Ojukwu’s Biafra: Relief Corridor, Arms Smuggling, and Broken Diplomacy in the Nigerian Civil War

Abstract

This article examines the rationale behind, or motivation, for the Biafran head of government, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s sustained objection both to proposed mercy corridor and daylight relief flights into Biafra by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) despite the prevalent starvation in Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War. Ojukwu’s public justification for his objection to the proposals was that there was a possibility that the Nigerian forces could poison the food and medicine destined to Biafra. He also argued that agreement to daylight flights could expose Biafra to bombardment by Nigerian forces. Surprisingly, some scholars have either ignored this aspect of the conflict or accepted Ojukwu’s claims in their analysis of the relief debates. Using mainly archival sources and interviews, this paper argues that while it may be possible for Biafra’s infrastructure to be attacked by federal forces, Ojukwu’s main reason of objection to the proposals was to keep open the lines through which Biafra was receiving its arms and ammunition from external sources.