The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970
... Biafra began smuggling photos of hungry children overseas and accusing Nigeria of genocide. This resulted in Biafra receiving military, economic, and political aid from foreign groups, prolonging the conflict and the suffering of the people of Biafra (Stremlau, 1977). ...
... Nigeria was able to acquire additional guns and equipment from all over the world as a result of this assistance. Nigeria continued to participate in international peace negotiations in order to demonstrate that she was ready for a peaceful resolution to the war (Stremlau, 1977). Some of the peace talks were examined by Aremu & Osadola (2018), they include; Kinshasa Peace Talks, Kampala peace talks, Addis Ababa peace talks, Algiers summit, etc (Aremu and Osadola, 2018: 223-232) III. Discussion ...
... There is a Transportation Directorate that has been formed for the acquisition, management, and distribution of it. The board developed and constructed a large, efficient fuel refinery that produced gasoline, diesel, and motor oil at a rapid rate (Stremlau, 1977). ...
This study examines the aim and strategies of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 and, emphasizes the diplomatic positions and war strategies adopted by the two sides (Federal Government and Biafra secessionist) involved. It agrees that series of researches have been carried out as regards the Nigerian Civil War but only a few viewed it on the ground of diplomatic maneuvering and strategy. The various literatures laid more emphasis on the causes, dimensions and effects of the war without a thorough analogy on the use of tact and strategy in the context of the war. The study also examines the use of propaganda, military tact, media, peace talks and summits in the context of the Nigerian civil war. This study is divided into two parts; the use of strategies by the Nigerian government and the Biafra people, as well as the peace talks and summits that took place during the war. Both primary and secondary sources of data are employed in this research.
... More than 100 000 military civilians also lost their lives due to the civil war. The thirty-month civil war ended on 15 January 1975 when Ojukwu surrendered power to the Nigerian military head and he subsequently left the country with his family (Stremlau, 2015). ...
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and articulate how the influence of the third forces has affected African politics. Third forces divided African people using colonization of a special type. The objective of this article is to create an awareness of how the third forces had influenced a public riot and coup d'état in African countries. Secondly, the study shows how Western countries benefit if African countries are not united. The study also analyzes the financial aid provided by Western countries to the group of people who are fighting against democratic processes. The data relating to the topic and the problem that is addressed by this article was available on various platforms. Therefore, the conclusions and findings of this article are based on the secondary data that was collected on different platforms. The study concludes that the greediness of Western countries extends to Africa. They capitalize on African poverty and divide the African people and leaders.
... He further stresses that if OAU members had supported the Biafran course, the result of the war would have been different. It was based on this support and the overt enmity displayed by certain African countries like Tanzania, Zambia, Gabon, and Côte d'Ivoire that propelled Nigerian government to strengthen relations with other African countries (Stremlau, 2015). ...
The study examines Nigeria's economic and security interests in relation to international organisations in the African political space. States within the global system employ the use of multilateral channels to achieve critical national interest objectives, and the manner with which each state uses the mechanism of international organisation in foreign policy-making process is different. This is borne out of endogenous features of a state. Thus, the current research attempts to appraise the place of international organisations in achieving economic and security interests of Nigeria in the African political system. The research is founded on the theory of national interest which assumes the centrality of state in international relations. The research therefore shows that Nigeria, most importantly in the West Africa sub-region, has been employing the mechanism of multilateralism in achieving security and economic interests. In conducting the research, the qualitative content analysis is used to study existing research materials like textbooks, journal articles, internet sources and documents.
... Under the leadership of the then military Governor, Lieutenant Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the region declared itself the Republic of Biafra in 1967. Stremlau (1974) alluded to the fact that the civil war had its genesis in the ethno-political imbroglio that enveloped the then First Republic, a development that resulted in the collapse of the civilian government and the enthronement of military rule. As at that time the Biafra Republic was declared, Nigeria was under the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon, a northerner. ...
This study appraises the implications of the alliance between Cameroon's Ambazonia separatist movement and Nigeria's Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which was formed on April 9, 2021. The alliance becomes a matter of critical concern for the stability of Nigeria's southeast in particular, and the sub-region in general in view of the crisis situations represented by the respective partners. The Ambazonia crisis is rooted in the protest of the Anglophone people of Cameroon, who occupy the Southwestern region of the country, against perceived discrimination of their traditions and institutions by the larger Francophones that dominate the central government. The ensuing conflict ultimately led to a secession attempt by the Anglophones, which resulted in crackdowns on the separatists by Cameroonian security forces. The IPOB agitation, on it part, could be situated within the context of the Biafran Question viz-a-viz the ethnic equation of the Nigerian nation. The Igbo, which makes up the majority of the Biafra ethnic composition, feels alienated from the mainstream of governance and back in 1967, it sought to secede from the country, an action that led to the 30-month civil war. Though the Igbo lost the war, many of them still did not feel at ease with the Nigerian state, a situation that culminated in the IPOB agitation. In order to have a proper understanding of the implications of the alliance, therefore, this study investigates the root causes of the Ambazonian uprising on the one part, and the underling intrigues and power play behind the Biafra agitation on the other. In doing this, the study identifies the nexus between the two conflict cases and highlights how they are becoming an issue of national security concern for Nigeria. In presenting this discourse, the study made use of mainly secondary data, which include textbooks, newspapers, magazines, official documents, archival materials and the Internet.
