Program Information

By the middle of 1968, the Nigerian civil war had created a true international humanitarian crisis. The oil-rich eastern region of Biafra was surrounded by government troops, cut off and starving.

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Transcript

Introduction: A Moment in Time, 1968: A special series on the 40th anniversary of a year of upheaval, in a world seemingly out of control.

Content: By the middle of 1968, the Nigerian civil war had created a true international humanitarian crisis. The oil-rich eastern region of Biafra was surrounded by government troops, cut off and starving. “Kwashiorkor,” an Igbo tribal word for protein deficiency, had reduced the Biafrans to eating rats, lizards, dogs and ants for protein. That year, between 1,500 and 40,000 Biafrans starved to death each week. When food was available it was astronomically expensive. Still, the Nigerian government would not relent and the rest of the world looked the other way during most of 1968.

Finally, France officially recognized Biafran independence and sent in arms, though this may have been a strategic move to capture Biafra’s oil reserves. Only volunteer pilots dared to attempt to breach the blockade. In August, Carl Gustav von Rosen of Sweden successfully landed a DC-7 on a secret airfield in Biafra with ten tons of food and medicine aboard. He had discovered a new air corridor, safe from Nigerian anti-aircraft fire and the food aid began to pick up, but by this time Biafra had been reduced to a mere one third of its original territory.

Given its over-commitment in Southeast Asia, even the United States was reluctant to intervene in another foreign civil war, but international public opinion was turning. The plight of the Biafrans was a popular topic on the stump in the American presidential election and in December, the British withdrew their support of the Nigerian government. President Johnson then ordered comprehensive shipments of relief to Biafra, but it was too little, too late.

The Biafrans were able to keep up their fight for independence for another year or so, but finally surrendered on January 15, 1970. Over one million people had starved to death in the Biafran terror famine.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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