide War

Throughout the remainder of 1966 and into 1967, the FMG sought to convene a constituent assembly for revision of the constitution that mig...

THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR On the 30th of May 1967

Biafra News Team 0 Archives 05:22

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjzus-2AC7G17t-RWnX0ddrzC44AGyoojJm5oQzxGVYH6BJCp8vfdO5waoF2egoRuHfi2ctgc3RTOhRVi92_mP6-gCZqEXSvc8NyxJP3MEKrNENV7YGyEsgI74t5gLBw2g_Va7KCITzie/s1600/sshot-547.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjzus-2AC7G17t-RWnX0ddrzC44AGyoojJm5oQzxGVYH6BJCp8vfdO5waoF2egoRuHfi2ctgc3RTOhRVi92_mP6-gCZqEXSvc8NyxJP3MEKrNENV7YGyEsgI74t5gLBw2g_Va7KCITzie/s1600/sshot-547.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />In January 1967, top military leaders of Nigeria converged in Aburi, Ghana for a peace conference. In March again, Gowon and Ojukwu flew to Ghana for secret talks. Unfortunately, they did not reach any peaceful agreement. Here is the video of both of them in Aburi:<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKXK2Er8UZk<br />So, on the 30th of May, 1967, the Military Governor of the Eastern Region, Odumegwu Ojukwu (see pictures) declared the Republic of Biafra. He stated:<br />“Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic, 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.”<br />Gowon was enraged. On the 6th of July, 1967, he declared war and launched an attack on Biafra. What would later follow is the source of regret to many Nigerians today. Political statements were banned and more powers were given to the Army and the Police. Four seaports (Port Harcourt, Degema, Calabar and Bonny were closed down indefinitely on the 30th of June). Leave for all military personnel was cancelled and Lagos, Western and Mid-Western States called for re-enlistment into the Nigerian Army.<br />MAJOR EVENTS DURING THE WAR<br /> “Those who know me know that I have always been on the side of peaceful resolution of all conflicts. If you will recall as Head of State, I did all that was possible to secure a peaceful resolution of the Nigeria crises in the 2nd half of 1960. Unfortunately because of circumstances beyond my control, I had to use force to preserve the unity of our nation.” -YAKUBU GOWON<br />On the 1st of June, Gowon Gowon was promoted to the rank of a Major General while Colonel Robert Adebayo and Lt. Col David Ejoor were made Brigadiers. The same day, the FMG ordered that closure of the Niger Bridge.<br />3rd June: Gowon appoints 11 civilians from 11 out of the 12 states to the Federal Executive Council (FEC). By 14th July, federal troops had captured the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.<br />After the Aburi Accord, there were several efforts to stop the war. There was the Niamey Peace Conference in 1968 (under President Hammani Diori of Niger Republic) while Organization of African Unity (OAU, now African Union) made frantic attempts to prevent Nigeria from sliding of the precipice of a civil war, and sponsored the Addis Ababa Peace Conference in Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie.<br />July 2, 19: Multiple explosions recorded in Lagos, people killed and many injured.<br />July 14: The FG announces the death of Nzeogwu while he was fighting for Biafra.<br />July 25: Oil town of Bonny captured by federal forces after the Nigerian Navy bombardment ensued.<br />July 31: Gowon’s de facto deputy, Wey, promoted to a Rear Admiral of the Fleet, Nigerian Navy.<br />August 5: Helicopter crash claims the life of Colonel Joseph Ronald Akahan, the Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army.<br />September 19: Benin City recaptured by Nigerian soldiers.<br />October 3: Agbor captured by Nigerian soldiers. The next day, Enugu, the base of Biafra also fell.<br />October 7: Nigerian Air Force shoot down Biafran aircraft in Lagos.<br />October 20: Calabar captured by federal forces.<br />November 11: Ken-Saro Wiwa appointed administrator for Bonny.<br />1968:<br />January 3: New currency notes released.<br />January 17th: More town captured around Onitsha<br />February 3: 23 white mercenaries killed in Calabar.<br />March 30: Ikot Ekpene captured.<br />April 21: Afikpo captured.<br />May 8: More peace talks in Uganda.<br />May 19: Port Harcourt falls.<br />June 5: The Netherlands imposes an arms embargo on Nigeria. France would follow suit on the 12th and same with Belgium on the 5th of July.<br />June 26: Yenagoa falls to federal forces. The next day, two federal army officers were publicly executed for killing four Igbo civilians in Benin.<br />July 31: France voices support for Ojukwu. Aba falls on September 1 and Okigwe freed on the 30th.<br />1969:<br />April 21: Umuahia freed.<br />May 22, 24: Secessionist planes raid Benin and Port Harcourt respectively.<br />June 14: Red Cross Chief Coordinator, Dr. Lindt and BBC Correspondent Peter Stewart expelled from Nigeria.<br />August 2: Pope Paul meets representatives of the two warring factions in Kampala, Uganda. The Pope heads to the Vatican City the next day after a fruitless talk.<br />August 7: Gowon visits Ghana and meets the Head of State, Brigadier Afrifas.<br />August 12: Gowon was in Cotonou, Benin Republic, meets with President Emile Zinsou.<br />August 18: Gowon with his wife and Azikiwe in Liberia with President William Tubman for peace talks.  