Word: biafra
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...away from Lagos, and fled northern Nigeria by the thousands. In the battlefields, we ran and allowed the enemy to advance. Must we also run in our homeland? Face the enemy and fight him-street by street, house by house. This is the moment to die bravely for Biafra...
Nigeria went four months ago. On May 30 the Ibo tribe, which dominates Nigeria's Eastern Region, seceded from the Nigerian Federation and proclaimed the independent Republic of Biafra; and on July 7 a federal attack on Biafra plunged the country into civil war. Nervous African leaders know that no African state was better prepared for independence, and they know that no African state is immune to the problems which beat Nigeria to its knees--those of a tribal society confronting modernization. They are hoping Nigeria will stand again...
...military victory were the key to Nigerian unity, Africans could take heart. Most observers feel it's a matter of time--two months at most--until Federal armies overrun Biafra and disperse its ragged forces. The Biafrans probably postponed the end with their daring thrust into Nigeria's Midwestern Region last month; and federal forces have shown a curious unwillingness to follow up their infrequent victories...
Still, with only air routes open, Biafra has been effectively isolated by the Federals' naval and land blockade. There were, reportedly, serious shortages of essential goods as early as the first week in August--when the blockade was barely three months old. Using its foreign exchange reserves, Nigeria has bolstered its military superiority with Soviet bloc jets--more than a match for Biafra's one World War II surplus bomber...
...when Biafra capituates, Gowon will have even less elbow-room. Ibo resistance has hardly pacified the Hausas. And far from convincing the Ibos they belong in Nigeria, the war seems likely to reinforce their determination to escape the Federation Despite federal precautions, there seems little hope of avoiding a massive slaughter of Ibos as Hausa troops march through Ibo villages. Last year's wounds, it appears are going to be reopened with a vengance. Nigeria cannot hope for a lasting peace until it reconstitutes its government on a non-tribal basis...