SOCIETAL IMBALANCES AND ABUSES IN WAR SITUATIONS IN

NIGERIA:
A STUDY ON THE BIAFRA CRISIS

BY

Dim Nwankwo Uchenna Martins Ph.D
Department of History/International Studies
Imo State University Owerri, Nigeria
uchennamartins@yahoo.com
+2348033374944
&
Tims-Lewechi P. Chukwudi
Department of History/International Studies
Imo State University Owerri, Nigeria
chukslewechi@yahoo.com
+2348066648740

Abstract:
Conflicts in its entire ramification are endemic all over the world. However,
violent conflicts are prevalent in the post-colonial Africa and exist within a
triangle of relationships. This is the belligerents and the inhabitants of
whatever location the conflicts are taking place. Moreover, the most
vulnerable groups of the inhabitants in these conflict situations are women
and children whose rights have been severely abused in recent times. Wartime
violence against women and children reached a high water mark during the
Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970), as numerous women and children
specifically in border communities who were not among the many groups
involved in the war were notoriously abused: raped, maimed, mutilated and
killed. This research work seeks to critically examine the extent at which
women and children were abused in communities bordering the Biafra region
during the 1967-1970 war. The study will employ principally qualitative
empirical methods and in-depth analysis and interviews among the
inhabitants of the present day Edo, Delta, Kogi and Benue states which make
up the border communities of the defunct Biafra Republic. The study will
conclude by stating that during the Nigeria-Biafra war, the overwhelming
majority of Internally Displaced Persons (lDPs) and those notoriously abused
were women and children of the communities bordering the Biafra Republic
as they were extremely vulnerable during the war. Women and children in
these communities faced rigours of perpetual harassment and frequent sexual
abuse, rape, forced recruitment and labour, especially in the hands of the
Federal Troops who used these communities as their military camps and
hideouts.



INTRODUCTION
The history of the 20
th
century is replete with some of the most barbaric and
uncultured episodes of large-scale violence and war crimes against humanity;
the unprecedented mass slaughter in the Second World War, the unspeakable
killing, fields of pot-pot in Cambodia, government orchestrated terror in Latin
America, and ethnic cleansing campaigns in the Balkans, and in the African
countries of Sierra Leone, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda and Burundi.

Apparently, war crimes against humanity often include sexual violence and
ruthless abuse of the fundamental human rights of women and children. This
is evident in the atrocities perpetrated upon this set of people in many
countries of which Nigeria had its own bitter share in the wars of July 1967-
Januray 1970. During these wars/conflict periods, thousands of women and
children whom as we know are the most vulnerable to war-time abuse and
violence are subjected to systematic rights abuses in the forms of mass rape,
torture, forced conscription/enlistment and labour.

There is absolutely no doubt that numerous literatures and research work have
brought to the fore, the various negative effects of war and conflicts on the
people in general terms, with the protracted increase in civil wars and
conflicts around the African continent. Research and scholarly materials on
the effects of war on women and children (especially the adolescent girls)
though on the increase, nevertheless, few is the case on studies relating to
rights abuse and rape.

Empirically, evidence in this study abounds in numerous communities in the
Eastern part of Nigeria and border states where the Nigerian-Biafran civil war
had its highest casualty of victims, indigenes and non-indigenes alike,

especially families from those border areas such as the old Mid-Western
Nigeria (later Bendel state and contemporary Edo and Delta states) and some
other parts of Kogi, Benue and present day Cross River who were not actively
involved in the conflict, but were caught up in the war as their women and
children were ruthlessly and notoriously abused by the marauding Federal
Army which used part of the communities as military forts and camps.

BACKGROUND TO THE CIVIL WAR OF 1967-1970
Africa is home to some of the best-known ethnic/internecine conflicts in the
world. From the late 1960s to the contemporary period, the African continent
has recorded significant number of civil wars, crisis and conflicts which are
practically taught along ethnic differences, political disunity, religious
sentiments and the quest for resource control. Some of these civil wars and
conflicts such as the Liberian civil war, the conflicts in Ivory Coast, the
Rwanda genocide, the Congo crisis and the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, have
resulted to unprecedented loss of lives and the destruction of properties. These
wars and conflicts as we know have reportedly thwarted economic and
political development in Africa in recent years. (Walter 1999:73)

Apparently, armed conflicts in Africa are predominantly internal, with
regional and sub-regional repercussions, while the potential victims of the
conflicts are certainly civilians, categorically women and children (adolescent
girls) who are often vulnerable and sees it very difficult to fend for
themselves. In June 1967, a section of the Nigerian country (specifically the
Eastern region) declared secession and was subsequently branded rebellious
by the rest of the nation. The trajectory of post independence political
religious and ethnic instabilities plunged Nigeria into the most turbulent
period in her troubled history, resulting in a bloody and disastrous thirty
months (30) civil war known today as The Nigeria-Biafra war, or in a more
term The Nigerian Civil War.


