Odumegwu Ojukwu, once the leader of Biafra, died during the last few days of November. He received respectable obituaries in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Both Robert D. McFadden and T. Rees Shapiro got all the facts right and understood the causes and the horrors of the Nigerian Civil War well. But, befitting a man who was only a minor figure in African history, the notices were relatively small, and there was no room to portray his audacity, his operatic flair, his demeaning wit, and his contempt for the many less gifted than he. I interviewed Colonel Ojukwu for the first time in June 1967 a day or two after he had seceded from Nigeria and proclaimed the independent republic of Biafra...

On the Federal side of the Nigerian struggle many people seem unaware that a war is going on. There are, of course, minor discomforts — the nightly blackout in Lagos; the unavailability of cars, Scotch whisky and textiles; the increase in prices; and the soldiers, who demand bribes from civilians and push them around. But in general, the discomforts of war are minor. Obese men in enormous robes can still be seen scattering chips across the roulette tables at the Federal Palace Hotel. Nigerian businessmen are getting rich, for the restriction of imports is bolstering local industry and oil production is near prewar level. There are, of course, tensions and economic dislocations within Nigeria, but they are minor compared to conditions in Biafra, and Nigeria should be able to absorb them easily while still carrying on the war. Yet comparing conditions in the two regions may be pointless, for Nigerians may be unwilling to take as much as the Biafrans and may be more hurt by minor dislocations than Biafra is by major dislocations. Since assessing the will of the people and their capacity for discomfort is almost impossible, all one can say is that Nigeria looks very strong to a visitor...

On July 7, 1967, when the Nigerian civil war began, the censors of the federal military government stamped out all use of the phrase “civil war” in news dispatches going overseas. The Nigerians insisted their invasion of Biafra was a “police action.” Major General Yakubu Gowon, the federal military commander, told diplomats the job would be done in six weeks. His army would march into Biafra, string up Colonel C. Odumegwu Ojukwu “and his rebel gang,” and end secession. “Our orders are to get Ojukwu,” a government spokesman said at a news conference the day after the war began. “If we get him today, that’s it.” Now, more than two years later, the Nigerian government has neither captured Ojukwu nor ended secession. More than one million people, mostly Biafrans of the Ibo tribe, have died in the horror. There is no talk of police action now. The Nigerians have dropped pretense. They look on the Ibos of Biafra as a hated enemy people whose secession must be destroyed militarily even if it means destroying them. The specter of millions of starving children fails to dissuade the Nigerians. “All is fair in war,” Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the vice chairman of Nigeria’s federal executive council, told newsmen recently, “and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat, only to fight us harder...”

Images play as important a roIe as guns in the Nigerian civil war. The Biafran secessionists, among Africa’s most sophisticated peoples, have known from the beginning that their chances for success depended as much on evoking world sympathy as on holding back the federal army. Now, after twenty months of war, it is clear that the Biafrans have been far more adept at propaganda than soldiering. If they survive in some sovereign form, they will owe it to their skill with images. Part of the Biafran success in public relations stems from the federal Nigerian Government’s failure at it. At the beginning, the Nigerians made absolutely no intelligent effort to get their point of view across. In fact, the government’s publicists often hurt the Nigerian case as much as they helped it. Many officials of the Ministry of Information were new at their job. Before the troubles, the top information officers had been Ibos, but they fled to their tribal home in eastern Nigeria soon after thousands of Ibos were massacred in northern Nigeria in September, 1966. When the eastern region seceded and called itself Biafra in May, 1967, these civil servants remained there. Besides lacking experience, the new Nigerian information officers also had the disadvantage of working for a military government...

Little can be done to save the lives of those bloat-bellied children of Biafra until the civil war in Nigeria is over. That is the heart of the matter; all else is peripheral. The pitiable pictures in the London press, the stricken conscience of the British people, the rush of volunteers to feed and nurse Biafran babies, the American powdered milk piling high on the docks of Lagos, the mad scrambling of relief workers to crack Nigerian inefficiency and push the supplies somewhere, somehow — all mean little as long as the war goes on. Some idealists believe that the world’s indignation, outcry and shamed anger over the thousands dying in Biafra will force the two sides to end their war, in the name of decency and humanity, but that is doubtful. “No group can stop a war because people are dying,” said Alison Ayida, an influential Nigerian civil servant, in a meeting with foreign newsmen in Lagos recently. “It’s never been done in a war before, and it won’t be done in Nigeria — unless you stop the cause of the war. That’s what war is all about.” The federal government feels that it is about to crush the rebellion in Biafra, and it is in no mood to be cheated of this victory by pictures of starving children...