On the 20th, he warns the United Nations to hands off Nigeria’s internal conflict.<br />August 24: Spirited attempts by the Biafrans to retake Onitsha were defeated.<br />September 6: Gowon off to Addis Ababa for OAU summit, stops over in Kenya to see President Jomo Kenyatta. On the 8th, he met and had a deep discussion with President Julius Nyerere, one of the leaders supporting Ojukwu’s regime of Biafra.<br />September 10: OAU members vote for a ceasefire and peace talks in Nigeria. Five nations abstained from voting: Sierra Leone, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia and Ivory Coast. Gowon back home. On the 23rd, Azikiwe was back in Onitsha.<br />October 15: Nigeria’s Chief of Air Staff, Colonel Shittu Akanji Alao dies in an air crash at Uzebba, about 50 miles northwest of Benin. He was aged 32 and he was alone in the plane. Two days later, in Lagos, he was buried with full military honours.<br />October 27: Gowon off to Congo-Kinshasa.<br />November 2: Ojukwu turns down peace moves saying he has no hope in the OAU.<br />November 8: Gowon off to Lome, Togo to meet President Gnassingbe Eyadema.<br />December 17: Ojukwu refused OAU’s terms for negotiation.<br />December 18: New Air Force chief announced in Lagos: Colonel Emmanuel Ebije Ikwue.<br />December 22: Azikiwe calls on France to stop supporting the rebels.<br />December 31: Gowon talks of a quick end to the war in his New Year message.<br />1970<br />January 10: Ohafia, Arochukwu and Utoru falls. UN Secretary General blasts Ojukwu in Ghana.<br />January 11: Ojukwu escapes from a rebel enclave at dawn, only to resurface in Ivory Coast. Gowon calls on rebel troops to surrender.<br />January 12: All rebel troops surrender. Effiong renounces succession. Gowon orders federal forces to protect all surrendering rebels. Sir Louis Mbanefo, the former Chief Justice of the Eastern Region, Effiong and five other officers of the defeated Biafran Army off to Lagos to meet with Gowon. Gowon declares a ‘general amnesty for all those misled into Ojukwu’s rebellion’ and said there would be no second-class citizen in Nigeria. Nigeria turns down offers of relief from France, South Africa, Rhodesia, Portugal, Caritas (a Roman Catholic agency), Joint Church Aid and other bodies that had supported the Biafran cause and remained hostile to federal troops during the war.<br />Here is a video showing Gowon and Obasanjo accepting the surrender of Biafra. THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH GOWON AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO, HIS SINCERITY IS HEART-MELTING>>>><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGSRa6KE_rg<br />January 16: Enahoro tells a world press conference in Lagos that there would be no peace talks over the Biafran surrender.  The next day, the UN Secretary General U Thant arrives in Lagos and expressed his joy at a dinner party in Dodan Barracks.<br />January 24: The government of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny grants Ojukwu political asylum in Ivory Coast.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="September 13, 1968; With the confidence of a Hannibal and a Khalid ibn al-Walid, Major General Yakubu Gowon inside Dodan Barracks (then Aso Rock) gesticulates before a map of Nigeria and boasts to reporters during a press conference that the war will be over in just 4-8 weeks. It lasted for 30 months. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1447" height="396" id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-1-reporters.jpg" width="590" /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">September 13, 1968; With the confidence of a Hannibal and all the tactical prowess of a Khalid ibn al-Walid, Major General Yakubu Gowon inside Dodan Barracks (Aso Rock of that time) gesticulates before a map of Nigeria and boasts to reporters during a press conference that the war will be over in just 4-8 weeks. It lasted for 30 months.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1Q-YAKUBU-GOWON-OJUKWU-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi and the Eze Ndi Igbo Gbaa Gburu Gburu, leader of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He died on the 26th of November, 2011 at the age of 78. A man widely loved and respected by his people, he remains one of the most revered figures in the country. And yes, I must add, he was a very intelligent and articulate man. Listening to him was quite interesting, his voice had an exciting mixture of seduction and erudition. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1477" height="632" id="_x0000_i1026" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1Q-YAKUBU-GOWON-OJUKWU-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="893" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba (Strength of the Nation) of Nnewi, Dikedioramma (Beloved Hero of the Masses) and the Eze Ndi Igbo Gbaa Gburu Gburu, leader of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He died on the 26th of November, 2011 at the age of 78. He was buried with full military honours and his burial remains one of the most elaborate of any Nigerian. A man widely loved and respected by his people, he remains one of the most revered figures in the country. And yes, I must add, he was a very intelligent and articulate man. Listening to him was quite interesting, his voice had an exciting mixture of seduction and erudition.