A REPÚBLICA DOS IBOS
A República Livre do Biafra foi capa da TIME no fim da década de 1960.
A jovem jovem república era apoiada por Portugal e é pano de fundo do meu livro OS SEGREDOS DO PATRIARCA. O Biafra é um tema familiar a alguns portugueses, que no fim dos anos 60 apoiaram o povo Ibo cristão, na sua luta pela independência contra a Nigéria das 245 etnias. Portugal apoiou os rebeldes ibos enquanto combatia os movimentos de libertação nas suas colónias, Angola, Moçambique, Guiné e Cabo Verde. Em OS SEGREDOS DO PATRIARCA estão envolvidos os serviços secretos portugueses, um director de um jornal e vários personagens em luta pelo controlo do comércio da morte nas terras ricas da Nigéria, repletas de petróleo e pedras preciosas. Os preparativos para esta nova guerra decorrem agora em sigilo entre franceses e portugueses, sob o olhar de Britânicos e Russos. E tal como há 30 anos, os ibos pedem apoio ao Vaticano e à Cruz Vermelha. |
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Biafra: Thirty years on
The Ibo took up arms after years of ethnic friction By Nigeria correspondent Barnaby Philips It is 30 years since the end of one of post-independence Africa's first and most bloody wars. The Nigerian civil war not only came close to tearing Africa's most populous country apart, it also provoked passions in many other parts of the world, particularly in Britain, the former colonial power. Nigeria became independent in 1960. Like most ex-colonies in the continent, its boundaries had been defined quite arbitrarily to demarcate where the competing claims of the imperial powers collided. |
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Ethnic split - At independence, Nigeria had a federal constitution comprising three regions defined by the principal ethnic groups in the country - the Hausa and Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the south-west, and Ibo in the south-east. The fighting led to famine and chaos But as the military took over in the mid-1960s, and the economic situation worsened, ethnic tensions broke out. Up to 30,000 Ibos were killed in fighting with Hausas, and around 1million refugees fled to their Ibo homeland in the east. On 30 May, 1967, the head of the Eastern Region, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu, unilaterally declared the independent Republic of Biafra. After initial military gains, the Biafran forces were pushed back. Over two-and-a-half years later, 1 million civilians had died in fighting and from famine. Photographs of starving children with huge distended stomachs from protein deficiency horrified people around the world. Finally, Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria. |