Drama of Fighting Obscures Emergence of Minority Tribes With Collective Power - Civil war is realigning the politics of Nigeria, putting new power into the hands of the country's small minority tribes. This emergence of the small tribes has been a little noticed political revolution, obscured by the drama of the fighting. But the new politics in Lagos may have as much impact on the future of Nigeria as the war itself. The federal military government is now controlled by a coalition of the minorities and the Yoruba tribe, with the minorities clearly the senior partner. After the war ends, this coalition might stick. Ironically, this is the coalition that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Action Group, the Yoruba political party, tried to form when Nigeria became independent in 1960. He failed then, but is succeeding now, and he may become Nigeria's prime minister if and when the soldiers decide to hand the government back to the politicians. Under the present military government, political parties are banned, but political maneuvering is still rampant. Since Nigerian politics have always been tribal, the new politics can be analyzed by surveying the tribal background of the men who have power...

Civil war has hurt but failed to shatter the economy of Nigeria. In fact, if fighting ended soon, the recovery might be dramatic. The war has cut the production of oil, frightened away foreign investment, disrupted trade within the country, and reduced holdings of foreign exchange to a dangerous level. But the basic structure of the economy is undamaged. While oil wells, for example, lie dormant, they still are there and could be reactivated quickly. Moreover, despite the war, agricultural crops have done fairly well, and agriculture is the dynamic of the economy, accounting for 60% of the gross domestic product and half the foreign exchange. Little is known about the economy of Biafra, the old eastern region that seceded last May 30. But economists in Lagos believe that, because of the federal blockade of its ports, Biafra has suffered far more than the rest of Nigeria. Oil has been the first victim of the civil war...

Far From Fighting, Lagos Seethes With Troops Harassing Civilians in Petty Ways - Lagos once was a happy city, teeming and jangling. Now, in the midst of civil war, it is depressed and depressing, almost drab, almost quiet. With its population of 650,000 crowded onto three islands and a nub of mainland, Lagos, despite its poverty and squalor, had always seemed an urban symbol of all the best in independent black Africa - brash, confident, aggressive, proud. Then civil war came. The war has not meant battling or much bloodshed for Lagos. Planes of secessionist Biafra have raided the city twice, inflicting little damage. Saboteurs have planted bombs occasionally, killing nine people. But the actual fighting has been far away. The town did get tense and frightened on Aug. 9 when Biafran soldiers shocked the federal government by sweeping through the Midwest state. By morning, the Biafrans had captured the Midwestern capital, Benin, just 150 miles east of Lagos...

Battlefield Successes Cause Loyalists to Lose Interest in Negotiations With Biafra - The federal military government of Nigeria, in no mood to talk about compromise and negotiations in the Nigerian civil war, has just about scuttled the peace mission of the Organization of African Unity. Convinced that a resounding military victory will soon be theirs, the federal leaders believe it is pointless to risk losing any of that victory at a conference table. That is why the federal government has twice forced the postponement of the visit of the mission and why it has sent Chief Anthony Enaharo on a tour of African countries to explain the federal case. Enaharo, the civilian commissioner of information in his government, visited Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania last week. The probable brunt of his argument is that the federal government will defeat secessionist Biafra soon with a minimum of bloodshed and that the disaffected Ibo tribesmen of Biafra can be brought back into Nigerian life in just a few years...