... Official government recognition for Biafra also came from Haiti. According to Stremlau (1977) the other countries that provided support and assistance to Biafra against Nigeria are Spain, Portugal, Norway, and the Vatican City. Furthermore, but contrary to the decision of the OAU, on April 13, 1968, Tanzania recognised Biafra. ...
In the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970, southeast Nigeria moved from scheming for global recognition of Biafra to agitating for a plebiscite that would determine whether the Igbos wish to remain a part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They have received varied degrees of international support in that regard. Using group theory to explain the diverse sectarian grievances within Nigeria, this paper locates the roles of international recognition and extra-Nigerian supports in the prodding and sustenance of the tempos of the agitations for a separate sovereign state of the Igbos out of Nigeria. The paper submits that with the covert and overt supports the separatists received from a cross-section of the global community they achieved the weakening of the ex-British colony, test the strengths and expose the inadequacies of Africa's most populous country in remaining true to the sanctity of its inherited boundaries. The paper concludes that given the impacts of the struggles on the affected area, the southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria needs to be made into a land of peace.
... Nigeria is a federal state comprising 36 state governments, including the federal capital, and 774 local government areas, each with executive, legislative, and judicial branches [ 65 ]. Following its independence, Nigeria was plagued by political instability for several years as various factions vied for control, culminating in a civil war in the late 1960s [ 66 ]. Given the federal government's control over most of the country's resources, it holds considerable political power [ 67 ]. ...
Navigating megaprojects to successful completion in low- and middle-income countries is fraught with challenges, often leading to numerous abandoned or underutilised projects. This study bridges a research gap by proposing a framework for salvaging distressed megaprojects using Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), derived from literature review, critical reflection, and expert consultation. The IPD framework offers strategies for immediate and sustained recovery of troubled megaprojects, including refining procurement strategies, restructuring organisational architecture, and leveraging IPD best practices. This research aids key decision-makers in understanding failure causes and equips them with strategies to salvage failing projects. It contributes to the global discourse on sustainable project management, aligning with UN's SDGs, specifically SDG 9, 8 and 17. The framework can also contribute to Africa Union's Agenda 2063, fostering infrastructure and economic development. This study provides an innovative solution to enhance the success rates of ongoing megaprojects, aligning with broader sustainable development objectives.
... John Stremlau's The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War 1967War -1970, David W. Myrick's ground breaking thesis "Biafra Still Matters: Contested Humanitarian Airlift and American Foreign Policy", Jacinta Nwaka's contribution "When Neutrality Looses Its Value: the Caritas Airlift to Biafra 1968-1970", and F. C. Onuegbu and H. I. Hanson's "The Role of U.S and Her Multinational Private Companies in the Nigeria-Biafra War: Beyond the Threshold of Neutrality", all maintain that the foreign relief efforts in the war were compromised, and left the neutrality dogma dead. 2 John Okpoko in his The Biafran Nightmare contends the activities of the relief agencies in the civil war constituted a political intervention. 3 For Michael Aaronson's contribution "The Nigerian Civil War and Humanitarian Intervention" and Olusegun Obasanjo's My Command: an Account of the Nigerian Civil War 1967War -1970, the activities of the relief agencies prolonged the war into a protracted one. ...
