50 years ago: The genocide of Biafra (May 30)

Fifty years after beginning of the genocide in Biafra, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns of another escalation of violence in the southeast of Nigeria. On Monday, the STP published a new 75-page human rights report that documents the deaths of 180 supporters of the Pro-Biafra movement and the arrests of 1,244 Biafra-activists since August 2015. “The brutality with which Nigeria’s police and armed forces are treating the Biafra activists is not worthy of a democracy. Nobody has the right to shoot unarmed citizens arbitrarily just because they showed commitment for Biafra’s independence,” explained Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Africa expert and author of the report. “Apart from that, the Nigerian constitution is being ignored, as the Pro-Biafra organizations are systematically denied the right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

Biafra had declared its independence on May 30, 1967, and Nigeria had responded to this with a genocide that had cost two million lives until 1970. “If there is another wave of violence today, this is a direct consequence of the 50 years of tabooing the genocide in Biafra. Nigeria’s government is still unwilling to admit that the Biafra-question is still unresolved. This is a political problem that needs a political solution – it cannot be solved with intimidation and terror,” Delius emphasized.

Nigeria’s government started its strategy of criminalizing the Biafra activists in autumn 2015. According to the STP’s research, supporters of the pro-Biafra organizations IPOB, MASSOB, BZM, and BIM who dare to participate in peaceful demonstrations or vigils are risking their lives or their freedom. When Amnesty International published this matter in a report in November 2016, there had been attempts to denigrate the human rights organization. The organization was accused of spreading lies and of trying to destabilize Nigeria. Some of the arrested activists were accused of “treason”. However, according to the STP’s report, the defendants are often not convicted due to a lack of evidence. There had also been an attempt to silence the founder of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and the lawsuit against him did not meet any standards of a fair trial.

The violence in Nigeria is fueled by an escalation of the conflict between the Muslim Fulani nomads and the mainly Christian peasants. The so-called “Fulani conflict” has been going on for decades. Due to climate change, the conflict is growing worse since more and more nomad shepherds are trying to find grazing land for their herds in Biafra (which is predominantly Christian), killing farmers and destroying their fields. In 2016, the long underestimated Fulani conflict had cost more lives than the attacks by Boko-Haram. “Many Biafrans feel reminded of the past genocide. As a matter of urgency, Nigeria must solve the Fulani conflict to ensure that the violence in Biafra will not escalate further,” demanded Delius.

Header Photo: David Holt via Flickr