Two simple posters explain the civil war in Nigeria. The first, a thin strip, was glued to the walls and windows of most public buildings in Enugu, the capital of Eastern Nigeria, a few weeks before the region seceded on May 30 to become the Republic of Biafra. The poster shows four men. Three look alike, obviously Ibos, the dominant tribe of the east. The fourth man is a Hausa from Northern Nigeria. “This Is Your Region,” the poster says, “Report Any Strange Face to the Police.” The second poster, a little larger and more colorful, was slapped all over Lagos, the federal capital of Nigeria, a few weeks before federal troops invaded Biafra on July 6, the beginning of the civil war. This poster shows a monstrous drawing of the severed head of Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the ruler of Biafra, lying under the heavy combat boot of a Nigerian soldier. “Crush Rebellion,” the poster says. The first poster reflects the intense tribal feeling of the Ibos of Eastern Nigeria. They are enraged and bitter over the massacre of thousands of Ibos in Northern Nigeria last year. They believe the other tribes of Nigeria would wipe them out if they could. For this reason, the Ibos feel they are fighting for their survival. But in Lagos, just 270 miles from Iboland, the federal military rulers and their civil servants, now mostly from the north, refuse to acknowledge that this emotionalism exists. In their view, as the second poster shows, a gangster named Ojukwu is stirring up the Ibos. Crush them, and all the problems of Nigeria go away...

Despite all its strange names and obscure terrain, surprise thrusts and counter-thrusts, wild claims and counter-claims, the Nigerian civil war is simple to follow and understand, for only one battlefield matters, the heartland of the Ibo people. Now that heartland has been penetrated. The federal military government says it has captured Enugu, the coal town of 60,000 that is the capital of Biafra, the name the Eastern Region took when it seceded last May 30, bitter because thousands of lbos, its dominant tribe, had been massacred in Northern Nigeria last year. If the claim about Enugu is true, Biafra may have received a staggering blow. Capitals usually have more than symbolic value in Africa. Since towns are small and communications bad, capitals usually are the center of all modern life. In general, they have the only good airport, the only control for letting telephone calls go from one city to another, the only radio transmitter, the only buildings big enough to house a government...

There is a special irony in civil war. Men on both sides know each other well. Outsiders are caught between their friends. Somehow everyone is a traitor to someone else. The Nigerian civil war is no different. Sam Agbam was a light-skinned Ibo who worked in Nigeria's Ministry of External Affairs as an expert on other African countries. I first met him in 1962 when he and his wife and their first child returned to Nigeria from graduate study in London. Although Agbam was lbo, he had spent very little time in Eastern Nigeria, the traditional home of the Ibos. He left it as a boy to go to secondary school in Warri in the Niger Delta. Then came courses for a degree at the University College of Ibadan, graduate study in London, and government work in Lagos. As a government worker, he always seemed very British, very elite, very diplomatic with his deliberate way of speaking and his meticulous, London-cut suits. His British ways no doubt troubled him. At home, he sometimes slipped off his London suit and changed to a sport shirt and a long Ibo skirt, looking a little out of place and character...

The battle for Enugu, capital of rebellious Biafra, has begun, with the leader of the besieged secessionist city crying to his people, "Let us be prepared to die." Reliable sources confirmed that federal soldiers started to fire mortar shells into the city Friday night, an act that meant they were just a few miles away in the hills and bush that lead to Enugu. Just after midnight Saturday, Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of Biafra, underscored the meaning of the shelling in a bitter and foreboding speech that exhorted his people to fight to the end. First Ojukwu reminded them that Friday had been the first anniversary of the massacre that saw the killing of 30,000 Ibo tribesmen who lived in Northern Nigeria. This massacre triggered the bitterness and resentment that led the lbos of the Eastern Region to secede from Nigeria on May 30. Ojukwu said that the same forces were "now making frantic efforts to reach Enugu." "Let us be prepared to die so that our children may live." Ojukwu said...

Nigeria may be rent with tribal hatred and bloodied by war, but optimism still reigns at the top levels of the U.S. Embassy here and governs American policy toward this sick and depressing country. The optimism is less rosy and more cautious than it was in the old days of 1960 to 1965 when the embassy used to describe Nigeria as a showcase of democracy and development, a description that later proved illusory. But, though it is restrained now, the optimism is still strong enough to persuade U.S. Ambassador Elbert G. Mathews and his senior lieutenants that the federal military government's present course of using military force to end the secession of Biafra will lead to a united, prosperous Nigeria. This view is challenged staunchly and, in some cases, bitterly by several junior officers in the embassy here, some influential policy-makers in the State Department and the official American on the scene in Biafra, Robert Barnard, the U.S. consul in Enugu. They believe a military conquest of Biafra will aggravate tribal hatred so much that Nigeria will never have stability...