Events of the Nigeria-Biafra War brought a number of international relief missions on the frontline of the war. Their intervention in the war was not without some problems. It raised some serious suspicions in both the Nigerian and Biafra camps. These relief missions have been often adjudged as political mercenaries in a cloak of humanitarians. The common claim is that they meddled into the affairs and politics of the war, thus, aided its prolongation. More worrisome but engaging is this notion has continued to survive in many accounts of the war. Obviously, situation as this calls for a re-examination. This paper, therefore, reexamines the role of the Red Cross (International Committee of Red Cross, ICRC) as one of the critical relief missions in the war. Focusing on the motive(s), environment, activities and challenges of the ICRC in the war, the paper finds out that it did so much to uphold its obligation to be neutral, as it was not engaged in any covert activities involving arms smuggling, sharing military intelligence, acting mercenary soldier, or willful hoarding of relief material to give undue advantage to one of the two sides in the conflict. Only that the ICRC intervention and the manner it was conducted were mostly misunderstood due largely to the propaganda and paranoia of some third party entering the war. The paper, thus, argues that the role played by the Red Cross in the war did not in any way suggest some form of political meddling and, in that regard, does not qualify to be considered so. Rather, the Geneva based organisation showed a deep sense of committed humanitarianism whose selfless undertaking saved millions of
... A few days before Biafra's surrender, in a January 11 benediction, Pope Paul worried about "a kind of genocide" and "possible reprisals and massacres against defenseless people in Biafra," a day later urging international intervention to avoid "a yet more cruel epilogue of horror"; the French Foreign Minister called for international protection of Igbo civilians against massacres by federal troops; and demonstrators called for international peace-keepers. 115 Biafra's surrender on January 15, 1970 meant that all of its former territory fell under Federal control and was thereby accessible to observers. At that point, anthony Journal of African Military History 2 (2018) 87-118 eight country observers, accompanied by the UN representative and an aidall men-quickly toured operational areas. ...
Three separate observer missions operated in Nigeria during the country’s 1967–1970 war against Biafran secession, charged with investigating allegations that Nigeria was engaged in genocide against Biafrans. Operating alongside UN and OAU missions, the four-country international observer group was best positioned to respond authoritatively to those allegations, but problems with the composition of the group and its failure to extend the geographical scope of its operations beyond Nigerian-held territory rendered its findings of limited value. This paper argues that the observer missions offer useful windows on several aspects of the war and almost certainly delivered some benefits to Biafrans, but also effectively abdicated their responsibility to Biafrans and the international community by allowing procedural politics to come before commitment to the spirit of the Genocide Convention.
... It is believed that the language of the people has a role to play in preserving the cultural heritage and enabling cultural development of the any society. 4. Government at all levels should as a matter of urgency incorporate aspect of traditional education into school curriculum particularly those that have to do with the attainment of skills for self-reliance of the citizens. ...
JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VOL. 6. NO. 1
... It is believed that the language of the people has a role to play in preserving the cultural heritage and enabling cultural development of the any society. 4. Government at all levels should as a matter of urgency incorporate aspect of traditional education into school curriculum particularly those that have to do with the attainment of skills for self-reliance of the citizens. ...
... It is believed that the language of the people has a role to play in preserving the cultural heritage and enabling cultural development of the any society. 4. Government at all levels should as a matter of urgency incorporate aspect of traditional education into school curriculum particularly those that have to do with the attainment of skills for self-reliance of the citizens. ...
... In the worst cases, aid may prolong a conflict, resulting in more death and suffering than would otherwise be the case, by sustaining one or more of the warring parties. During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70, for instance, Biafran secessionist leaders gained material benefits from humanitarian aid as well as legitimacy from negotiating with relief agencies, arguably enabling the insurgency to continue much longer than it would have been able to in the absence of such support (Stremlau, 1977;Pérouse de Montclos, 2009). In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the perpetrators hid among the civilians in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, gaining control of the aid distribution systems within the camps, taxing and diverting aid, and using the camps to re-group, restrengthen, and re-arm (Terry, 2002, chapter 5;Lischer, 2003). ...
Humanitarianism is a contested concept. Should humanitarian action seek to address only the symptoms of crises, or also their causes? Can humanitarian agencies best achieve their goals through a commitment to neutrality, or should they take a self-consciously political approach? This article argues that debates about the desirability of more ambitious approaches to humanitarianism have been clouded by a lack of conceptual clarity. Showing that the ICRC perspective is not as apolitical as often presented, and that so-called ‘political humanitarianism’ conflates four conceptually distinct ways of being political, the article suggests that a black and white characterisation of approaches to humanitarianism as either political or apolitical is more accurately rendered as (at least) five shades of grey. Distinguishing the different variants of ‘political’ humanitarianism matters—and the article highlights how their conflation has marred normative debates on the desirability of different approaches.
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... In the Nigerian Civil War from 1967-1970 roughly 50 French mercenaries would side along with separatists while Egypt which under Nasser was a strong opponent of colonialism sent mercenaries as pilots to fly air cover to government forces (Stremlau, 2015). The use of mercenaries, especially against popular regimes had begun to attract international condemnation by the 1970s yet the former would continue to play an increasingly important role in African conflicts. ...
... In a letter he sent through Byrne, Bishop Whelan informed the press conference that the situation in Biafra was "hopeless" and that the war was a "holocaust of hundred thousand little ones." 49 Reverend Father Kevin Doheny described Biafran children as the main victims ofNigeria"s "deliberate policy to starve Biafrans through a land and sea blockade." 50 Another firsthand account of the food crisis was provided by Father Raymond F. Maher who reported that hundreds of thousands of people in refugee camps were "slowly but surely" dying of starvation in Biafra. ...
