In the streets of Enugu, the future capital of the Biafran Republic, young people lined up to join the army. Proud soldiers appear on large posters: " This man is ready, are you? Inquired the legend. Caricatures invite the population to denounce the" men of the North ", this Nigerian region of the North, the Hausa country where Igbos were massacred by tens of thousands in 1966, causing a mass exodus towards the Biafra.
The French ambassador went to Enugu two months before the proclamation of independence on May 30, 1967, which marked the beginning of a war that would not end until January 1970. Marc Barbey described the city and The atmosphere that reigns there in the manner of a foreign correspondent. He has an appointment with the future " number one " biafrais, the enigmatic colonel Ojukwu.
This son of a good family, trained at Oxford, knows how to show himself sometimes seducer, sometimes arrogant. His mood swings push some diplomats to wonder about the mental health of a man they describe as sanguineous and angry. At least according to the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs consulted by RFI.
"African Hamlet"
This great amateur of Shakespeare is as tormented as an " African Hamlet " in the eyes of the ambassador of Federal Germany in Nigeria. He is even "very tired", " insensitive to reasoning ", according to the Senegalese ambassador to Lagos, Bouna Kane.
Yet it is a Biafran leader in great shape which receives the ambassador Barbey, March 9, 1967. " Smiling and relaxed, he looked nothing like the picture drawn by my colleagues ", noted the diplomat. His host, it is true, insisted much on the feeling of admiration which General de Gaulle inspired him, which he considered " surely the greatest of living statesmen. "
It is not surprising that Ojukwu hopes to establish close relations with de Gaulle's France. A Biafran emissary, Francis Nwokedi, visited Paris the previous year to solicit military aid. French armaments have already been delivered to Biafra through private arms traffickers (as we shall see tomorrow). Some French mercenaries will soon arrive (as we shall see on Wednesday).
In Enugu, diplomats note that calls for engagement in the armed forces, military exercises, and nocturnal alerts are increasing as D-Day approaches. These foreign visitors, often opposed to independence, are trying to put Ojukwu On guard against the " excitement of the spirits ."
"This is necessary for the construction of which I am the architect, " he explains to Ambassador Barbey. The sacrifices I ask of the Igbos would not be understood by them if I did not maintain the climate that justifies them. "The Biafran" number one ", admonished by customary chiefs Igbos, believes that he is building for his people the" first nation-state of Africa south of the Sahara ". Because ethnic and religious considerations are at the heart of the independence project.
After the Igbo's massacres in the northern Nigerian region in 1966 - " pogroms ", it is sometimes said in diplomatic correspondence - hundreds of thousands of survivors took refuge in the eastern region. This influx will accentuate the perception that the Eastern Region is the "national home" of the Igbos and will encourage it to secede. Ojukwu seeks to reassure his foreign visitors that he receives in Enugu. He swears that he will never be the aggressor, that he will simply defend himself ...
Five weeks after the proclamation of independence, Nigeria launched, on 6 July 1967, a "police operation" to subdue the rebel region. At the beginning of the conflict, the Nigerian army can not, in any case, be considered as seasoned, according to a "confidential" telegram of Ambassador Barbey. " Officers are not lacking, " he writes, " but they are especially suited to the duties of the general staff and the engineers. They are remarkable for the destruction intended to retard the adversary, but they are, on the other hand, poorly trained Tactical fights of small units on the ground. "
His first impressions are repeatedly confirmed. The diplomat will report, in 1969, That the day of the "fighter" (a word he puts himself in quotes) begins with a bottle of beer and ends with a cup of tea.
"It is not enough to have a staff that increases regularly, but it is necessary that the troops have teeth, and such does not seem to always be the case," he explains. While the Igbos defend their very existence, many federal soldiers consider themselves fortunate to be dressed and fed, and would not, it is said, take excessive risks. » Bombings The troops must have teeth, and this does not always seem to be the case, he explains. While the Igbos defend their very existence, many federal soldiers consider themselves fortunate to be dressed and fed, and would not, it is said, take excessive risks. »
Bombings
The conflict will, however, be deadly, notably because of the bombing. Nigerian bombs are not dropped on military installations, according to Mauritius Delauney, the French ambassador to Gabon, a faithful follower of the controversial Jacques Foccart, the boss of the " Africa cell " of the Elysee.
"Federal aviation harassed, not to say terrorism," Delauney asserts in a "very secret" telegram dated October 4, 1968. His objectives are much more civil (public buildings, Red Cross Military and its action are intended solely to bring down the morale of the population. " The same aircraft used napalm and cluster bombs, said the diplomat.
The bombing, however, will have fewer victims than famine (as we will see on Friday). It is the consequence of the maritime and land blockade that Nigeria imposes on Biafra as soon as independence is proclaimed, both to prevent it from exporting the oil that has just been discovered and to prevent it from importing Weapons and foods.
Demoralization
At the beginning of the war, however, the morale of the Biafran military and civilian was good. Everyone finds that the administration, nevertheless, works: the factors continue to deliver mail; The judges, to sit. The population is strongly mobilized, especially since it fears for its survival. So much so that Igbo veterans, who had fought alongside the British during the Second World War, Enroll in the Biafran army. They are imitated by top athletes, including boxer Dick Tiger, world champion in the middleweight in his time.
Their morale, this determination, which seems to be unstoppable at the beginning of the war, will eventually collapse. In 1969, in the ranks of the Biafran army, each soldier had only 20 (!) Cartridges. The young Igbos, once so resolute, tried to escape conscription. Civilians evade blood collection. A hospital receives soldiers who inflict wounds to avoid fighting " generally by shooting a bullet in the left hand," said a French diplomat who keeps him from a French doctor on the spot. Despite the intervention of French mercenaries, despite the support of some African countries (as we shall see on Thursday), the Biafra will endure a stinging military defeat.
On 12 January 1970, at 4:30 pm, Radio Biafra will interrupt Beethoven's seventh symphony to announce that Ojukwu has handed over power to his chief of staff, General Philip Effiong. The "strong man" of the Biafra fled to Cote d'Ivoire. The radio, now controlled by the Nigerian army, gives the floor to a young Nigerian officer, a certain Colonel Obasanjo. "The war is over," he says. Nobody knows that he will one day become the president of Nigeria.
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