Though seen by numerous scholars and statesmen as absolute madness, what
transpired in Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 was a bloody conflict which
leveled unimaginable volume of death and destruction on a scale never seen
before in Africa. The dimension of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war were deep and
varied some of the causes and outcomes of the conflict were general, while
some were particular. (Nwankwo 1980:44).

One of the main complaints made against the policy of the seceding Biafra
and in support of the Nigerian war policy to crush them, was that the
secession will wreck the unity, solidarity and integrity of a young happy and
harmonious country, which the Military Head of Nigeria was striving to
restore. It is unfortunate to note that through all the years of the pre-colonial
period Nigeria was never a united entity.

By 30
th
May 1967, when the so called Biafran sovereign state seceded, not
only that Nigeria was neither happy nor harmonious, but it had for the first six
years of independence stumbled from one crisis to another, and for several
times and reasons had come to the verge of disintegration. In each case,
although, the immediate spark had been associated to series of political,
military, religious and social issues inherited with independence, the remote
and fundamental cause of the war had been the ethnic hostility embedded in
the enormous and artificial country. For Nigeria had never been more than an
amalgam (forced fusion) of disperse people with diverse and different
backgrounds and ideologies in the selfish interest and benefit of the European
colonizing power. (Forsyth 1963:13).

THE STATE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN BORDER
COMMUNITIES DURING THE 1967-1970 CIVIL WAR

Most of todays conflicts and wars take place within states. Their roots causes
and impacts often include poverty, broken down government, quest for power
and scarce resources, total collapse of economy, violation of fundamental
human rights and death. Certainly, civil wars and conflicts have another
striking characteristic which very common includes notorious abuse of
women and children, sexual violence and most times forced displacement of
people. While women and children endure the same trauma as the rest of the
warring population, who generally suffer incessant bombings, scarcity of
food, epidemics, deliberate mass extermination and death, they seldom suffer
war casualties disproportionately. Women and children (especially the
adolescent girls) are potential targets of specific and organized forms of abuse
and violence; rape, sexual assault, exploitation, forced conscription, imposed
labour and other forms of inhumane treatment. (Kelly 1997:43).

Specifically speaking, the experiences of women and children in armed
conflicts are linked to their status and physical characteristics. While entire
populace suffers war consequences, women and children are particularly
affected because of their sex, age and strength. Women and children are often
seen weak and vulnerable, thus become prime targets. Gender based and
sexual violence has increasingly become weapons of war and remained of the
defining characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts and civil wars
especially in the developing world. Rape, force impregnation, human
trafficking, sexual slavery, conscious spread of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually
Transmitted Infections (STI) are the elements of conflicts and wars in Africa.
(Ogunsanya 2000:3).

The history of the Nigerian-Biafran civil war still lingers in the memory of
many Nigerians especially the communities that were not among the many
groups directly involved in the theatre, but share common borders with Biafra.
As we all know, the study settings is based on the abuse and human rights

violations perpetrated on woman and children in these communities. This
study is derived from qualitative empirical and historical analysis, while
conclusion was drawn from interviews among some inhabitants of the study
areas.

It is practically true that during the Nigeria civil war, women and children in
the communities in present day Edo, Delta, Benue and some part of Cross
River and Akwa Ibom states experienced all forms of physical, emotional and
sexual violence. Evidence and scholarly information from interviews and
historical facts indicates that members of the fighting force (specifically, the
Federal Military troops) practically and categorically targeted women,
adolescent girls and to a lesser extent teenage boys. The forms of violence and
abuse perpetrated on these community people cuts across mass slaughter,
torture, rape, force conscription and sterilization (specifically for the male
children) and mutilations. In the Agbor and Okpanam provinces of present
day Delta state, adolescent boys were prey to sexual torture. The torture and
mutation of male prisoners was carried out to attack and destroy their sense of
masculinity or manhood; an indirect way of decimating the people.

