Biafran War

"Red...the blood of the siblings massacred in the North, black was for mourning them, green...the prosperity Biafra would have...finally, the half of a yellow sun...the glorious future" (352).

"Imagine children with arms like toothpicks, with footballs for bellies and skin stretched thin" (470).

The Nigerian War began from July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970 with over 1 million casualties. People died mainly from starvation and fighting the war. The war was between the Igbo tribe in the southeast versus the rest of the country.

Nigeria just gained independence from Britain 7 years before the Biafran War. The nation was split into 3 sections afterwards: Hausa lived in the North, Igbo in the southeast, and Yoruba in the southwest.

Several military coups occurred in the mid-60's along with counter coups that caused the war to start.

On May 30, 1967, the southeastern part of Nigeria seceded into a new nation called the Republic of Biafra. The flag represented hope for a new beginning and a new lifestyle. The Nigerian government became furious and declared war to reunite the nation.

The Biafrans held a strong resistence but they started to run out of military supplies because the government blocked all trade. Salt became very difficult to find for the Igbo people. The Nigerian government won by Biafra calling a surrender. Nigeria was reunited into one nation, but now they learn how to address their cultural differences.

"The odd skin tone-a flat, sallow gray like a poorly wiped blackboard-of all the corpses that lay in the yard" (196).

"Land of the rising sun, we love and cherish...we shall protect our hearts from all our foes...let us die without a shred of fear" (348).

"They spurted hundreds of scattered bullets before dark balls rolled out from underneath, as if the planes were laying large eggs" (254).

"...the child's belly...look as if he had swallowed a fat ball, how his hair had fallen off in tufts, how his skin had lightened, from the color of mahogany to a sickly yellow" (500).

"...death: an unending journey in a car" (494).

"Starvation was a Nigerian weapon of war." "Starvation made the people of the world take notice" (296, 297).

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Biafran War

"Red...the blood of the siblings massacred in the North, black was for mourning them, green...the prosperity Biafra would have...finally, the half of a yellow sun...the glorious future" (352).

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