Biafran War

Biafran War, conflict between July 1967 and January 1970 arising from the secession of the Eastern Region from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. An attempt by Nigerian army majors in January 1966 to resolve political crises forcibly was widely regarded as seizure of power by the Igbo people of the east. A second coup d'état in July installed the army chief of staff, Yakubu Gowon, as head of the federal government. Efforts to reach a new constitutional settlement were frustrated by pogroms against Igbo living in the north, and the intransigence of Odumegwu Ojukwu, military governor of the Eastern Region. In May 1967 Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra, and in July fighting began between Biafran and federal troops.

The economic viability of a Biafran Republic depended heavily on oil, production of which had begun in the east at the end of 1957 and by 1966 was running at 400,000 barrels per day. However, the oilfields lay mainly in the Niger Delta, which was occupied by ethnic minorities fearful of Igbo domination. Immediately before Ojukwu's secession, and to prejudice Eastern solidarity further, Gowon decreed the replacement of the 4 regions of the federation by 12 states, 2 of which were located in the Delta. The dilemma of Shell-BP, the principal oil producer, over whom to pay royalties, was resolved by the federal capture of the oil terminal at Bonny in late July.

In August 1967 the Biafrans invaded mid-western Nigeria, reaching a point 160 km (100 mi) from Lagos, the federal capital, but were soon repulsed. Federal forces captured Calabar in October, but not until early in 1968 were they able to cross the Niger and take Onitsha. With the capture of Port Harcourt on May 19, 1968, Biafra was sealed off from the sea, and by July the two states of the eastern minorities were entirely in federal hands. Although fighting continued for another 18 months, the secessionist cause was doomed by a federal blockade of Igboland, which produced famine and possibly over a million deaths.

An effective Biafran propaganda organization won widespread support abroad, but this was aimed primarily at the relief of the starving population. The government of the Soviet Union supplied arms and diplomatic support to the federal government, as did, with reservations, the British. The Biafrans obtained arms privately and possibly from France, which in 1968 endorsed their claim to self-determination. Tanzania and Zambia gave diplomatic recognition to Biafra in 1968. So too, probably with French inspiration, did Gabon and the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire).

Following the final Biafran surrender, Gowon declared a policy of national reconciliation, the principal beneficiaries of which were Biafran military officers. National reconstruction was aided by fast-growing oil revenues, and these, together with a substantial army, enabled Nigeria to pursue for some years a vigorous foreign policy. Oil revenues, government by the military, and increases in the number of states all made for centralization of power in the federation. The Igbo remained distrustful of federal power, but so too did most of the many other ethnic groups making up Nigeria.