New in PJ Media:
The spirit of the Founding Fathers is not always so easy to find in America itself. The American left, in particular, has not only lost it, but has actively turned against it. In one little-noted area of West Africa, however, that spirit is alive and well.
In the southeastern portion of present-day Nigeria, Biafra still exists. While the world’s attention has been focused elsewhere, Biafra’s drive for independence is once again gathering steam. Nigeria has always been a hybrid, artificial state, created when the British arbitrarily stitched together the Muslim north and the Christian south. Muslims did what Muslims tend to do in such situations: they began waging jihad.
The prime minister of Nigeria in the early 1960s, Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, told the British just before they granted independence to Nigeria that this would happen: “We do not want, sir, our southern neighbors to interfere in our development,” he said, when actually the problem was the Muslims in the north interfering with the Christians in the south. “I should like to make it clear to you that if the British quitted Nigeria now at this stage, the Northern people would continue their interrupted conquest to the sea.” That is, they would conquer and subjugate the Christian areas of the new nation.
That is exactly what they set out to do. In Sept. 1966, Islamic jihadis in Nigeria massacred 30,000 Igbos, the Christians who comprised the nation’s third-largest ethnic group and constituted the people of Biafra. It was not the first such massacre; in fact, it was the last straw. The Christians of Biafra determined to secure their people from further such jihad attacks, and declared their independence on May 30, 1967.
The Muslims of the north of Nigeria, however, were not any more disposed to let the breakaway republic go than the British were in 1776. The war lasted until 1970. When it was over, Biafra was crushed, and three million Biafrans were dead, mostly from ethnic cleansing and the starvation that resulted from a Nigerian blockade.
Nigeria didn’t go it alone. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was eager to aid in the jihad against Biafra. He sent planes to bomb Igbo villages, killing ten thousands of people who had no defense. Algeria and Sudan both felt the call of Islamic solidarity as well, and likewise helped the Nigerians crush Biafra.
Meanwhile, the West’s behavior in this struggle for independence was, to put it charitably, less than honorable. The U.S. did nothing at all. To its everlasting shame, Britain worked energetically to destroy the new state, helping the Nigerian military enforce the blockade of Biafra.
There is more. Read the rest here.
Anon says
Biafra is a light. It can be depressing when people throw away their freedom and succumb to or pander to Islam. This offers hope and lifts spirits. Wish more people had this courage, conviction, resilience, strength, direction, and wisdom. The last thing this world needs is more jihadis. Thank you, Biafra!
Edmund Carey says
An extraordinary story of which I knew nothing. For what it’s worth I wish them well. Thank you for this.
dumbledoresarmy says
Biafra needs to talk to Israel…. they need to study the methods of Orde Wingate – not only in Israel but in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). They need to look at the Haganah.
Patrick says
How does America turn a blind eye toward Biafra, Nigeria? Does political America, sympathize with Islam or Christians? Is the leadership of America, compromised by elite members of the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR, who walk the halls of Congress and the White House with suits on. America/Trump have capitulated to Islam in the Iran Deal, the worst deal of the century. If Trump is compromised by Islam, America is compromised by Islam. What other conclusion can you draw?