Furthermore, in Kwale (present day Delta state), the notorious and brutal
abuse of female members of a mans family in front of him was adopted by
the Nigerian Army, to convey the message that he has failed in his role to
protect his family. (Biafran Times 1968:39).

Furthermore, Nigerian foremost writer, Chinua Achebe in his book There Was
a Country: A Personal History of Biafra emphasizes on the series massacres
and abuse perpetrated by the Federal troops in the Asaba and Calabar areas.
According to Achebe, the Nigerian forces over ran both Calabar and
Asaba without much resistance, and in act resembling that of the Nazi policy
of exterminating Jews throughout Europe in the Second World War, the

Nigerian Army decided to purge these cities of their inhabitants. In the
practical reality, it would be pathetic to realize that those people butchered in
Asaba and Calabar could be defenceless and helpless women, children and
fragile old men. An act openly criticized by numerous people, including the
Pope of the Catholic Church as crime against humanity. (Achebe 2012: 133-
137).

On numerous occasions, the marauding Nigerian Federal Army carried out
indecent assault on women on massive and semi organized forms. For
example, in the Ngo-Andoni area of present day Rivers state, the first action
taken by the Nigerian troops as they took over was to satisfy themselves to the
women and adolescent girls of the communities. Ngo-Andoni women and
teenage girls were allegedly separated from other members of their
community and taken to a primary school compound where they were
notoriously and ruthlessly raped and abused. In Onnah-Eket, present day
Akwa Ibom state, abduction of women was rampant that people bent on
protecting their wives, daughters and sisters had to relocate and live with them
in inaccessible swampy parts of the area. In some part of Edo state, empirical
evidence was brought on two soldiers of the Federal Army who left the most
indelible mark in the memory of the people in the Egor area of Edo state.
These soldiers were specialized in waylaying and assaulting girls returning
from the market, stream and farms. Sometimes they deliberately shot and
killed those who rebuffed their sexual approaches. (Obikeze 1985: 30).

IMPACTS OF THESE ABUSES ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN
BORDER COMMUNITIES DURING NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR

Decades after the end of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, not much has been done
to properly study the social effects of the conflict, which for a long time held
the distinction of being Africas bloodiest and civil conflict. Most of the
existing literature authored mainly by the major political and military actors in

the crisis, primarily with political and military aspects of the war. Many of the
authors to say the least are less than dispassionate in their accounts and
analysis of events.

The violence and abuse (specifically rape and sexual assaults) perpetrated on
women and children in border communities particularly in present day Edo
and Delta states had serious health and psychological effects on them.
Numerous traditional African societies blame and stigmatize the victims of
sexual violence particularly if the victim is a woman. In most parts of these
communities, off-springs of rape victims are equally rejected and seen as
contaminated blood as they are treated with disdain. The resulting social
rejection reinforces feelings of guilt, loneliness, depression and even death.
Victims of rape and sexual abuse felt and are overcame with terror they
experienced a sense of powerlessness, worthlessness, apathy and denial. In
some of these communities in Edo state, the stigma attached to sexual
violation led to ostracism and isolation. Husbands and family members of rape
victims shun women and girls who were acknowledged raped. Among the
Bini and Urhobo in both Edo and Delta states respectively, certain myths are
maintained about survivors of rape as it was believed that those women and
girls raped during the civil war will be permanently barren, sexually obsessed
and unable to remain faithful to their spouse, while their off-springs were seen
as cursed children to this present day. (Ogunsanya 2000:17).

From the accounts of Ikumola Adediran Daniel, in a paper presented at the
International Conference on Rape in Wartime, we discovered that in some
part of Edo state, the period after the civil war, existed the stigmatization of
children born of rape victims. In the areas such as Oredo, Ovia, Ikpoba-onka
and Agenegbode, (all in Edo State), names given to children born of rape
victims had significance with what happened to their mothers. The people
who bear these names still suffer stigmatization and ostracization from the

other members of the community who were not born of rape. In some part of
the Bini kingdom, or among the Bini people, evidence was derived from
families whose names have special relation to the events and impacts of the
civil war on them. Such names includes: Okwueimose (war is ugly),
Okwodiaghe (war is not worth watching), Okwonaimie (war is not to be
desired) and Okwoba (red is the colour of war).