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-OJUKWU-DECLARES.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="30th May, 1967, Ojukwu declares the Republic of Biafra. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1444" height="392" id="_x0000_i1027" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-OJUKWU-DECLARES.jpg" width="565" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">30th May, 1967, Ojukwu declares the Republic of Biafra. He was later blockaded by air, land and sea, and what followed was mass starvation. He later fled to Cote d’Ivoire to avoid his assassination, into the waiting hands of President Boigny who granted him political asylum.  He would later return to a triumphant entry 12 years later after President Shehu Shagari granted him a presidential pardon in 1982. Like Gowon too, he later made entry into politics with a less-than stellar performance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1S-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Chai! Even LIFE Magazine use us do cover. Is that what we want again? Those of you calling for war? " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1480" height="481" id="_x0000_i1028" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1S-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="361" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Chai! Even LIFE Magazine use us do cover. Is that what we want again? Those of you calling for war? War is never a good thing, whatever the intent or purpose. See the agony on the faces of the poor little things, over a senseless they knew nothing about.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1T-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="We must never forget the lessons of history. Yes, this is Nigeria during the Biafran War. Gowon's government imposed a devastating blockade in the area preventing the influx of food, allowing the people to starve to death. Many have not forgiven Gowon for this. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1481" height="317" id="_x0000_i1029" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1T-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="321" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We must never forget the lessons of history. Yes, this is Nigeria during the Biafran War. Gowon’s government imposed a devastating blockade in the area preventing the influx of food, allowing the people to starve to death. Many have not forgiven Gowon for this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This is the darkest phase in Nigeria’s history. A brutal event lasting thirty months of terrifying bloodthirst, unbelievable violence and raging vengeance, it claimed millions of lives, with some records indicating number of dead could have been as high as 3 million. One of Africa’s most brutal conflicts, the Nigerian Civil War (6<sup>th</sup> July, 1967-15<sup>th</sup> January, 1970), the wounds are yet to heal.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-STARVED-GIRL.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="A seated, listless child, who was among many kwashiorkor cases found in Nigerian relief camps during the Nigerian–Biafran War. (CREDITS: Wikimedia Commons). " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1437 " height="599" id="_x0000_i1030" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-STARVED-GIRL.jpg" width="395" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">A seated, listless child, who was among many kwashiorkor cases found in Nigerian relief camps during the Nigerian–Biafran War. Pictures of the famine caused by Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans worldwide.(CREDITS: Wikimedia Commons).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Yakubu Gowon was at the head of an armed forces with 120,000 troops while the Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu had 30,000 men at his beck and call. Despite the obvious disadvantage in numbers, the tenacity and courage of Ojukwu’s men were not in doubt as they inflicted heavy losses on Gowon’s side too, although at a very high price. By the time the dust of war settled in 1970, Gowon’s side lost a total of about 200,000, soldiers and civilians. The war lasted for:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2 YEARS, 6 MONTHS, ONE WEEK AND 2 DAYS.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-STARVED-kids.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="A Biafran doctor hands out cups containing the daily ration of powdered milk to a line of children at a refugee camp in Anwa, Biafra, 5th August, 1968. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1440" height="395" id="_x0000_i1031" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-STARVED-kids.jpg" width="589" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">A Biafran doctor hands out cups containing the daily ration of powdered milk to a line of children at a refugee camp in Anwa, Biafra, 5th August, 1968.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-1.