Benin, Midwest Region Capital, Changed Hands Twice in 12-Week Biafran Struggle - The essence of the Nigerian Civil war is hidden in the story of the battle of Benin, a dusty, shabby, historical town of little strategic value and much symbolic impact. Benin, the capital of the Midwest Region, has changed hands twice in the 12-week-old war. The troops of secessionist Biafra swept through it in a surprise attack Aug. 9 and then abandoned it last Wednesday to counterattacking federal soldiers. The federal government says its soldiers captured the town after a bloody battle, but Nigerians who watched the capture say that all Biafran soldiers had left by the time the federal soldiers arrived. They say that the only men who fell before the federal onslaught were defenseless Ibo civilians, members of the main tribe of Biafra, who maintain they are fighting soldiers who massacred 30,000 of them in northern Nigeria last year and are now bent on annihilating them all...

Nigeria's Civil War - Africans are dying in Nigeria these days because powerful white men, in an almost playful mood, sat down to draw a few straight lines on a vague map more than half century ago. That is the root cause of the Nigerian civil war. The federal military government of Nigeria is trying to crush the secession of the old eastern region, which calls itself Biafra now, to preserve the territorial integrity of the nation. But what does the territorial integrity of Nigeria mean? At the turn of the century, the British, French and Germans decided to avoid any warring by sharing their colonial spoils in an amicable way. They did it by carving up a map. "In those days we just took a blue pencil and a rule and we put it down at old Calabar and drew that line up to Yola," said a British negotiator who helped set the boundary between eastern Nigeria and the old German Cameroon at that time. While dividing northern Nigeria from French Niger, according to another British official, the British and French "have been giving away mountains and rivers and lakes to each other, only hindered by the small impediment that we never knew exactly where the mountains and rivers and lakes were..."

Since modern war is fought and fraught with images as well as guns, the federal government of Nigeria, attempting to put down the secession of Biafra, is busy these days polishing up its own image for the world. The federal government, at least in theory, has entered a new era of public relations, in which it is trying to woo foreign newsmen, instead of harassing them. For months, the old eastern region of Nigeria, which seceded May 30 to become the independent Republic of Biafra, always seemed to have the edge on press play. British and American news stories about Nigeria were filled with interviews with C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the 33-year-old, bearded, brilliant, witty, Oxford educated leader of Biafra. The stories documented the great grievance of his Ibo people who were massacred in northern Nigeria last year, and described at great length the tenacity, skill and intelligence of the Ibos, who make up two-thirds of Biafra's population. On the other hand, there was hardly ever a descriptive phrase about Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler, or a good analysis of why he believed Ojukwu must be crushed...

Feelings between the United States and Nigeria turned awkward and cold Tuesday as Nigerian officials showed their annoyance over the American refusal to sell them arms for the present civil war. Their displeasure was intensified by what they considered discrimination. They saw the United States sending giant transport planes to the Congo for its military use at the same time that Nigeria was rebuffed on its request for arms. "Apparently," a government spokesman said, "they have one rule for the Congo, and one rule for Nigeria." The sudden displeasure was ironic for, in the past, the United States has been considered one of the staunchest supporters of the federal government in its attempt to crush the secession of the Eastern Region, which now calls itself the Republic of Biafra...

The best indications Sunday were that federal troops continued to move slowly into secessionist Eastern Nigeria, pushing ahead steadily step by step but without any dramatic rout of the eastern forces. But best indications may not be very good in this civil war that is rending Africa's most populous country. The federal government refuses to allow any foreign correspondent anywhere near the battle lines or even the command headquarters. Diplomats say they have received only the sketchiest and vaguest of reports. And there is some hint of less than brisk, communication even between the federal government and its own troops on the remote bushland of the northern border of Biafra - the name that the Eastern Region has taken since its secession. So outsiders can only sift through the rare war communiques of the federal government, the claims made by Biafra Radio and the whispered gossip around town...

Americans were evacuated from the battle zones of Biafra Saturday as two tiny African armies fought in the rain in the Nigerian civil war. Unconfirmed reports indicated that federal troops had continued their advance into the secessionist state of Biafra, which had been the old Eastern Region of Nigeria before it seceded six weeks ago. The reports said that Ogaja, a key town in the northeastern corner of Biafra, had been captured and that the big university town of Nsukka in the northwest had been surrounded. Nsukka, by road, is 41 miles from Enugu, the capital of Biafra. The obvious federal plan is to capture Enugu and bring down its ruler, Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu. "Our orders are to get Ojukwu," a federal military spokesman said Saturday. "If we get him today, that's it..."