Religious bodies play important roles in the socio cultural, political and economic survival and development of societies. Their role is even made more prominent in the time of crisis and wars. In most instances when an ongoing conflict requires diplomatic maneuvering in the provision of humanitarian and other assistance, religious bodies present clandestine humanitarian assistance which sometimes come with a lot of risk factors, these are done with a view to maintain and sustain the faith of citizens and their strengthened believe that God can send help even in the hours of need.This paper examined the role of the Catholic Church and other religious bodies in humanitarian and other assistance during the Nigerian civil war, Christian missionary groups in Biafra played an agenda setting role in the humanitarian drive to prevent a holocaust in the Nigerian Civil war. Their initial appeal laid the foundation for large scale international relief operations that followed. In spite of the blockade and poor communication with the outside world, the Christian churches saw it as a duty not to keep silent and watch people die of starvation and disease. Their activities in humanitarian and other efforts and the challenges faced is the focus of this paper. The politicization of religion and the religious practice of politics is very relevant in this instance and religious bodies remain an anchor of evangelistic and humanitarian efforts in times of war as was presented in the Nigerian civil war.
... He was then requested to return to Biafra immediately after the delegation visited Yugoslavia. As Yugoslavia is not mentioned in Stremlau (2015) at all, the Yugoslavian visit was perhaps not of a diplomatic nature; it could have been an attempt to procure Yugoslavian or Eastern European arms. ...
The Biafran War, or Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970 was a significant conflict in post-colonial African history. We obtained encrypted messages sent from Lisbon to Biafra via telex during the conflict. We employed manual and computerized cryptanalysis methods to decipher a series of transposition ciphers sent by Biafran officials in 1968 and 1969, which were encrypted using unknown variants of columnar transposition. We then derived the keywords the system was based on and the method used, and analyzed the codewords, names and traffic contained in the plaintexts. Some five-figure ciphers sent during the same period remain unsolved.
... Religion was one of the factors that led to the civil war that ensued following the 1966 military coup (Afolabi 2015;Kirk-Greene 1975;Chidiebere 2016;Garba and Garba 2005). In fact, Nigeria was accused of waging a jihad against the Christian Southeast in an attempt to appeal to the sympathy of foreign missionaries (Stremlau 2015). ...
Abstract
Some widely believed guesstimates have Nigerian Muslims constituting 50 percent of the country’s population. This number translates into 5 percent of the world total Muslim population and one-third of the total number of Muslims in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. With the increasing role Islam plays in international relations, this study aims to explore the role Islam, as one of the major religions in Nigeria, plays in its foreign policy by assessing processes, procedures and implementation of Nigerian foreign policy. Although Islam is arguably the biggest religion in Nigeria, the country is stipulated by its constitution as secular. This particular fact makes any attempt to study the role of religion in the Nigerian public spheres complicated in nature. Nonetheless, using a framework introduced by Adeed Dawisha in his edited book “Islam and Foreign Policy”, the study argues that Islam influences Nigerian foreign policy through processes, procedures and personalities on the one hand and policy implementation on the other. The study concludes that despite being one of the biggest religions in the country, Islam has featured rather scantly in the country’s 55 years of independence.
This article discusses the documentary Jesus Christ Airlines (2001) which focuses on Joint Church Aid, a collaboration platform that transported humanitarian aid to Biafra through an airlift 1968–1970. The documentary is examined as a historical film that seeks to inspire collective humanitarian action in the present. The article addresses the lack of historical analysis in a sector which remains focused on the present and the lingering negligence of the masculine norms that are upheld by humanitarian work. It argues that the documentary replicates the logic of emergency thinking: the immediacy of humanitarian action leaves no room for reflection, neither in the 1960s nor in 2001. Instead, it provides men from the Global North both an escape from, and a means to live up to masculine norms, provided that they are willing to take risks and provided that the humanitarian other remains a perpetual victim.
The history of the Nigeria/Biafra war is berserk with many tantrums that spill from the imagination of the people who tell the story. The objectivity or subjectivity of the author’s account spill from the side he has decided to domicile his thought and augments, but to any discerning mind, the war was one fought by the lgbos in present day Nigeria to survive as a people. Part of what makes modern warfare is the kind of ammunition used in the execution of the war. The Biafran soldiers were not privileged to acquire some of these modern ammunitions as they were denied by the western powers that supported the Nigeria government basically because of their economic interests. The Biafrans, in a bid to protect themselves and survive, formed a Research and Production unit (RAP). It was this unit, populated by young Biafran scientists that came up with the idea of the Ogbunigwe bomb. By the end of the war, this bomb had become a nightmare to Nigeria and their allies. This paper will explain the origin of the Ogbunigwe bomb, how it got its name, its impact in the war and how Nigeria failed to cash-in on this innovation after the war. This work intends to fill this gap in literature and add to the discourse in the historiography of Biafra wartime domestic weapon development. The findings show that the Ogbunigwe bomb was borne out of necessity for the Biafrans to defend themselves in the face of imminent extermination by the Nigeria government through the existing political class and the army. The methodology for this paper is purely qualitative and the sources are derived from primary and secondary materials.
The amphibious landing of troops at Bonny during the Nigerian Civil War is often described as a landmark feat accomplished by the military of a modern Black African state. It was the first of five landings which along with the instituting of a naval blockade formed the basis of the encirclement and eventual defeat of secessionist Biafra. This article captures the transformation of an erstwhile civilian marine department into a naval force which endured sabotage and defection prior to successfully transporting, landing, and affording covering fire for the federal Third Infantry Division. The article explains the military and political objectives, and also reveals the pivotal role played in its planning and execution by James Rawe, an expatriate British naval officer who was a veteran of the Normandy landings.
The chapter examines the ideological backgrounds to Nigeria’s foreign policy, which may have been responsible for the Afrocentric or Africa-centered foreign policy. The philosophical and ideological underpinnings are rooted in the historical experience of the country. The chapter explores the backgrounds to establish the thread that runs through national role conceptions (NRCs), with the view of identifying the variants, similarities and lacuna in the conception and assumption of roles in Africa.
The role conceptions of the founding fathers, successive regimes from 1960 to 1985 and the specific roles that catapulted Nigeria to the top of the ladder in Africa are critically examined in this chapter. The problems or setbacks were also discussed, but the chapter situates Nigeria’s enviable era in foreign policy and dominance in Africa within this period.
Die nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg unter amerikanischer Hegemonie vereinbarte liberale WO steht im Zentrum dieses Kapitels, das den historischen Hintergrund für die Entstehung und Ausarbeitung des Global-Governance-Konzepts aufbereitet. In der Epoche von 1945 bis zur Auflösung der SU (1990/1991) war die überstaatliche Handlungsebene nur schwach ausgebildet. Wir sprechen von einem Governancesystem mit passivem Multilateralismus. Erst nach 1990 konnte sich ein vergleichsweise aktiver Multilateralismus entwickeln, der allerdings bis in die Gegenwart umkämpft ist. Die Restrukturierung des Governancesystems nach dem Ende des Kalten Kriegs kann als politische Antwort auf die Weltprobleme der 1980er- und 1990er-Jahre, auf die vom Neoliberalismus beschleunigte Globalisierung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft sowie auf politische Reformbemühungen verstanden werden, das UN-System neuen Weltbedingungen anzupassen. Im Zentrum der Etablierung einer überstaatlichen Handlungsebene stehen zunächst die UN-Organisationen, die aber zunehmend in das Geflecht sich dynamisch entwickelnder regulativer NGOs, gouvernementaler und nicht-gouvernementaler Regime und Netzwerke eingebunden werden.
This chapter examines the undercurrents of Nigeria’s long and close relationship with the United States of America (US). The chapter is qualitative and analytical in approach, with data sourced data largely from secondary sources including reputable journals, books, book chapters, monographs and records, and analysed thematically. Broad themes examined in sections include Theoretical Perspectives on Nigeria-US Relations, Overview of Nigeria-US Relations Since 1960, Nigeria-US Trade and Investment Relations, Democracy and Security as Strategic Interests in Nigeria-US Relations, Cracks on the Wall of Nigeria-US Relations, The Future of Nigeria-US Relations, and Conclusion. It revealed that Nigeria and the US have been strategic partners in sub-Saharan Africa since Nigeria’s attainment of independence. While the US is a world power and has enormous influence on the pace of economic and political trends in the world, Nigeria’s regional influence in Africa, particularly at a time when South Africa was being ravaged by Apartheid, situated it for political and economic leadership on the continent. It, therefore, became imperative for the two nations to cooperate even if only for their national interests. But even where the countries have been known to maintain generally cordial relationship over the years, it has not been a bed of roses either. Many times, the relationship has run into troubled waters on the political, diplomatic or economic front. The US has been a strong ally of Nigeria in spite of the latter’s chequered political developments dominated by intermittent military interregnums.KeywordsNigeriaUSAStrategic-PartnershipStrategic-InterestsTradeInvestmentsDemocracy
In December 1968, the Biafran government having, separated from Nigeria, and at the time, engaged in a war to sustain the Republic it announced for the people and the territory of Eastern Nigeria on May 30, 1967, published a collection of cartoons by Chuks Anyanwu in a pamphlet entitled “Hands off Africa.” The publication was the last in the series of pictorial propaganda pamphlets on the civil war published under the auspices of the Biafran Ministry of Information, Enugu. Anyanwu was one of the most prolific cartoonists from the Eastern Region and sought to explicate the issues of self-determination and secession from Nigeria by extending the reach of cartoons with the publication. The cover page cartoon as illustrated in figure 17.1 negotiates the angst of imperialist adventurism and oppression anchored in the symbolism of the “benefactors,” their instruments of oppression (“slave chain,” the “horse whip”) and their “beneficiaries.” As a practiced master in transforming editorial themes into sure, free, literal animations through rich swirling brush strokes, Chuks’s adoption of a substitutive persona for Biafra in the illustration positions the seceding nation in the same light as the early African nationalists who projected themselves as emancipators of their African brothers from colonial and mental enslavement. On the whole, the imagery illustrated in Chuks’s cartoon reechoes the theme of the All African People’s Conference held in Accra, Ghana, a decade earlier and allegorizes the manifestation of the existential ambiguities of the colonial agenda and its lingering problems in Africa.1
Katanga, Rhodesia, Transkei and Bophuthatswana: four African countries that, though existing in a literal sense, were, in each case, considered by the international community to be a component part of a larger sovereign state through which all official communications and interactions were still conducted. This book is concerned with the intertwined histories of these four right-wing secessionist states in Southern Africa as they fought for but ultimately failed to win sovereign recognition. Along the way, Katanga, Rhodesia, Transkei, and Bophuthatswana each invented new national symbols and traditions, created all the trappings of independent statehood, and each proclaimed that their movements were legitimate expressions of national self-determination. Josiah Brownell provides a unique comparison between these states, viewed together as a common reaction to decolonization and the triumph of anticolonial African nationalism. Describing the ideological stakes of their struggles for sovereignty, Brownell explores the international political controversies that their drives for independence initiated inside and outside Africa. By combining their stories, this book draws out the relationships between the emergence of these four pseudo-states and the fragility of the entire postcolonial African state structure.
Far from having only marginal significance and generating a ‘subdued’ response among African Americans, as some historians have argued, the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) collided at full velocity with the conflicting discourses and ideas by which Black Americans sought to understand their place in the United States and the world in the late 1960s. One of the most significant aspects of African American engagement with the civil war was the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa peace mission that sought to bring the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and the secessionist leadership of the Republic of Biafra together through the mediation of some of the leading Black civil rights leaders in the United States. Through the use of untapped primary sources, this article will reveal that while the mission was primarily focused on finding a just solution to the internecine struggle, it also intersected with broader domestic and international crosscurrents.
This chapter examines the role of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Consultative Committee in the Nigerian Civil War. However, it implements a specific focus on how Anglo-American diplomacy shaped the activities of the OAU Consultative Committee during the conflict. While Britain saw the Committee as a platform to resist any attempt to override her interest in the war, the United States, with its reluctance to introduce an arms race in Africa, saw it as a plinth to work against the Soviet Union military incursions in the conflict by initiating a proposal for joint Anglo-American initiatives towards a total arms embargo in the war. Not only was the war a setback for the OAU’s vision for the continent, it also exposed her weakness in creating a model of conflict resolution in the African context.
The Nigeria-Biafra war contributed to the rise of post-colonial moral interventionism, ushering in a new form of human rights politics. During the war, relief agencies evacuated 4,000 children from the conflict zones to Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire to protect them from the conflict. This was part of a broader international humanitarian airlift operation that brought relief supplies to the besieged Biafra territory. At the end of the war, most of the children were returned to their homes in Nigeria through an international humanitarian repatriation effort. Ibhawoh examines how state interests and the politics of international humanitarian interventionism manifested in debates about classifying and protecting displaced children, the most vulnerable victims of the conflict.
This chapter covers secession and the principle of self-determination. It starts with the normative state of play in the 19th century and until 1914; then moves on to the brief heyday of national self-determination in 1919–1923; and then covers the self-determination of people from 1945 until today as a UN norm. Then secession is examined and the options open to international society for exceptional secessionist self-determination, for instance in cases of some federations. The three main schools of thought on secession are examined (remedial theory, choice theory and national theory) and the author concludes with his own remedial approach.
Book review of Omaka Arua Oko, The Biafran Humanitarian Crisis, 1967–1970: International Human Rights and Joint Church Aid. Madison & Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2016.
Traditional peacekeeping discourse has ignored the role of religious bodies (or individuals) in conflict resolution, preferring to focus on the activities of skilled diplomats and negotiators. History suggests, however, that not only have religious bodies been engaged in peacebuilding efforts, they have produced some of the most rewarding successes. It is in this connection that the paper examines two notable case studies: the Quaker Mission during the Nigerian Civil War and Ephraim Isaac's mediation effort during the Eritrea/Ethiopia conflict. Using both primary and secondary sources, a historical and comparative methodology is adopted. It argues that while the case studies differ in many respects, there is a convergence in methods which yielded positive results. The essay concludes that whether acting as a foreign mediator (as in the case of the Nigerian Civil War) or an indigenous one (as in the case of Ethiopia), the religious "tag" they carry gave them an added advantage in the mediatory role they performed. This is more so the case since these bodies demonstrated the spirit of nonpartisanship, empathy, integrity and credibility; all of which are necessities for achieving success in religious peacebuilding. ARTICLE HISTORY
The story of the blind men and the elephant is universally known. Each…concluded that the elephant had the appearance of the part he had touched. Hence, the blind man who felt the animal's trunk concluded that an elephant must be tall and slender…Others of course reached different conclusions. The total result was that no man arrived at a very accurate description of the elephant. Yet, each man had gained enough evidence from his own experience to disbelieve his fellows and to maintain a lively debate about the nature of the beast.
De facto states challenge traditional concepts of statehood, the territorial integrity of their metropolitan states and the stability of the international system. This article argues that international organisations (IOs) and states face one major dilemma in their responses to such disputed entities and the protracted conflicts around them – the “stabilisation dilemma”. The stabilisation dilemma explains why the international community struggles to respond to unilateral secession and as a consequence acts ambiguously. By developing and applying this dilemma to Ukraine and beyond, this article contributes to the conceptualisation and better understanding of international responses towards (evolving) de facto states.
Nigeria is both a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with Islam and Christianity being the dominant religions. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is therefore an institution that the Muslim segment of the country can readily identify with. However, there is the question of the secular posture of the country, which Christians within the polity use as an excuse to distance the country from an institution they perceive to be exclusively for Muslims. However, despite being an organization that emerged from Muslim solidarity, the OIC transcends faith to provide economic and political opportunities for member nations. The fact that Islam remains a rallying point within the OIC, however, made Nigeria’s relationship with the organization tenuous for the most part. It is against this backdrop that the paper traces the origins and evolution of Nigeria’s involvement with the OIC, identifying its cost and benefits. The essay argues that Nigeria will be the better for it if both the Christian and Muslim segments of the population embrace the OIC as a whole or are unanimous in discarding it. The divisive tendency that Nigeria’s membership breeds, however, will be detrimental to the nation’s unity and development.
This article draws on the concept of “identity interests” to explain why commitment to the territorial integrity norm in the context of African peace processes has persisted over such a long period of time, even as continental and international contexts have changed. One major implication of this commitment to the territorial integrity norm is that third parties involved in peacemaking in Africa have consistently refrained from promoting a negotiated settlement that might pave the way for independence; they have only pushed for a territorial revision in a few instances. The role of major powers has been crucial with regard to the few successful territorial changes in Africa since 1960. An overview of all outcomes of mediation in territorial intrastate conflicts in Africa—as well as seven case studies—support this argument.
Les compagnies pétrolières britanniques British Petroleum (BP) et Shell ont joué un rôle politique et économique actif dans l’Afrique postindépendance des années 1960 et 1970. Deux événements, la guerre civile au Nigeria et la lutte autour de l’indépendance de la Rhodésie, révèlent la persistance de cette influence. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, les décisions prises sur le terrain n’étaient pas sous le contrôle des sièges sociaux de BP et de Shell, mais de leurs filiales locales. Cet article démontre que ces filiales ont souvent agi en fonction de ce qu’elles estimaient être leurs intérêts propres, à l’encontre des intérêts de leurs sociétés mères et de ceux des instances dirigeantes de la politique étrangère britannique. L’influence des compagnies pétrolières en Afrique est donc bien moins directe, et plus complexe, qu’on n’aurait pu le penser.
The Biafran war—with its brutality and long-lasting effect on how humanitarian operations in a war setting are understood—is the most prominent secessionist war in the immediate postcolonial history. But the war, fought between 1967 and 1970 between the Biafran secessionists in Nigeria’s southeast and the governing elite in the north (with the shorthand often being that it was an Igbo vs. Fulani-Hausa war) is only the most obvious manifestation of a continuous political struggle over territorial, ethnic, religious, and resource hegemony. This chapter distinguishes between secessionisms: based on ethnic self-determination in the south and based on religious autonomy in the north, focusing on the Igbo experience and the continued political movement for an independent Biafra. While the wish for Biafra’s secession is real, the call for secession is, however, the strongest weapon used by the Igbo in pursuing better political representation and access to resource wealth.
Background
Nigeria plays important economic and political roles in Africa and is a significant market for the tobacco industry. This study describes the tobacco industry’s efforts to block Nigeria’s early tobacco control attempts, especially the Tobacco Smoking (Control) Decree 20 of 1990, and efforts to strengthen the Decree in 1995.
Method
Analysis of documents from the Truth Tobacco Documents Library and other Internet resources related to Nigeria’s Decree 20 and earlier tobacco control efforts.
Results
The World Conferences on Smoking and Health and World Health Organization in the late 1970s spurred the Nigerian government to take steps towards tobacco regulation. In response, the tobacco industry lobbied government ministries, used front groups and its trade group, the Tobacco Advisory Council of Nigeria, to block and weaken government efforts. The industry obtained a draft of Decree 20 two years before it was enacted, considered the Decree anti-business and proposed language that led to the passage of a weaker Decree in 1990. It also attempted to influence a potential review of the Decree in 1995.
Conclusion
Decree 20 was a strong law for its time, but was weakened due to tobacco industry interference. Nigeria ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, and enacted a comprehensive National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) in May 2015. Lessons learned from Decree 20’s experience should be applied to protect NTCA 2015, and in compliance with WHO FCTC Article 5.3 which require parties to protect tobacco control policies from tobacco industry interference.
The author traces the historical evolution of the distinction between international humanitarian law and international human rights law. He demonstrates that the structures of the two regimes follow from the fact that while humanitarian law was designed to apply in periods of war, human rights law was to apply in periods of peace. The difference between the two are not matters of abstract logic. Rather, they have important consequences for the functioning of these important branches of international law. Copyright © The Canadian Council on International Law / Conseil Canadien de Droit International, representing the Board of Editors, Canadian Yearbook of International Law / Comité de Rédaction, Annuaire Canadien de Droit International 2000.
Most countries across the globe are ethnically pluralistic societies. While ethnic diversity by itself need not generate ethnic conflict, it is evident that ethnicity can be exploited and manipulated enough to generate social conflict, especially in the developing world. Indeed, ethnic conflict is definitely a major hindrance to national stability and cohesion, and to the quest for socio-economic development, in many Asian and African countries. However, ethnic conflicts are not a monopoly of the South, as events in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and former Yugoslavia in the 1990s clearly demonstrate.
It is wisest to begin with a confession of ignorance. The experts have not contributed much to our understanding of the Soviet Union’s relations with Africa. No one foresaw Soviet intervention in Angola, at least on the scale that occurred. By way of compensation after the Soviet intervention in the Ethiopian/Somali conflict in 1977/8, most Western observers have spent their time watching nervously to see where next in Africa Soviet power would be projected. One reason for this lack of analytical confidence may be that the forensic problems which are associated with the analysis of Soviet intentions anywhere are compounded in sub-Saharan Africa by the lack of any obvious historical, geo-political or economic foundation on which Soviet policy can be seen to rest regardless of ideological considerations. Of course, such considerations must affect any assessment of Soviet intentions but since the Soviet Union, no less than any other power, must accommodate principle to contingency, it is relatively easier (or at least less obviously risky) to analyse Soviet policies in terms of the external pattern of restraints and rivalries than to rely primarily on an interpretation of the Soviet commitment to world communism and national liberation, or the complex workings of the Soviet bureaucracy. Soviet policy along the Northern Tier, that is roughly from the Middle East through to Afghanistan, and even in South-East Asia, in this sense has a geo-political, strategic and historical depth which is lacking in Africa. In the strategic competition of the major powers, Africa remains something of a footnote.
The chapter argues that the Nigerian civil war changed the established relief procedures of West German state and non-state actors, as well as their interactions with one another. The German awareness of the Biafra conflict was shaped by campaigns from the churches, Biafrans, and solidarity groups as well as by the media’s bias in favor of Biafra. Civil society’s interest in the African conflict ultimately altered governmental interests and became a catalyst for the transformation of disaster relief.
Africa, Frantz Fanon famously remarked, has the shape of a pistol, with Congo-Kinshasa1 resembling the trigger housing. The violence implicit in the metaphor aptly captures the tumultuous events afflicting a significant part of Africa in the 1990s; the pistol, however, rather than pointing toward Antarctica, aims its fire inwards. Some twenty-four of the fifty-three states on the continent have experienced sustained civil strife during the last decade,2 and two significant interlocked zones of civil warfare spilling across borders have emerged: one stretching from the Horn of Africa in a southwestward arc to Angola and the two Congos, and the other extending along the West African coast from Liberia to Senegal. At the turn of the twenty-first century, Congo had become the veritable epicenter of conflict in Africa, with involvement of six neighboring armies and four internal ones, plus smaller fragments spinning off.
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