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="A federal Nigerian soldier holding an anti-tank bazooka is seen covering the end of the Aba-Umuahia road where Biafran troops hold positions, Sept. 21, 1968." border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1442" height="384" id="_x0000_i1032" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-1.jpg" width="590" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">A federal Nigerian soldier holding an anti-tank bazooka is seen covering the end of the Aba-Umuahia road where Biafran troops hold positions, Sept. 21, 1968.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1R-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Starving children of Biafra. We must make sure that as a nation, no Nigerian child is ever going to face this horror again. We do not need another war. And a very good way to do is to ensure we call for justice, fairness, equity and good governance at all times, and not just be cannon fodder in the hands of selfish leaders. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1478" height="401" id="_x0000_i1033" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1R-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Starving children of Biafra. We must make sure that as a nation, no Nigerian child is ever going to face this horror again. We do not need another war. And a very good way to do is to ensure we call for justice, fairness, equity and good governance at all times, and not just be cannon fodder in the hands of selfish leaders. PICTURE CREDITS: FIDEL VASQUEZ.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Those who gave active support to Gowon during the Civil War included:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-2.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="16th September 1968: Nigerians supporting Gowon demonstrate outside the Embassy of France in Lagos. Placards express support for the federal troops and denounced Charles de Gaulle of France for being interested in Nigeria's oil. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1446" height="403" id="_x0000_i1034" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-2.jpg" width="589" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">16th September 1968: Nigerians supporting Gowon demonstrate outside the Embassy of France in Lagos. Placards express support for the federal troops and denounced Charles de Gaulle of France for being interested in Nigeria’s oil.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-UNITED KINGDOM</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-EGYPT (under Gamal Abdel Nasser)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-UNION OF SOCIALIST SOVIET REPUBLICS (USSR)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-SUDAN</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-CHAD</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-NIGER</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-SYRIA (I wonder if President Jonathan is offering any support to Bashar al-Assad of Syria today).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-ALGERIA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The Biafrans were supported by:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-ISRAEL</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-FRANCE</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-PORTUGAL</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-CHINA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-VATICAN CITY</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-SOUTH AFRICA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-RHODESIA (now Zimbabwe)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-GABON (under President Omar Bongo)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-ZAMBIA (under President Kenneth Kaunda)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-COTE D’IVOIRE (Ivory Coast) (under President c, the Grand Old One from Baouleland…lol!)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-HAITI (under Dr. Francois (Papa Doc) <b>Duvalier</b>). Well, I just remembered this and there may be no relation but while the 1966 coup was in progress, Nnamdi Azikiwe was out of Nigeria convalescing abroad, and while touring the Caribbean, his boat paid a visit to an unlikely host: Papa Doc of Haiti, one of the most murderous leaders on earth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-TANZANIA (under Dr. Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">On the 6<sup>th</sup> of July, 1967, Gowon’s Federal Military Government launched ‘police measures’ to take over the Eastern Region. At first, the federal troops did not succeed as the Biafrans retaliated with their own offensive and by August, they had overrun the Mid-Western Region. The FMG was alarmed and for the few months that followed, Gowon’s forces had to fight bitterly before regaining control over the area. In September 1968, the war had now reached its full drive, and like a schizophrenic armoured tank, it was on full throttle. Gowon announced that there would be a ‘final offensive’. At first, the Biafran troops neutralized the move but later, after another round of severe bloodletting, with brothers and sisters blowing off their brains with machine guns, the federal troops succeeded.