CRSV: Biafra War

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict

The Biafran War or the Nigerian Civil War, fought between 1967 and 1970, was a civil war waged between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state that declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. The conflict ensued from political, cultural, and social tensions that preceded the UK’s formal decolonization of Nigeria between 1960 and 1963. These tensions were exacerbated by a military coup and a counter coup, and anti-Igbo pogroms in the North (Plotnikov, 1971). The pogroms and exodus of Igbo people from the Northern region to the Igbo homelands in the Eastern region culminated in the leadership of the region (where 2/3rds of the population were Igbo) to infer that the Nigerian federal government would not protect the Igbo people, and that they would have to protect themselves in an independent Biafra (Daly, 2020a). Within a year, the Nigerian government troops surrounded Biafra and captured coastal facilities and the city of Port Harcourt, and imposed a blockade that led to the mass starvation of Biafran civilians (Jacobs, 1987; ICE Case Studies, n.d.). The Biafran war also drew external actors (Daly, 2020b), specifically the UK and Soviet Union, which supported the Nigerian government, and France, Israel, and Biafra, which supported Biafra (Chinua, 2012; Wyss, 2024). While the US held a neutral position claiming that Nigeria was the responsibility of Britain, some say the stance of not recognizing Biafra wound up favouring the Nigerian government (Luepke, 2018).

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

During the war, reports show that the federal Nigerian army had committed a range of atrocities that included sexual violence and rape (Ijeoma, 2013). Reports also show that sexual violence and rape were carried out by Biafran authorities as part of their combing operations to find “saboteurs” among the many indigenous communities in Biafra (Omaka, 2014). Studies also show that even after the declaration of “no victor, no vanquished” after the capitulation of Biafra in January 1970, the Nigerian army engaged in acts amounting to retributive justice, and these included rape (Omaka, 2016).

Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence

Rape and sexual violence were very much a part of the Biafran war, carried out by both sides. On part of the Nigerian government, it was carried out as a means of intimidation for the secessionist demand of an independent Biafra. It was also carried out as a form of torture and punishment for political views in favour of the secession. On part of the Igbo forces in Biafra, rape and sexual violence were used as forms of punishment to target ethnic communities that did not participate in the war as they were considered saboteurs or sabo (Ikuomola, 2012).

References

Chinua, A. (2012). There was a country: a personal history of Biafra. Pearson.

Daly, S. F. C. (2020a). "A Nation on Paper: Making a State in the Republic of Biafra". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 62 (4): 869–870, 886.

Daly, S. F. C. (2020b). A history of the Republic of Biafra : law, crime, and the Nigerian Civil War. Cambridge.

ICE Case Studies (n.d.). "The Biafran War." http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/biafra.htm

Ijeoma, C. N. (2013). "A Paradox of International Criminal Justice: The Biafra Genocide". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 48 (6).

Ikuomola, A. D. (2012). The Nigerian Civil War of 1967 and the Stigmatisation of Children Born of Rape Victims in Edo State. In: Branche, R., Virgili, F. (eds) Rape in Wartime. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. D

Omaka, A. O. (February 2014). "The Forgotten Victims: Ethnic Minorities in the Nigeria-Biafra War, 1967–1970". Journal of Retracing Africa. 1 (1). African Tree Press: 25–40.

Omaka, A. O. (2016). Victor’s justice: atrocities in postwar Nigeria. Medicine, conflict and Survival, 32(3), 228-246.

Jacobs, D. (1987). The Brutality of Nations. New York.

Luepke, A. K. (2018). The 'Other Side' of the Nigeria-Biafra War: A Transnational History (PDF) (PhD). Bangor University.

Plotnicov, L. (1971). "An Early Nigerian Civil Disturbance: The 1945 Hausa-Ibo Riot in Jos". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 9 (2): 297–305.

Wyss, M. (2024). "Neo-Imperial Cold War? Biafra's Franco-African Arms Triangle". The Journal of African History.