Federal troops have attacked the old Eastern Region in an effort to bring down the Biafran government of Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. According to an announcement by Radio Nigeria Friday night, Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler, issued his orders for an invasion only after Eastern troops fired at federal troops along the northern border of Biafra. The federal announcement confirmed an earlier broadcast by Radio Biafra that a federal offensive had begun. The Biafrans claimed they had driven the federal troops back across the border. But the federal government, in turn, claimed its troops had penetrated Biafra and inflicted heavy casualties on the secessionist troops. Ironically, the fighting erupted on the eve of two major attempts to bring a peaceful settlement to the Nigerian crisis...

Informed sources revealed Wednesday that oil producers have defied the federal military government of Nigeria and paid royalties to the secessionist state of Biafra. The act provoked immediate retaliation. The sources said the federal government has imposed a total blockade on all oil shipments coming out of Biafra, which was the Eastern Region of Nigeria until it seceded May 30. The payment of the royalties - even though made under the threat of Biafra's military pressure - was a blow to the federal government. The move implied some form of international commercial recognition that the East was under the control of secessionist leader C. Odumegwu Ojukwu and not the federal government. But the blockade was a sharp blow to the oil producers who lose their markets in this period of a worldwide oil shortage caused by the Middle East crisis...

The blockade of the secessionist Republic of Biafra took a dramatic, dangerous turn Tuesday when the Nigerian navy announced it had fired a shell into the empty hold of a small Panamanian freighter found in forbidden waters. The shell was fired by a Nigerian patrol boat trying to prevent goods from entering and leaving the secessionist state of Biafra. The patrol boat fired into the 2,500-ton Rigel, which is registered by the Mara Bierta Shipping Line of Panama City, after the ship ignored four warning shots across its bow. No one was hurt. By the time the final shell struck, the Rigel had cut its engines but still had not stopped. It was reported that the captain, an Italian, was not on the bridge at the time. Naval officials said they fired at the Rigel because they found it leaving the Biafran port of Bonny Monday...

Grim and curious, thousands of Nigerians stood in the rain Monday under incongruous, carnival-colored African umbrellas and stared at the debris of the night of terror in downtown Lagos near police headquarters. The emotions of these bystanders were obviously the real target of the terrorists who set off two explosions on Sunday night, killing four persons and injuring 14. It seemed a classic case of terrorists trying to make the population shudder or even panic in fear. They had a measure of success. Though Nigerians in Lagos did not seem panicky and fearful, they did look quiet and uneasy, worried, even fretful. The explosions came a little more than a month after the old Eastern Region seceded from Nigeria and proclaimed itself the independent Republic of Biafra, which the federal military ruler, Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has pledged to crush by force...

Nigeria stripped secessionist leader Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu of all titles, then kicked him out of the federal army, Saturday, crushing hope of a quick settlement between the federal government and the breakaway state of Biafra. "Rapprochement with Ojukwu is not possible," a government spokesman said. The latest action changed the actual state of affairs in Nigeria very little, for all reports from Biafra indicate that Ojukwu is in firm control of the region, with a federal title or without. The move impressed outsiders, however, as another sign of the mounting tension in Nigeria. The country has seemed close to civil war since the old Eastern Region seceded to become the independent republic of Biafra in May. Oil companies caught in this warlike tugging remained silent...

Ojukwu Tells Secessionist Nation Attack by Federal Troops Will Mean 'Total War' - Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, military governor of secessionist Eastern Nigeria, told his people Friday night, "We have come to zero hour" and are about to be attacked by troops of the federal government of Nigeria. In a voice that seemed to quaver in anger, he warned that any federal invasion into the East will provoke him into "total war against Nigeria." Ojukwu's emotional words, broadcast from the Eastern capital of Enugu and monitored here, came exactly one month after the East seceded from the federation of Nigeria and proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra. Ojukwu told Biafrans he has conclusive proof that Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler, "and his northern bandits have now finalized their plans to attack us in our home..."

