Word: enugu
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...independent country to escape persecution, but few were in a mood to heed its challenge. Four months after Rebel Leader Odumegwu Ojukwu declared Biafra's independence, federal troops under Major General Yakubu Gowon slashed deep into Ibo territory, rained shells down on the Biafran capital of Enugu and sent frightened Biafran soldiers and civilians fleeing by the hundreds. The fall of the tiny breakaway republic (pop. 12 million) seemed only a matter of time...
...whose members last year slaughtered thousands of Ibos in Northern Nigeria. The Biafran volunteers searched automobiles at roadblocks, practiced grenade throwing and ambushing. At a Port Harcourt automotive assembly plant, Biafran engineers rolled out their first homemade tanks-trucks plated with armor. Mechanics in the railroad repair shop at Enugu, Biafra's capital, were busy making bombs for Biafra's lone B-26 bomber out of casings filled with nails, broken bottles and kerosene...
Told to "fight a clean fight" and avoid atrocities,, Gowon's troops, at least 15,000 strong, launched a four-pronged attack. His small collection of English-made Ferret and Saladin armored vehicles pushed toward the Biafra capital of Enugu and the provincial centers of Nsukka and Ogoja. Large numbers of federal troops, which the government said were "moving cross-country on their flat feet," reportedly overran an Eastern military camp and captured 500 recruits. Determined Biafrans, whose army of about 7,000 is largely composed of Ibo tribesmen, claimed to have thrown Gowon's men back into...
...dawn's early light, the chant echoed through the streets of Enugu, the capital of Eastern Nigeria. Because Nigeria has been a troubled land of late, the word of its demise was not a total surprise-although perhaps premature. But who were the Biafrans...
Safely Home. When Governor Ojukwu returned to his capital of Enugu, he climbed into a car and rode triumphantly through the streets-principally to show the skeptical Ibos that he had not been murdered. "This is the first realistic step taken in solving our problems," he commented, urging his tribesmen to accept the loss of Ironsi as "one more sacrifice for the good of Nigeria." The exultant tone was justified for Ojukwu brought home some significant concessions from Gowon. Gowon agreed to split the nation's army into four parts, each recruited in its own area and under...