Politics of Humanitarian Relief in the Biafra-Nigeria War
AFRICANA STUDIES DEPARTMENT
Dr. Gloria Chuku, Associate Professor
of Africana Studies and
Affiliate Associate Professor of GWST & LLC PhD Program
Thursday, October 30 at 4 pm
Commons 329
Starvation as a War Tactic and a Political Tool:
The Politics of Humanitarian Relief in the
Biafra-Nigeria War
Professor Chuku will draw from a larger study on the intersection of ethnicity,
gender and politics in the Biafra-Nigeria War, 1967-1970. She will discuss how
the Igbo-dominated ethnicities in Eastern Nigeria were confronted by the
federal military government (FMG) of Nigeria for declaring their independence
as citizens of the Republic of Biafra. In the complex interplay of ethnic,
economic, political, religious and diplomatic conflict, the FMG employed
starvation as a war tactic through economic blockade of Biafra as the Biafran
government utilized propaganda to spread rumors that Nigerian authorities were
using poison and the blockade to complete their genocide against Biafrans. The
result was severe scarcities, famine, starvation, malnutrition, kwashiorkor and
death of many Biafrans. It was estimated that more died as a result of
starvation than from weapons of warfare. The situation could have been graver
but for the extensive media coverage of the conflict and its humanitarian
catastrophe which provoked international outcry and subsequent intervention of
international relief organizations. Thus, the war became the first postcolonial
conflict in Africa to engender a transnational wave of humanitarian concern.
The presentation will examine the ramifications of employing starvation as a
powerful military tactic and as effective propaganda machinery; the
prioritization of national security and politicization of humanitarianism; and
lessons that can be drawn from the Biafra-Nigeria War.