Peace Efforts of Outsiders Like Britain, Zambia Held Unlikely to Bar Civil War - A few outsiders like Britain and Zambia are trying to prevent civil war in Nigeria by diplomatic persuasion and maneuvering, but the odds seem against them. The federal military government of Nigeria seems determined to crush the secession of Eastern Nigeria by force if need be. But this does not stop the talk about peace. Almost a month has gone by since the Eastern Region seceded on May 30 and proclaimed itself the independent Republic of Biafra. Without war, there is always hope of peace. So the outsiders try - in a hesitant, uncertain way. Britain, for example, has sent Eric Norris, assistant secretary of state in the commonwealth office, to Nigeria this week, hoping he might discover some way to end the crisis without bloodshed...

Middle East in Miniature - The flow of oil goes steadily onward in Nigeria despite the present secession crisis and the threat of war. The oil companies are caught in the eye of the trouble, for two-thirds of Nigeria's oil production comes from the east, the region that seceded from Nigeria last week and proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra. But so far neither Biafra nor the federal government has interfered with the production and export of oil. Under new federal rules, all tankers must now call at the federal port of Lagos before shipping to the east. The tankers stop outside the mouth of the harbor. A federal patrol boat pulls alongside. A naval officer climbs aboard the tankers. After a brief inspection, the officer gives it permission to move on to the east...

Makes Fools of Federal Military Ruler, Other Opponents in Nigerian Crisis - Lt. Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu is a roughly bearded young man with soft eyes and gentle tones and an unconcealed contempt for the men who oppose him in the present Nigerian crisis. There is a feeling in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, that all these Nigerian troubles with the secessionist state of Biafra would go away if only its leader, Ojukwu, would also go away. The feeling is false. But it is worth recording because it reveals one of the problems in the crisis - the federal rulers know in their bones that Ojukwu has contempt for them. Ojukwu never tries to conceal it. For example, in a recent news conference for three British newspapers and the Los Angeles Times, Ojukwu belittled Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon (he has since promoted himself to major general), the federal military ruler, as a man lacking intelligence, ability and control. The Ojukwu style of gentle but barbed contempt came through as he talked about Gowon...

Trek Through Former East Nigeria Filled With Maddening Obstacles, Newsmen Find - Agents of the breakaway state of Biafra have one main way of reaching the outside world - the 350-mile Enugu-to-Douala run. It is a tortuous, maddening race by helicopter, car, and plane on a route clogged with enormous obstacles, like rutted roads and pettifogging border officials. Isolation is one of the penalties paid by Biafra, the former Eastern Region of Nigeria, for secession. As part of its campaign to weaken the economy of Biafra, the federal government of Nigeria refuses to permit planes to fly in and out of the region. But Biafra wants its representatives rushing about Europe and the rest of Africa selling Biafra's case and soliciting business and recognition. They have to go out by the Enugu-to-Douala run. A London Times correspondent and I have just completed the run, a case study of the headaches and hazards of transportation and communication in some of the most remote, God-forsaken bush in all of Africa...

U.S. Officials Believe Nigeria Will Order Troops to Crush Secession of East Region - The hotels of Lagos are crammed this week with Americans evacuated from secessionist Biafra. It is hard to call them war refugees - young American mothers in flowery resort wear, tall, twisting teen-agers, fatcheeked, mischief-making kids, and infants squalling for a diaper change - but they are the most convincing sign in Nigeria today of the imminence of war. Despite attempts by the American Embassy to downgrade the significance of the evacuation of almost 1,000 women and children by a shuttling DC-6, it clearly means that U.S. officials believe Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler will soon order troops to invade Eastern Nigeria. That region seceded from the federation last week and proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra. For its part, the federal government, which has proclaimed its intent to crush the rebellion, refuses to give any hint of how it hopes to do so...

War Infatuation Breeds Casual Cruelty in Secessionist Eastern Area of Nigeria - The mood in the new secessionist state of Biafra is an odd blend of ugliness and boyish playfulness. The leaders of Biafra, once the Eastern region of Nigeria, feel their backs are up against the wall but, as their leader, Col. C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, put it in a recent interview, they are ready to defend themselves to the last man. These attitudes encourage a single-minded infatuation with war, an atmosphere ready to crackle with brutality and unreality. The mood of Biafra now reflects all this. I felt and saw the mood of Biafra the moment I stepped across the Niger River bridge from Asaba in Federal Nigeria to Onitsha in Biafra. A young, handsome Ibo wearing what looked like a prep school jacket and carrying a suitcase and a handbag, walked across the bridge at the same time...