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Gowon’s war generals included the following:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-MURTALA MUHAMMED (read all about him here>>><a href="http://abiyamo.com/murtala-muhammed-nigerias-most-popular-leader/"><span style="color: black;">http://abiyamo.com/murtala-muhammed-nigerias-most-popular-leader/</span></a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-BENJAMIN ADEKUNLE also known as the Black Scorpion</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-OLUSEGUN OBASANJO also known as Baba Iyabo (leave me joor, no be nickname ni…lol)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-THEOPHILUS DANJUMA (now one of Africa’s biggest philanthropists and chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum, SAPETRO)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-MOHAMMED SHUWA (later killed by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members on the 2nd November, 2012)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The Biafran side was commandeered by Ojukwu and:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-OBONG PHILIP EFFIONG (died on November 6, 2003 at the age of 78). He stated before his death in an interview in 1996: </span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have no regrets whatsoever of my involvement in Biafra or the role I played. The war deprived me of my property, dignity, my name. Yet, I saved so many souls on both sides and by this, I mean Biafra and Nigeria. . . .</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I felt that I played a role which has kept this country united till today. . . .</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At the end of it all when I saw they (Biafran soldiers) could no longer continue and Ojukwu had fled, I did what was ideal after wide consultation . . . Effiong was the first Vice President and second President of the defunct Republic of Biafra, of which he was also the Chief of General Staff during the war. Born in Ibiono Ibom, he was Nigeria’s first Director of Ordnance.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When the war ended, Ojukwu fled to Cote ‘Ivoire, Effiong became the Head of State on the 2<sup>nd</sup> of January, 1970 and on the 12<sup>th</sup>, believing that there was no sense continuing the war any further, he announced:</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“I am convinced now that a stop must be put to the bloodshed which is going on as a result of the war. I am also convinced that the suffering of our people must be brought to an immediate end.”</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-DR. ALBERT NWAZU OKONKWO, Igbo Mid-Western medical doctor. Served in the Biafran Army Medical Corps as a major. Ojukwu installed him as the Military Administrator of the shortest lived republic in Nigeria’s history -the REPUBLIC OF BENIN (ROB). It lasted for just a little over 24 hours. Its capital was in Benin City, in today’s Edo State.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-EA EUTUK</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-VICTOR BANJO</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-TIM ONWUATUEGWU</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-ROLF STEINER</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-COUNT CARL GUSTAF VON ROSEN of Sweden: Provided direct military aid, and was known for the Minicon fighter planes named the ‘Biafran Babies’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-PATRICK NZEOGWU</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">FOR SOME MYOPIC REASONS, SOME NIGERIANS ARE SHOUTING THEMSELVES HOARSE TODAY THAT IF ANOTHER WAR SHOULD BREAK OUT, SO BE IT. INTERESTINGLY, WHEN ANOTHER WAR BREAKS OUT, THEY WILL BE THE FIRST TO DISAPPEAR AND VANISH INTO THE THIN AIR. IT SEEMS SOME OF US DO NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT AND EFFECTS OF A WAR, IF NOT, I DO NOT SEE WHY SOMEONE WILL JUST SIT DOWN BY HIS LAPTOP KEYBOARD AND START CANVASSING FOR WAR. I WILL BE REPRODUCING SOME OF THE MOST GORY IMAGES OF THAT BLOODY ERA. HOPEFULLY, WE WILL REASON AND SEE THAT A WAR IS NOT THE MOST SENSIBLE WAY OUT. AFTER ALL, ALL WARS ARE FINALLY ENDED ON THE MEETING TABLE. NB: VIEWERS’ DISCRETION ADVISED. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-1A.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="April 1968: Here, a nine-year-old Igbo albino girl clutches an empty tin of corned beef. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1449" height="450" id="_x0000_i1035" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-1A.jpg" width="309" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">April 1968: Here, a nine-year-old Igbo albino girl clutches an empty tin of corned beef.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1A-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="1968: An Igbo medic in Biafra attends to a wounded soldier. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1450" height="351" id="_x0000_i1036" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1A-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="528" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">1968: An Igbo medic in Biafra attends to a wounded soldier.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1C-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="November 1968: Biafran soldiers carry the dead body of a mercenary from Belgium, Marc Goosens. During the war, thousands of mercenaries fought on the Biafran side. A mercenary is a fighter hired from a foreign country to fight and are paid for it. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1452" height="353" id="_x0000_i1037" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1C-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="525" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">November 1968: Biafran soldiers carry the dead body of a mercenary from Belgium, Marc Goosens. During the war, thousands of mercenaries fought on the Biafran side. A mercenary is a fighter hired from a foreign country to fight and are paid for it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1D-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="April 1968: An Igbo soldier addresses a dead colleague. I wonder what he must have been telling him. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1453" height="348" id="_x0000_i1038" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1D-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="520" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">April 1968: An Igbo soldier addresses a dead colleague. I wonder what he must have been telling him.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1F-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Brotherhood on the battlefield: A Biafran carries a wounded comrade. Don't you just wonder the extent to which wars make men heartless and murder defenceless women and children without the slightest hint of conscience? " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1456" height="449" id="_x0000_i1039" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1F-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="301" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Brotherhood on the battlefield: A Biafran carries a wounded comrade. Don’t you just wonder the extent to which wars make men heartless and murder defenceless women and children without the slightest hint of conscience?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1G-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="July 1968: Carrying a young Biafran war victim in a coffin. :Like you too, I didn't see the legs at first. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1457" height="350" id="_x0000_i1040" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1G-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="518" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">July 1968: Carrying a young Biafran war victim in a coffin. Like you too, I didn’t see the legs at first.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1H-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="If you want little Nigerian children who have nothing to do with our nonsensical babble over ethnicity, politics and religion, to look like, keep calling for war and breakup of the Federation. #Mtschwww." border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1459" height="364" id="_x0000_i1041" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1H-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="289" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">If you want little Nigerian children who have nothing to do with our nonsensical babble over ethnicity, politics and religion, to look like this, keep calling for war and breakup of the Federation. #Mtschwww. But do I blame those calling for a war? Our African elders have said it all:</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“He that has not seen war, is the one that asks for war”.</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1I-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Or this? " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1461" height="402" id="_x0000_i1042" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1I-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="339" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Or this?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1J-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Or this??? War will not solve our problems in Nigeria. We need to change our mindset as a people and FOCUS on the things that unite us and lay emphasis on what benefits everyone. Anything outside that will mean we have not learnt any lesson from history. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1462" height="406" id="_x0000_i1043" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1J-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="284" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Or this??? War will not solve our problems in Nigeria. We need to change our mindset as a people and FOCUS on the things that unite us and lay emphasis on what benefits everyone. Anything outside that will mean we have not learnt any lesson from history.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1E-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="November 1968: A soldier in the Biafran Army. I ask you: do you really want to see an image like this again? CREDITS: GILLES CARON COLLECTION." border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1455" height="452" id="_x0000_i1044" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1E-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR.jpg" width="305" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">November 1968: A soldier in the Biafran Army. I ask you: do you really want to see an image like this again? CREDITS: GILLES CARON COLLECTION.