Word: ojukwu
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Airlift as Symbol. Ojukwu's fear of mass poisoning is not so ridiculous as it seems to the Western mind: the traditional way of doing in an enemy in Africa is to poison him, and Ibo lore abounds with such tales...
...kind of psychological advantage that the Nigerians are determined to prevent, and they may well let the Biafrans starve rather than make concessions. (Some of the federal officers frankly prefer starvation to fighting as an offensive weapon anyway.) At the same time, Ojukwu is equally willing to let his fellow Biafrans starve, unless he can get food on his own terms. It is a chilling standoff, and one in which it is both dangerous and difficult for outsiders to assess blame...
...other hand, if the Ibos are decimated and permanently embittered, the federation may be doomed in another way. Nigeria's rulers are talking unity, while at the same time conducting a form of tribal warfare that may make unity impossible at best and unnecessary at worst. By granting Ojukwu his demand for airborne relief, the Nigerians would show minimal concern for 8 million people who remain, by their own definition, Nigerian citizens...
...fate of Biafra evokes all their own fears about tribal survival, and from the beginning they and much of Africa's press have shown concern for Biafra's cause. Moreover, Biafra is an African product, and that arouses admiration. "We are Africa's first real nationalist state," says Ojukwu. "We constitute a warning to other states that oppression of minorities cannot go unpunished." This argument has had considerable effect on the four African heads of state who now recognize Biafra. "You cannot kill thousands of people and keep killing more in the name of unity," says Tanzania's Julius Nyerere...
...record as supporting Nigerian sovereignty over Biafra. Its members, the national leaders of Black Africa, can only view the precedent of tribal breakaway with profound dismay, for each must cope with tribal divisions in his own country. "It was the Congo and Tshombe yesterday, and it is Nigeria and Ojukwu today," warns Gowon. "Who knows what African country will be the next victim...