Federal Leaders Plan Quick Victory but Endless Tribal Bloodshed May Lie Ahead - The federal military forces of Nigeria evidently hope to crush the rebellious state of Biafra with one swift march to Enugu, its capital. By classic military standards, they have every right to succeed, but few wars in Africa are fought in any classic military way. Instead of military victory, or defeat, the end result may be a nightmare of endless tribal bloodletting and chaos, much like the Congo. But, according to sources here, federal military leaders feel confident, perhaps overconfident, about their chances for quick victory, and that feeling will likely rule the next round of events in Nigeria. At the least, it means there will probably be no backing off from civil war by the federal government. On assessing the military situation, an observer has to remind himself continually about the meager numbers of soldiers involved. ..

Military Ruler Reportedly Determined to Destroy Secession of Area at Risk of War - All signs in Lagos Wednesday indicated that the federal military government of Nigeria is determined to destroy the secession of the Eastern Region, come what may, even a war and chaos. There seemed to be no bluff in the threat of Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the federal military ruler, to try to crush the East, which proclaimed itself the independent republic of Biafra on Tuesday. According to reliable reports, a few thousand federal troops, almost all northerners, were waiting below the Benue River along the northwestern border of Biafra, hoping to strike at nearby Enugu, the capital of the East. Only a logistical buildup seemed to stand in the way of an attempt. Meanwhile, Gowon tried to harass the East by blockade and enforced isolation...

Nigeria, the largest country in Africa, split apart at dawn Tuesday when the Eastern region seceded and proclaimed itself the independent and sovereign Republic of Biafra. The act may mean civil war. Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the head of the federal military government, denounced the secession "as an act of rebellion which will be crushed." He immediately ordered a general mobilization of troops and warned that Nigerians now face "considerable hardship and possible loss of life." There were unconfirmed reports that two battalions of federal troops have already moved toward the East. Gowon also ordered all foreign ships to stop calling at ports in the Eastern region. "Appropriate measures will be taken by the Nigerian navy," he added, thus hinting that he meant to blockade the East. According to reports from Enugu, the capital of the East, there was jubilation in the city as Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military governor of the East, proclaimed the secession...

Eastern Nigeria hurled scathing personal insults at the supreme military ruler of Nigeria Monday but still kept itself part of the nation, compounding the confusion in the Nigerian upheaval. Some outsiders had predicted that Eastern Nigeria would pick Monday to secede from Nigeria - the first anniversary of a massacre of eastern Ibo tribesmen in the North. Ibo resentment at the north is a root cause of the current crisis. But Lt. Col. C. O. Ojukwu, military governor of the east, confined himself to a verbal torrent against Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, the head of the federal government, but Nigeria took no action to secede. Ojukwu, in his statement from Enugu, described Gowon's weekend declaration of a state of emergency as "dishonest, cowardly, and farcical." Gowon, when he issued his proclamation, also divided the four regions of Nigeria into 12 states. The east was divided into three...

African military rulers envision themselves as selfless soldiers working crisply and cleanly to lift their countries out of the morass of dirty politics. Unlike politicians, who must cater to petty interests in petty places, the soldiers believe they serve a higher code, a military code that puts honor and nation above self. The keynote for this was set by Lt. Gen. J.A. Ankrah, military ruler of Ghana, in early January when he welcomed the young officers who run Nigeria's federal government and four regional governments to a mediation conference in Aburi, Ghana. "We are soldiers," Ankrah told them, "and soldiers are always statesmen, not politicians." This is a myth, a foolish, fanciful, frivolous myth, and nowhere is it better demonstrated than here in Nigeria, a country ruled by soldiers now for 15 months. The soldiers are younger, more honest, more idealistic and more inexperienced than the politicians who came before, but they are pushed and shackled and inspired by the same political needs and demands, and they react in much the same way...