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">When the war ended in 1970, the Biafrans surrendered unconditionally and Gowon accepted, stating that there was no victor, no vanquished. His magnanimity at such a time did a lot to assuage the pent-up tensions in a war-weary nation. After that, Gowon embarked on an unprecedented drive of what is now known as the ‘THREE Rs’ -REHABILITATION, RECONSTRUCTION AND RECONCILIATION. For a nation that had just survived one of the most devastating conflicts in Africa, Gowon’s visionary and responsible handling of the Biafran surrender is one of the things keeping Nigeria together as one today. Luckily for him too, as from 1973, Nigeria started earning immense profits from the exports of crude oil and the Federal Government could bankroll many of the postwar activities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">  Unfortunately, the same oil used in healing the nation’s deep civil war wounds has poisoned the entire system instead of lubricating it, turning our leaders into incorrigibly pathological kleptomaniacs and embarrassing stooges, not to say that they have also become pathetic liars, adept at promising everything and doing absolutely NOTHING. Light, we are yet to have. Water, don’t even talk ’bout that one. Roads nko? I pray o. Maybe by 2100, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will look like a German</span></b></i><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> autobahn</span></b><i><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">. </span></b></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1K-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-SHAKING-HANDS-EFFIONG.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="After the Biafran surrender, General Gowon shakes hands with General Effiong, Biafra's second head of state at the Dodan Barracks, Lagos. " border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1464" height="345" id="_x0000_i1045" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/1K-YAKUBU-GOWON-NIGERIAN-CIVIL-WAR-SHAKING-HANDS-EFFIONG.jpg" width="424" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">After the Biafran surrender, General Gowon shakes hands with General Effiong, Biafra’s second head of state at the Dodan Barracks, Lagos.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">*The official members of the Biafran and federal delegations who attended the formal war ending ceremony at Dodan Barracks on January 15, 1970 were:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Biafran Delegation:–</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Major-General Phillip Effiong – Officer Administering the Republic of Biafra</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Sir Louis Mbafeno – Chief Justice of Biafra</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew Mbu – Biafran Foreign Minister</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Brigadier Patrick Amadi – Biafran Army</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Colonel Patrick Anwunah – Chief of Logistics and Principal Staff Officer to Ojukwu</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Colonel David Ogunewe – Military Adviser to Ojukwu</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Patrick Okeke – Inspector-General of Biafran Police</span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Federal Military Government Delegation:-</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Major-General Yakubu Gowon – Nigerian Head of State</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Obafemi Awolowo – Deputy Chairman, Supreme Military Council</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Brigadier Emmanuel Ekpo – Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Brigadier Hassan Katsina – Chief of Staff, Nigerian Army</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Brigadier Emmanuel Ikwue – Chief of Air Staff</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Rear-Admiral Joseph Wey – Chief of Naval Staff</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Dr Taslim Elias – Attorney-General</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">H.E.A. Ejueyitchie – Secretary to the Federal Military Government</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Anthony Enahoro – Commissioner for Information</span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The Military Governors of the 12 states: , Ukpabi Asika, Audu Bako, David Bamigboye, Alfred Diete-Spiff, Jacob Esuene, Usman Faruk, Joseph Gomwalk, Mobolaji Johnson, Abba Kyari, Samuel Ogbemudia, Oluwole Rotimi, Musa Usman. (Courtesy: IGBOFOCUS)</span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2K-YAKUBU-GOWON-HANDOVER.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Gowon promises to handover by 1976. CREDITS: Rosa Vera-Cruz. The Nigerian Nostalgia 1960 -1980 Project" border="0" class="size-full wp-image-1513" height="767" id="_x0000_i1046" src="http://abiyamo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2K-YAKUBU-GOWON-HANDOVER.jpg" width="581" /></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Gowon promises to handover by 1976. CREDITS: Rosa Vera-Cruz. The Nigerian Nostalgia 1960 -1980 Project</span></div></div>

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