The international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) came out of the suffering in Biafra. During the crisis, French medical volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals, were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces. French doctor Bernard Kouchner also witnessed these events, particularly the huge number of starving children, and, when he returned to France, he publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. With the help of other French doctors, Kouchner put Biafra in the media spotlight and called for an international response to the situation. These doctors, led by Kouchner, concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of victims.[26] In their book, Smallpox and its Eradication, Fenner and colleagues describe how vaccine supply shortages during the Biafra smallpox campaign led to the development of the focal vaccination technique, later adopted worldwide by the World Health Organization, which led to the early and cost effective interruption of smallpox transmission in west Africa and elsewhere. On 29 May 2000, the Lagos Guardian newspaper reported that the now ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state of Biafra during Nigerias 1967–1970 civil war. In a national broadcast, he said the decision was based on the belief that justice must at all times be tempered with mercy.[27] Violence between Christians and Muslims (usually Hausa or Fulani Muslims and various Christian ethnic groups) has been incessant since the end of the civil war in 1970.[citation needed] In July 2006 the Center for World Indigenous Studies reported that government sanctioned killings were taking place in the southeastern city of Onitsha, because of a shoot-to-kill policy directed toward Biafran loyalists, particularly members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).[28][29] In 2010, researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and University of Nigeria, Nsukka, showed that Igbos born in Biafra during the years of the famine were of higher risk of suffering from overweight, hypertension and impaired glucose metabolism compared to controls born a short period after the famine had ended. The findings are in line with the developmental origin of health and disease hypothesis suggesting that malnutrition in early life is a predisposing factor for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes later in life.[30][31] Movement to re-secedeEdit The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) advocates a separate country for the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria.[16] They accuse the state of marginalising the Igbo people. MASSOB says it is a peaceful group and advertises a 25-stage plan to achieve its goal peacefully.[32] There are two arms to the government, the Biafra Government in Exile and Biafra Shadow Government.[33] The Nigerian government accuses MASSOB of violence; MASSOBs leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was arrested in 2005 and is being detained on treason charges; MASSOB is calling for his release. MASSOB is also championing the release of oil militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is facing similar charges.[16] In 2009, The MASSOB launched the Biafran International Passport in response to persistent demand by Biafrans in diaspora.[34] Meaning of Biafra and locationEdit Little is known about the literal meaning of the word Biafra. It is part of the Igbo language. It is clear that the origin of the word Biafra has any relationship to Bia, the Igbo word for Come. The word Biafra most likely derives from the subgroup Biafar or Biafada[35] of the Tenda ethnic group who reside primarily in Guinea-Bissau.[36] Manuel Álvares (1526–1583), a Portuguese Jesuit educator, in his work Ethiopia Minor and a geographical account of the Province of Sierra Leone, writes about the Biafar heathen in chapter 13 of the same book.[37] The word Biafar thus appears to have been a common word in the Portuguese language back in the 16th century.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 22:49:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015