The Civil War Projects

"George Washington University's “Remembering Biafra” conference will bring together scholars, activists, and humanitarians to examine the global impact of the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-70. Speakers will analyze the war in terms of its impact on US-Africa relations, its influence on the modern politics of humanitarianism, and the legacies of decolonization. With the 50th anniversary of the start of the war in June 2017, the conference will explore why this major African crisis has been so long forgotten, and what lessons might be learned from remembering Biafra today."

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the keynote speaker. There are also other conference speakers of Nigerian origin. You should attend if you can.

Remembering Biafra – History, Memory & the Global Impact of the Nigerian Civil War George Washington University‘s “Remembering Biafra” conference will bring together scholars, activists, and humanitarians to examine the global impact of the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-70. Speakers will analyze the war in terms of its impact on US-Africa relations, its influence on the modern politi...

On this day 49 years ago, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the South Eastern Region's military governor, announced the Republic of Biafra, citing the Easterners killed in the post-coup violence.

The secessionist state enjoyed its independence for a very short time (a month and three days), before the civil war began on July 6, 1967 to counter the withdrawal of Biafra from Nigeria. It will go on to be the bloodiest war in the history of Nigeria.

After two-and-a-half years of war, over three to six million Biafran civilians died in fighting and from starvation occasioned by the total blockade of the region.

Have you ever wondered why History hasn't been taught in primary and secondary schools? Why most of those born after the civil war are unaware of it, unless they deliberately choose to do research on their own? You are not alone.

This generation is asking questions. The civil war is an important part of our history and shouldn't be ignored.

Karen Attiah writes about her mum's experience.

"While I was growing up, my mother, Grace, rarely talked about her childhood in Nigeria. It’s only in the past few years that I have come to know how she feels about her birth country. She was born in Enugu, a city in the southeastern state of Anambra, to my Yoruba grandmother, Francisca, and my Ghanian grandfather, Fred, who worked in the British civil service. At age 14, my mother fled with her family to Ghana to escape the violence of Nigeria’s brutal Biafra civil conflict, which killed 1 million Nigerians in the late 1960s.

She recalled food and water shortages. Classmates killed in bomb raids. The loyal dog they had to leave behind as the circle of violence tightened around Enugu. How for almost two years they bounced from town to town, living in abandoned homes. Finally, in 1968, my grandfather got the family out on a Red Cross evacuation flight to Accra, Ghana, where my grandmother and relatives still live.

“Everything was taken from us. We had to run and only take what we could carry. We had to run to forest areas to hide from shellings. . . . Some people had no food, eating lizards in the bushes!” Later she told me that she sobbed uncontrollably the evening after we talked."

On a trip to Nigeria, I hoped to help my mother heal her scars of war A homeland torn apart by a civil war in the 1960s is being ravaged today by Boko Haram.