Hope for Return to a Strong Central Government Dim Due to Lack of Trust - It is a drab, thin strip of poster with four faces drawn on it and a few printed words, yet it tells all there is to know about the torment and tragedy of today's Nigeria. The poster presses against the window of most stores and offices in Enugu, the capital of Eastern Nigeria. Distributed by the Eastern government, the poster shows the faces of three men from the Ibo tribe, dominant tribe of the East. Just a few inches away is a fourth face, obviously a Hausa man from the Northern region. "This is your region," the poster says. "Report any strange face to the police." Tribal identity and tribal hatred overwhelm Nigeria. Nigerians no longer see each other as individuals, but as poster-drawn stereotypes of one tribe or another. The feelings are similar to those in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, or in Israel after World War II or in the Deep South after the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation. Hatred and distrust are racial and communal...

Petroleum Companies Put in Middle of Possible Economic Blockade or Civil War - Lt. Col. C. O. Ojukwu, the military governor of eastern Nigeria, a young man with a boyish face and a grizzly beard, smiled mischievously as he answered a question about oil and the Nigerian crisis, "The oil companies... poor chaps," he told his news conference in Enigu this week, "I feel very sorry for them because they are very likely be used as a Ping-Pong ball." The governor speaks of oil with authority. His father, the late Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu, was on the board of directors of the Shell-B.P. Petroleum Development Co., which produces 85% of Nigeria's oil. Nigeria is the fastest growing oil producer in the world with enormous potential both in quantity and, because of low sulphur content, quality...

Natives Are Confident, Ask No Outside Advice in Africa's Most Populous Nation - Nigerians may be at civil war soon. But does that matter? In an era when the news from Africa seems full of endless coups and rebellions and tribal massacres, why fret about another crisis? The answer is that everything about Nigeria matters. A case for the significance of Nigeria can be made on size, geography and resources. With 56 million people, it is the most populous country in Africa. The third largest country in size, its two ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt can command the Gulf of Guinea and its coast is the outlet for the 2,600-mile Niger River that flows through Guinea, Mali and Niger. Furthermore, it has suddenly become the 10th biggest oil producer in the world. But I am not talking about any of these cold facts when I say that Nigeria matters. Nigeria matters because Africa matters greatly in international affairs, and the ability - or inability - of Nigeria to reconcile its feuding tribal people will weigh heavily in the way Africa goes eventually...

Barricaded Ibo People Fearful, Angry; Prepared for Secession or Civil War - Logic may prove that civil war is impossible and unthinkable here, but logic means very little in Nigeria these days. Emotion reigns. Fear and bitter pride count for almost everything. The great cause of the present crisis is not political nor economic but psychological. The Ibo people were struck a shattering, murderous blow last year when thousands of them were massacred in the northern region of Nigeria. Most Ibos have fled home to Ibo land in the eastern region and barricaded themselves against the rest of Nigeria, So fearful and angry that they seem truculent, the Ibos distrust the federal government and want near-autonomy for their region. They are prepared, psychologically, for secession or even civil war...

Governor Says He's Pessimistic About Settlement - Maintaining "the grip around our throat is almost complete," the military governor of eastern Nigeria warned that his region is very close to secession from the Federation of Nigeria. The governor, Lt. Col. C.O. Ojukwu, spoke in soft and measured tones that rang now and then with sarcasm as he told newsmen he is pessimistic about any chances for a peaceful settlement of the Nigerian crisis. He said the federal government has rejected his suggestion for a mediation conference before four African heads of state - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, President William Tubman of Liberia, Lt. Gen. J.A. Ankrah of Ghana and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. He said such a conference was the last hope for a settlement. "If it is impossible," Col. Ojukwu said, "Then I think my worst fears will be realized. I believe it has the only chance of getting us together. If that chance is lost, then the whole business is finished, and a split is inevitable..."

Economic Moves Mark Dangerous Rivalry of Federal Officials, Eastern Leaders - The contending forces in Nigeria are averting a civil war these the days by playing a "chess game" of economic move and countermove instead of propaganda stab and counterstab. As long as the "chess game" continues, there is hope for peace in Nigeria. The danger is that one side, may misjudge the mood of the other and overplay, upsetting the game and peace. But most observers here believe that neither the federal government nor the region of Eastern Nigeria wants war. And, at least in Lagos, the news is full of hints of attempts at bringing the divided parties together. On Wednesday, for example, the chief of staff of the army said the federal government of Lt. Col. Yakuba Gowon would not use force to end the crisis. And he added that efforts were being made "behind closed doors" to solve it...