Most of the people who bear these names came to find out that the names
were given to them on the fact that they are children/off-springs of rape
victims. Most of these people are highly segregated and ostracized in their
communities. Some are called bastards and illegitimate while some do not
involve in community issues. In the present day Bini kingdom, and some other
parts of Edo state, those born of rape victims are not conferred chieftaincy
titles.

However, the health implications women and children abuse in border
communities during the civil war remains have challenging effects. Despite
the fact that HIV/AIDS virus was not common in Africa during the period of
the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, other dreadful Sexually Transmitted Infections
(STI) were spread among the rape victims. Among the particular risks and
diseases faced by the women and adolescent girls are syphilis, gonorrhea,
staphylococcus, vesico-vaginal fistula, vaginal mutilation complications from
botched abortions, uterine problems, scarring of the vagina and other related
gynecological problems.

Perhaps, the greatest effort in this regard was the bogey of a veneral disease
known as Nymphopathia also called Bonny Special years after the civil
war. This notorious disease, though prevalent in the pre-Nigeria/Biafra civil
war, was unknown in Eastern Nigeria and border areas. The claim here is that
the disease came into Edo, Delta, and some part of Eastern Nigeria, including

Rivers state through the agency of Federal soldiers mainly Northerners, who
freely had sexual contact with women and teenage girls in the communities
captured during the civil war. It is apparent to note that this disease was well
known among the people of the island town of Bonny in Rivers state, years
after the civil war.

Moreover, pregnant and lactating women were also targeted and abused in
some communities. Some of these women died of bleeding after raped and
beaten, while some delivered premature babies. The result was high rate of
low birth weights and high mortality rate during the first months of life,
impaired immune function, poor cognitive development and chronic diseases
later in life. Complications during pregnancy, child birth and breast feeding
were often neglected due to the destruction or lack of medical and health
facilities. Such complications resulted to high maternal and infant mortality,
as experienced in some communities where studies were carried out. (Nwen
1970:156).

Women and aged girls in present day Edo, Delta and Benue states were
engaged in forced marriage with soldiers from both the Nigerian and the
Biafran side. While some of these marriages have proved blissful, and
enduring, others have been broken. This is because most of these women and
their children were abandoned by their husbands. Moreso, these women,
especially those who lost their spouses or those who were abandoned came
back to their various communities and remained unmarried till date. (Biafran
Times 1968:30).

Women and children in these war affected border communities were also
internally displaced. These women and children, especially those who lost
their husbands, fathers and siblings during the war were stripped of the
protection of homes, family structures and lives. Some of them, years after the

war faced the rigors of long journeys, seeking safety. On their way to seek
refuge, these internally displaced persons experienced series of physical and
psychological harassment including frequent sexual assaults even after
reaching an apparent place of settlement.

Most of these women and children who fled from their communities in search
of sanctuary from violence and abuse of the war, too often discovered that
there was no meaningful refuge as they simply escaped violence and abuse in
their captured communities to face a different type of violence and abuse in
their new abode.

CONCLUSION
Violence and abuse has long been used in contemporary times as war strategy/
tactics by soldiers. Rape which is the primary prerequisite of war time abuse
of women and teenage girls is a highly effective but dastardly means of terror
against humanity (womanhood), because of the moral and ethical emphasis
placed on the sexual virtue of women, the health implications, the
psychological and traumatic effect. Sexual violence and rape humiliates and
dehumanizes, while the impacts are multiplied thereafter, when it comes to the
case of unwanted pregnancies, diseases and the production of illegitimate
children whose fathers are unknown.

Women and children abuse, sexual violence and rape have been left
unchecked in numerous conflicts especially in Africa. It would seem that
abuse and sexual violence in war has become too banal to provoke a response.
Nevertheless, until an international legal framework is firmly established, ad
hoc advocacy efforts, human rights and humanitarian law will go a long way
and remain crucial in preventing abuse and violence on women and children
in conflicts. The international court as well as local judicial system should
help transform the legal and cultural acceptance of sexual violence, as norms

acceptable as part of military and domestic laws. Perpetrators of such offence
should no longer be exempted from punishment as it has been in most cases.

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