Biafra's War 1967-1970: A Tribal Conflict in Nigeria That Left a Million Dead [Hardcover] Venter, Al J.

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Almost half a century has passed since the Nigerian Civil War ended. But
memories die hard, because a million or more people perished in that
internecine struggle, the majority women and children, who were starved to
death. Biafra’s war was modern Africa’s first extended conflict. It lasted
almost three years and was based largely on ethnic, by inference, tribal
grounds. It involved, on the one side, a largely Christian or animist
southeastern quadrant of Nigeria which called itself Biafra, pitted militarily
against the country’s more populous and preponderant Islamic north. These
divisions – almost always brutal – persist. Not a week goes by without reports
coming in of Christian communities or individuals persecuted by Islamic
zealots. It was also a conflict that saw significant Cold War involvement: the
Soviets (and Britain) siding and supplying Federal Nigeria with weapons,
aircraft and expertise and several Western states – Portugal, South Africa and
France especially – providing clandestine help to the rebel state. For that
reason alone, this book is an important contribution towards understanding
Nigeria’s ethnic divisions, which are no better today than they were then.
Biafra was the first of a series of religious wars that threaten to engulf
much of Africa. Similar conflicts have recently taken place in the Ivory
Coast, Kenya, Southern Sudan, the Central African Republic, Senegal
(Cassamance), both Congo Republics and elsewhere. As the war progressed,
Biafra also attracted mercenary involvement, many of whom arriving from the
Congo which had already seen much turmoil. Western pilots were hired by Lagos
and they flew the first Soviet MiG-17 jet fighters to have played an active
role in a ‘Western’ war. Al Venter spent time covering this struggle. He left
the rebel enclave in December 1969, only weeks before it ended and claims the
distinction of being the only foreign correspondent to have been rocketed by
both sides: first by Biafra’s tiny Swedish-built Minicon fighter planes while
he was on a ship lying at anchor in Warri harbour and thereafter, by MiG jets
flown by mercenaries. Among his colleagues inside the beleaguered territory
were the celebrated Italian photographer Romano Cagnoni as well as Frederick
Forsyth who originally reported for the BBC and then resigned because of the
partisan, pro-Nigerian stance taken by Whitehall. He briefly shared quarters
with French photographer Giles Caron who was later killed in Cambodia. Prior
to that Venter had been working for John Holt in Lagos. It is interesting that
his office at the time was at Ikeja International Airport (Murtala Muhammed
today) where the second Nigerian army mutiny was plotted and from where it was
launched. From this perspective he had a proverbial ‘ringside seat’ of the
tribal divisions that followed as hostilities escalated. Venter took numerous
photos while on this West African assignment, both in Nigeria while he was
based there and later in Biafra itself. Others come from various sources,
including some from the same mercenary pilots who originally targeted him from
the air. Read more