After two-and-a-half years of war, during which almost two million Biafran civilians (three-quarters of them small children) died from starvation caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian government, Biafran forces under Nigeria's motto of "No-victor, No-vanquished" surrendered to the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG). However, he was ultimately unsuccessful in his efforts to aid Biafra due to the demands of the Vietnam War. Before he won the 1968 election, he accused Nigeria of committing a genocide against Biafrans and called for the United States to intervene in the war to support Biafra. president Richard Nixon was sympathetic to Biafra. The American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive was founded by American activists to spread pro-Biafran propaganda. Johnson maintained an official neutral stance during the war, there was strong public support for Biafra in the United States. Médecins Sans Frontières also originated in response to the suffering.Īlthough the government of the United States under the presidency of Lyndon B. Biafra received aid from non-state actors, including Joint Church Aid, foreign mercenaries, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, and under their direction Caritas Internationalis, and United States. Other nations, which did not officially recognise Biafra, but granted de facto recognition to Biafra in the form of diplomatic support or military aid, included France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Israel, Rhodesia, South Africa, and Vatican City. The military of Nigeria proceeded to invade Biafra shortly after its declaration of independence, resulting in the start of the Nigerian Civil War.īiafra was formally recognised by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Fergus falls daily journal 1970 series#
Odumegwu Ojukwu under his presidency, following a series of ethnic tensions and military coups after Nigerian independence in 1960 that culminated in the 1966 massacres of Eastern-Nigerians. Biafra was established on by Igbo military officer and Eastern Region governor C. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated Eastern Region of Nigeria. The Kingdom of Biafara, map by John Speed (1676)īiafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970.
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