From: L' Ermit (lhermit@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2002 - 20:31:02 MST
[Joe Dees 1*]
[url=http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::c2pkLDMW-TlVw-Vzwq-Lw0p-BFwfWhMfc05K]"virus:
Muslim Law Causes Rioting In Nigeria",Joe Dees, Sat 2002-02-02 00:05[/url]
[Hermit 3] I reinserted the above to make it clear what is being discussed
here. As I have responded at length on the assertions re Iraq
[url=http://forum.javien.com/XMLmessage.php?id=id::Cl8H8hhQ-U71h-NnQm-SmxD-dlKCSk1tBFI9]"virus:
Response to Joe Dees. "Is the US a Rogue Nation?",Hermit,Mon 2002-02-04
20:58]. As these assertions have little to do with this thread, I will not
address them here.
<snip>
[Hermit 2] Nigeria has 115 million people, living in an area that can
support perhaps one third that number comfortably - when there is no
drought. Perpetual war and poverty means that nothing is stored to get
through the rough times - even though they are predictable.
[Hermit 2] Nigeria is divided into at least 371 identifiable tribes
[url]http://www.onlinenigeria.com/tribes/[/url], and these are spread out
into 36 regional areas. However, four ethnic groups together account for
over 60% of the country’s total population: the FULANI and HAUSA live mainly
in the north; the IBO predominate in the southeast and the YORUBA in the
southwest. These hate one another with an historical passion and if they
didn't have religious differences, those denying the UTic power of tribalism
would have to invent other reasons...
[Joe Dees 2] The Fulani and Hausa are mainly Muslim, the Ibo and Yoruba are
mainly Christian and animist. The Fulani and Hausa have been waging a
bloody faith-based genocide against the Ibo and Yoruba for some time now.
[Hermit 3] This is assertion, and does not, so far as I can see, proof of
religious causation. Indeed, claiming genocide (which is ethnic] appears to
support my position rather than weaken it.
[Hermit 2] Do you remember the "other war" while Vietnam was happening? Or
was America so occupied with Asia that they didn't learn about Africa. Try
doing a search on Biafra. Then explain what religion had to do with that
conflict.
[Joe Dees 2] It has been reported that 22 of 24 contemporary shooting
conflicts in the world involve one or more Muslim countries.
[Hermit 3] I see this as somewhat of a non-sequitur. Islamic countries are
generally poor countries. But I was not dealing with Islamic countries, I
was dealing with your assertions about Nigeria. While you assert that the
conflict in Nigeria is faith-based, I offer the appended article, supporting
my conclusion that Nigeria is a typical African ethnic conflict.
[Hermit 2] The people of Nigeria have fought continuously with one another,
with short breaks only when they were occupied by others. As with almost any
fighting in Africa, the fundamental driver is tribal, not religious, not
political, not even economic. It is only when looking at African warfare (or
politics) through ignorant eyes, eyes that have been taught that tribalism
is so non-PC that it should be ignored, that the fundamental tribal hatreds
are fudged into religion, nationalism, politics, economics, soccer teams
etc. Which is why people engaging in this level of self-delusion still find
the wars of Africa "inexplicable" when the grounds change or it appears to
benefit nobody (as is the case with most of Africa's wars).
[hr]
[Hermit 3] This article is from the BBC News Service
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_596000/596712.stm[/url]
accessed 2001-02-04.
Biafra: Thirty years on
By Nigeria correspondent Barnaby Philips
It is 30 years since the end of one of post-independence Africa's first and
most bloody wars.
The Nigerian civil war not only came close to tearing Africa's most populous
country apart, it also provoked passions in many other parts of the world,
particularly in Britain, the former colonial power.
Nigeria became independent in 1960. Like most ex-colonies in the continent,
its boundaries had been defined quite arbitrarily to demarcate where the
competing claims of the imperial powers collided.
Consequently Nigeria was composed of semi-autonomous Muslim feudal states in
the desert north, and once-powerful Christian and animist kingdoms in the
south and east, which was where the country's only significant source of
income - oil - was exploited.
Ethnic split
At independence, Nigeria had a federal constitution comprising three regions
defined by the principal ethnic groups in the country - the Hausa and Fulani
in the north, Yoruba in the south-west, and Ibo in the south-east.
The fighting led to famine and chaos
But as the military took over in the mid-1960s, and the economic situation
worsened, ethnic tensions broke out.
Up to 30,000 Ibos were killed in fighting with Hausas, and around 1million
refugees fled to their Ibo homeland in the east.
On 30 May, 1967, the head of the Eastern Region, Colonel Emeka Ojukwu,
unilaterally declared the independent Republic of Biafra.
After initial military gains, the Biafran forces were pushed back.
Over two-and-a-half years later, 1 million civilians had died in fighting
and from famine.
Photographs of starving children with huge distended stomachs from protein
deficiency horrified people around the world.
Finally, Biafra was reabsorbed into Nigeria.
Responsibility
Today, Chief Emeka Ojukwu enjoys the role of elder statesman, living in
comfort in the former Biafran capital, Enugu.
Forgiven by the Nigerian authorities in the early 1980s, he admits to no
remorse for the events of the civil war.
"At 33 I reacted as a brilliant 33 year old," he says. "At 66 it is my hope
that if I had to face this I should also confront it as a brilliant 66 year
old.
"Responsibility for what went on - how can I feel responsible in a situation
in which I put myself out and saved the people from genocide? No, I don't
feel responsible at all. I did the best I could."
For the men who fought for the Biafran cause, defeat has been followed by 30
years of humiliation. The wounded veterans line up in their wheelchairs
alongside the main roads in Enugu, begging for money from passers-by.
Men like former Sergeant Michael Okafo believe they are being punished for
fighting on the losing side.
He wants food, he wants to educate his children and he wants shelter. He
wants to be treated like any other Nigerian.
Exclusion
When the civil war ended, the government promised the Ibo people that there
would be no victors and no vanquished.
The authorities were desperate to avoid a repetition of the ethnic tensions
which preceded the war.
Chief Ojukwu believes the Ibos have been largely excluded from power ever
since and this could cause instability in the future.
"None of the problems that led to the war have been solved yet," he says.
"They are still there. We have a situation creeping towards the type of
situation that saw the beginning of the war."
British stance
There is plenty of resentment but little talk of secession among the Ibo
today.
During the war, Mrs Oyibo Adinamadu was a leading women's activist for the
Biafran cause.
But only a few African countries recognised it as an independent state.
She even travelled to Britain to lobby the then Labour government, which
refused to meet her.
Instead Britain was a key arms supplier to the federal government, enabling
it to crush the rebellion, because it believed that Biafran secession would
create regional instability.
The then British Labour Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, agonised over
this policy.
"It would have been quite easy for me to say: This is going to be difficult
- let's cut off all connexion with the Nigerian Government," he says now.
"If I'd done that I should have known that I was encouraging in Africa the
principle of tribal secession - with all the misery that could bring to
Africa in the future."
Equitable
Today, Mrs Adinamadu thinks that equitable distribution of resources will
encourage the Ibo of eastern Nigeria to believe in the future of the
country.
"And if the easterners are treated fairly, and other parts of Nigeria too,
and you see an equitable handling or distribution of what is available, and
then of course working to develop and to progress - I think easterners would
like to stay in Nigeria," she says.
But following Nigeria's recent return to democracy, many of the country's
diverse peoples, not just the Ibos, are demanding greater autonomy.
Nigeria is a young country. The vast majority of its population is under 30
years old and only a small proportion have direct memories of the war.
But the causes of the Biafran conflict - ethnic rivalry and mistrust - are
as relevant today as ever.
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