Biafra in the News: The Nigerian Civil War Seen from a London News Desk

by Jonathan Derrick

Fifty years ago, Nigeria endured a period of violent disturbance leading to the breakaway of the Eastern Region under the name Biafra. The resulting conflict (1967-70) aroused shock and protests around the world because of mass starvation in the war zone. While Britain supplied arms to the federal Nigerian government, and France to the Biafrans, relief agencies with contributions from countless individuals organized a memorable airlift of food and medicine to the Biafrans' Uli airstrip. Jonathan Derrick, then a journalist for the London weekly West Africa, followed these events closely and recorded the war in the magazine's news pages, right up to the federal forces' final victory and the remarkable reconciliation between supporters of Biafra--predominantly Igbo--and other Nigerians. He later worked for some years in Nigeria, and has studied much of the material published on the war since 1970. Here, he recounts the history of the conflict as documented in West Africa, referring to
later literature on and analysis of the events, which inspired passion at the time and have provoked debate ever since. His account deals with myths, misapprehensions and controversies surrounding the conflict, while recalling the tragic facts of a grim episode in African history.

280 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2022

Reviews

[Anne Cupero]

I so did not enjoy this book. I finished another book on Nigeria which also did not satisfy my wish to know more both about the history of the "states" but also the war. I understand that maybe the author thought his audience was people who knew all about this already, so that was my mistake, if so. I did not learn much more even though I got a lot of minutiae of who thought the word "genocide" was accurate, and who flew which aid missions in to Biafra, but other than that, this book did not expand my horizons much. And in the last chapter, a sad epitaph to ALL modern wars and crises, were statements about how when it all ended, people forgot quickly. I hate to be reminded of this, a negative effect of globalism.