BIAFRA: Photo Essay By PHILIP EMEAGWALI It was mid-afternoon, and we were in the middle of our course in Latin. I was called out of class and told that I have a visitor. Outside I saw my mother with a trouble look on her face. Instinctively, I knew what the problem was. "We are running," she said. Because 50,000 Igbo civilians were killed, I withdrew from Saint Georges Grammar School in Obiaruku and returned home to Agbor in the then mid-western Nigeria. Early May 1967, Dad went to Agbor Motor Park and rented a mammy-wagon with the inscription "No Condition is Permanent" to take us to Onitsha. We joined the mass exodus of two million Igbo refugees that were fleeing from ethnic cleansing in which 50,000 Igbos were killed. May 30, 1967: The new nation of Biafra was created from south-eastern Nigeria. June 3: Nigeria imposed a naval blockade of Biafra. July 1: Secessionist leader Ojukwu officially dismissed from the Nigerian army. July 6: The first fighting begins at 5:30 a.m. when Nigerian soldiers attacked Biafran soldiers at Vanderkya in Benue State. A few hours later the Nigerian soldiers attacked Biafran soldiers at the Nsukka sector. August 9, 1967, 3 a.m.: Three thousand lightly armed (with Mark IV bolt-action rifles) Biafran soldiers led by Yoruba-speaking Victor Banjo "liberates" the then midwestern region of Nigeria. The entire Midwest was overran within 12 hours. The Midwest governor, Urhobo-speaking Lt. Col. David Ejoor, narrowly escaped death and slipped out of the Midwest to the Nigerian side. August 17: Major Albert Nwazu Okonkwo, a medical officer, was appointed (by Ojukwu) as the new governor. I met Okonkwo in person in late 1969 when he visited Ndoni to chair a highlife music event by Emperor Jenewari (spelling). September 19, 1967: Midwest region becomes the Republic of Benin. September 20, 1967: Nigerian army recaptures Benin City. Dance of Death September 22-23, 1967: Looking for scape-goats to blame for the loss of Midwest Brigadier Victor Banjo, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Sam Agbamuche (Agbam) and Major Phillip Alale were tried in a kongaroo-styled court and found guilty of "treason" for deserting Benin City. While Ojukwu executed his officers for deserting the Midwest capital (Benin City), he deserted the Biafran capital (Enugu) when Nigerian soldiers attacked it on October 2, 1967. Onitsha indigenes, including my family, were labelled as "ndi sabo" (saboteurs) and ostracized by the Igbo community. At Nnobi, a group of kids were in hot pursuit of me when someone in a crowd identified as an "Onitsha kid." September 25, 1967: Brigadier Victor Banjo, Lt. Col. Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Major Sam Agbamuche (Agbam) and Major Phillip Alale were executed by firing squad under the pretext of sabotage by prematuring withdrawing from the Midwest. The truth is that the lightly-armed and hurriedly-trained 7,000 Biafran troops could not hold the 40,000 square miles it captured from the superior firepower of the Nigerian army. October 4, 1967: Lt. Col. T.Y. Danjuma captures Enugu On October 5, 6, & 7, 1967, residents of Asaba were ordered by Nigerian soldiers to attend a public dance. Thousands of unarmed civilians who showed up were shot and buried en masse in shallow graves. One man was buried with his hand protruding above his shallow grave. The public execution, it was believed, was in retaliation for Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu's killing of the Premier of Northern Nigeria (Sir Ahmadu Bello) in January 1966. Shelling of Onitsha by Nigeria soldiers from at Asaba. On three occasions, Nigerian soldiers cross the River Niger to attempt a beach landing Onitsha banks of the River Niger. Each time Onitsha was successfully defended by Biafran soldiers. Nigerian army actually captured downtown Onitsha and looted and set its famous market on fire. Biafran army succeeded in re-capturing Onitsha within three days. An entire battallion of Nigerian army were trapped and wiped out. I remember young men from Ogidi were recruited to bury Nigerian soldiers. The ensuing face-to-face combat was within walking distance from our neighborhood. The Biafra soldiers used the civilians as human shields and lied to us that the gunshots we were hearing were their routine training exercise. The amazing thing was that we believed their story. We stayed I saw soldiers shooting at each other. As we ran from from Odoakpu quarters of Onitsha, the streets were crowded with fleeing people. The streets were littered with bodies of people hit by the shellings. Nigeria soldiers make three unsuccessful attempts to capture Onitsha. We lived at Odoakpu during the first attempt and lived in Umuasi village during the second and third attempts. During the second attack on Onitsha, soldiers who were ordered to go to the war front ran to our backyard (6C Wilkinson Road) to change into civilian uniforms. In fact, one of these soldiers was in the crowd as we fled to Ogidi. November 19-24, 1967: Several civilian targets were bombed by Nigerian flowned by Russian and Egyptian mercenaries. Targets include residential areas, Onitsha General Hospital, Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Christ the King College, Anglican All Saints Cathedral Onitsha, and the Magistrate's Court. 1968 March 31, 1968: Biafran army won their biggest battle by ambushing and destroying a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers. The humiliating Abagana defeat prompted General Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector. Onitsha was finally captured by the Nigerian army on Wednesday March 20, 1968 at 3 p.m. The majority of the 2,000 people that stayed behind were executed by the Nigerian soldiers. Fled to Awka-Etiti with overnight stays at Oba, Nnewi, and Nnobi. After two months at the residence of an Awka-Etiti family, we moved into one of the refugee camps at Awka-Etiti --- a classroom of the now defunct Saint Joseph's Primary School. The majority of the residents at this refugee camp were survivors and escapees from the Asaba Dance of Death of October 1967. My postal address: Chukwurah, Refugee St. Joseph Refugee Camp Awka-Etiti, Biafra We were the only refugees from Onitsha in our camp. Most were those that fled the early October 1967 massacres in Asaba by troops commanded by General Murtala Mohammed. April 26, 1968: In an article entitled "Nightmare in Biafra," Sunday Times (London, 4/26/68, p.12), a war reporter wrote: "I have seen things in Biafra this week which no man should have to see. Sights to search the heart and sicken the conscience I have seen children roasted alive, young girls torn in two by shrapnel, pregnant women eviscerated, and old men blown to fragments, I have seen these things and I have seen their cause: high-flying Russian Ilyushin jets operated by Federal Nigeria, dropping their bombs on civilian centres throughout Biafra ... At Onitsha - the 300 strong congregation of the Apostolic Church decided to stay on while others fled and to pray for deliverance. Col. [Murtala] Mohammed's Second Division found them in the church, dragged them out, tied their hands behind their backs and executed them." Sounds like fiction? Another eyewitness, William Norris, wrote in "The Times" of London of Thursday, April 25, 1968: "There is ... a young English doctor, Dr. