Fifty years ago today, and it seems like twenty, I was working in Port Harcourt in the Eastern Region of Nigeria, when the governor of the region, Lt. Col. Odemegwu Ojukwu, declared that the region would succeed from the Nigerian Federation. The reason being that up to 30,000 Easterners (Ibos) who worked in the North had been murdered in the Northern (Islamic) Region on 30/9/1966. This caused an influx to the population of the East of some 1.6 million refugees who obviously felt that continuing to live there, was not beneficial to their wellbeing. The result was the declartion of succession. Shortly afterwards the PM of the UK Harold Wilson decided to equip the Federal Government with sophisticated arms, encouraging the Russians and the Czechs to provide bomber and fighter aircraft, which they hoped would secure a foothold in the oil rich area, and bring a quick end to the conflict. The USA totally involved with VietNam was neutral. The result was the war. Over a million Biafrans died either directly or through starvation. It is sad that I have not seen any mention of this catastrophe in any newspaper.
I was only 9 years old but I remember it like you do....the pictures we saw of starving children with distended bellies has stuck with me all my life.
