Today in Labor History December 24, 1969: Nigerian troops captured Umuahia, the Biafran capital, leading to the end of Biafran independence. Igbo nationalists in the southeastern region of Nigeria seceded from Nigeria in 1967 and created the independent state Biafra, which existed from May 1967 to January 1970. They did it in the wake of the 1966 pogroms against them by northerners that killed up 30,000 (half of whom were children), and forced another 1 million to flee the region. Many nations recognized Biafra or provided support during their short independence, including Tanzania, Zambia, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Rhodesia and South Africa. Doctors Without Borders provided medical support. Nigeria, however, never accepted Biafran independence. In the civil war that followed succession, as many as 100,000 people died and over 4 million civilians became refugees. However, the Nigerian naval blockade of Biafra resulted in up to 3 million civilians dying from starvation. In 1999, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra emerged as a nonviolent means toward re-independence. They have organized numerous peaceful protests, which the Nigerian government has attacked, leading to many deaths. The Indigenous People of Biafra, and other Biafran nationalist groups, have been fighting a guerilla war against the Nigerian government since 2021.
Persecution of the Igbo traces back to at least the colonial period. In building up a Nigerian army, the British followed their “Martial Race” theory (that certain ethnic groups made better soldiers), recruiting primarily people from the north, excluding Igbos, Yoruba, and others from the south of the country. After the Civil War, the southeast of the country remained underdeveloped and the Igbos continued to be excluded from key position in the government and military. However, the majority of Igbo lived in the southeast, which included the Niger River delta and Nigeria’s massive oil reserves. Controlling these resources was one of the primary reasons the Nigerian government refused to accept Biafran secession.
Only five countries (Tanzania, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Zambia, and Haiti) officially recognized the new republic of Biafra. The UK sent heavy weapons and supplies to the Nigerian side in order to preserve their access to the oil and protect their oligarchs’ investments in Shell-BP, which had controlled oil exploration and extraction since 1937. The Soviets also supplied the Nigerian government weaponry, seeing the war as a repeat of the Congo situation (maintaining access to African minerals, while keeping them out of the hands of the U.S.) Israel also support the Nigerian government in the war. France, which called the Nigerian treatment of Biafrans a genocide, secretly supplied the Biafrans with weapons. The U.S. was initially neutral (officially). Kissinger compared the Igbos to the Jews, but ultimately chose to support the Nigerian government in order to protect the interests of Gulf Oil, which operated offshore of the conflict zone. Numerous international mercenaries fought on the side of Biafra.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #genocide #Biafra #nigeria #coldwar #civilwar #famine #starvation #independence #colonialism #blackmastodon
