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Biafra: Uk Guardian Is Also Reporting About It. by Ogbonaikenna(m): 4:57pm On Nov 06, 2012
Nigeria charges more than 100
Biafra independence activists
with treason
Biafran Zionist Movement
supporters arrested after march
in regional capital, Enugu, calling
for separate state
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Afua Hirsch, west Africa
correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6
November 2012 15.25 GMT
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Soldier in Biafran war, 1968
A soldier involved in the Biafran
war in Nigeria in 1968. Veterans
of the conflict took part in a rally
calling for an independent state
of Biafra. Photograph: Hulton-
Deutsch Collection/Corbis
More than 100 Nigerians have
been charged with treason after
a protest march calling for an
independent state of Biafra.
Supporters of the Biafran Zionist
Movement were arrested after an
independence rally in the
regional capital, Enugu. The
protesters included many elderly
war veterans from the bloody
1967 conflict in which Biafra
tried to break away from the
newly independent Nigeria.
Supporters of the movement say
there are growing calls for the
region – dominated by the Igbo
ethnic group – to break away
from Nigeria.
"We don't want to be part of
Nigeria because Nigeria is not
working as a nation. These
arrests just confirm the reasons
why we want self-determination
– this is a state where they can
arrest us even though we have
not committed any offence," said
Chilos Godsent, from the Imo
Mass Movement, which has called
for the prosecution of former
Nigerian heads of state for their
role in the Biafra war.
"The policy and leadership of this
country has done everything to
exterminate and dehumanise the
Biafran people. It is only through
an independent nation that our
capacity can truly be developed.
Within that context we feel like
we have the right to self-
determination."
"The Nigerian leadership is
corrupt – this is not the ethics of
the Biafran people," Godsent
added. "We are gathering
support from our people – we
know that if we held a
referendum today, 98% of the
people in Biafra would support
independence. This is a struggle
that has lasted over 40 years."
The protesters are evidence of a
hardcore of separatists in the
region, who still campaign for
independence 40 years after the
end of the Biafran conflict. The
war, which began in 1967, was
the bloodiest event in Nigeria's
post-colonial history, and began
when the oil-rich south-eastern
region – dominated by the Igbo
ethnic group – seceded as the
Republic of Biafra.
Blockades and flighting between
Biafran forces and the Nigerian
army led to the deaths of more
than one million people, mostly
from hunger and disease. The
Biafran government surrendered
in 1970, ending hopes of an
independent republic, but
separatist sentiments have
remained alive among some in
the region.
There has been increasing
international interest in the
movement recently. Last month
renowned Nigerian writer
Chinua Achebe wrote in the
Guardian that persecution of
Igbos still persists in Nigeria, as
the legacy of the conflict
continues to haunt the nation.
His recently published memoirs
have aroused renewed debate
about the conflict.
The award-winning novel Half of
a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie is set to bring the
events of the Biafra war to a
global audience: a film based on
the book, which chronicles the
lives of a family who live through
the war, is set for release in
2013.
"Across the board in Nigeria
there is a deepening sense of
disaffection with the idea of
Nigeria, [it] has really failed to
become a meaningful political
community. And so what you see
is a reflection of that sense of
profound disappointment," said
Nigerian writer Okey Ndibe in a
radio interview.
"The issues of injustice that
caused that war have not been
addressed… Violence has
become the ruling ethic in
Nigeria. Violence is produced by
the state, and now you have
Boko Haram and other
extremists and fundamentalists
groups in the country," Ndibe
said. "I expect that there will be
more of this kind of protest in
the Igbo-speaking areas that we
know as Biafra, but also in the
other parts of Nigeria."
A #Biafra hashtag began
trending on Twitter after the
arrests, with one commentator
writing, "#Biafra arrests wont
stop the sun from rising. Nigeria
needs to go back to honesty,
peace, justice, equity, fair play,
without this its a matter of time".
Another wrote: "In my opinion, I
blame Chinua Achebe for
toothless veterans and loyalists
of Biafra charged with treason".
Re: Biafra: Uk Guardian Is Also Reporting About It. by Ogbonaikenna(m): 5:05pm On Nov 06, 2012
Lets keep the pressure on. There is need to organise more protests from different parts of the south east and lets see how many they will arrest. The catalonias marched through their cities in million seeking for that which we are fighting for. We can do too. The pressure must be sustained!
Re: Biafra: Uk Guardian Is Also Reporting About It. by chosen04(f): 6:49pm On Nov 06, 2012
The re-awaking about BIAFRA is truly amazing.

Thanks to ACHEBE, BZM, Biafrans and her friends.

It only tireless few to get FREEDOM.

BIAFRA Lives.
Re: Biafra: Uk Guardian Is Also Reporting About It. by Ogbonaikenna(m): 9:18pm On Nov 06, 2012
Nnem you are right. Biafra alive, because it is God who made it so.

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