Word: biafran
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...miles to another beacon erected in a treetop where they hover in holding patterns. Here the danger is perhaps greater. Other planes from Gabon loaded with arms and ammunition also join the pattern; sometimes as many as 20 ships are circling simultaneously, some assigned the same altitudes by inexperienced Biafran ground controllers. The sight of fire-bright exhausts in the African night is slim comfort to other flyers. Says Swedish Pilot Ulf Engelbrecht: "If all the pilots some night were to turn on rotating beacons and clearance lights, a dozen of them would die of fright at their proximity...
Leaving the pattern for the harrowing descent into Uli, a plane threads through Biafran ack-ack thrown up by gunners who confuse friendlies with the Intruder. As they near ground level, crews must maneuver in darkness for all but the final 30 seconds before touchdown. The runway is really only a section of the road between Uli and Mgbidi that has been widened to 75 feet. "That's a nice wide road," comments one flyer, "but a damned narrow runway." Airplanes' wheels have no more than a 20-ft. margin on either side. Wingtips brush treetops...
...leaving Uli near sunup on the third run and dodging dawn-patrol Nigerian MIGs. But three flights are almost impossible. Diversions because of the Intruder eat up time; so does the fact that Uli can accommodate only eight planes easily and gives priority to the gunrunners. Weakened by hunger, Biafran ground crews sag noticeably unloading second or third flights. When the Ilyushin drops one of its bombs, the Biafrans vanish, leaving the plane crews and church officials to offload the cargo themselves. Twenty-four missions in one night is the squadron record. The average is closer to half that many...
Right now there are outright starvation conditions among the refugees. Acute protein deficiency is widespread among all Biafrans. The Mission's members reports that, they never saw one child in satisfactory nutritional condition in any of the camps they visited. Mass feedings must be made under the most difficult of situations: distribution centers and refugee camps are bombed and strafed if any large numbers of people are visible in the daylight. Red Cross insignias are singled out for special attention by Nigerian bombers. Mayer saw one European engaged in working on the Biafran side of the war front carry...
...role as a mediator in the negotiations leading to a cease fire and expanded relief. 2) To station in Biafra some medical and nutritional personnel to report possible solutions to the President. 3) To send a relief coordinator to Biafra who would work with voluntary agencies and with the Biafran physicians. 4) For this and similar situations which could arise in the future, the President should designate a Relief Advisor to work in a voluntary capacity as his consultant on problems of international relief...