Word: nigerians
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...among them 4,500,000 refugees-into a patch of bush and swampland that is one-fourth the size of Biafra's former territory. The Biafrans, most of whom are Ibo tribesmen, fear that they will be massacred just as thousands of their kinsmen in northern Nigerian cities were killed two years ago. Many are starving, but they refuse to come out of hiding in the bush...
...Nigerian military government, headed by Major General Yakubu Go- won, accuses the Biafrans of purposely allowing suffering for the sake of "waging psychological war and seeking diplomatic advantage." The government points out that the Biafrans, led by Lieut. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, have turned down a plan to have the Red Cross ship food through federal territory to Biafra. But Gowon insists on federal handling of any such shipments, and the Biafrans fear that his men would poison the food: they cite instances of beer laced with cyanide and powdered milk infected with bacteria found in Biafra. Even if Gowon allows...
...channel and set it permanently ablaze. To guard against aerial attacks, they mounted heavy artillery atop the city's tallest buildings, and drove barbed stakes into open fields as protection against paratroopers. They even put nozzles on oil pipelines, converting them into instant flamethrowers. As a result, the Nigerian forces were forced to take a painstakingly slow route overland from the eastern seaport of Calabar, lugging tons of military supplies and hundreds of cases of "Star"-brand lager beer...
...Though Nigerian Strongman Major General Yakubu Gowon insists that only military objectives are hit, the raids against civilians were, in fact, recently intensified to two-a-day strikes on all Biafran towns. During the six days I spent in Biafra, civilian bombing casualties totaled 300 dead by actual body count. I saw jets repeatedly release payloads on populated townships where not a single military installation was within range...
...Nigerian jets returning to their bases have even doubled back to strafe ci vilian crowds gathered at railway crossings, in village marketplaces and in a churchyard after morning services. Nigeria's Egyptian pilots have so often bombed and strafed Biafran hospitals-whose roofs are often clearly marked with large red crosses-that Ibo mothers in some areas risk death for their seriously ill children rather than take them to such prime target areas...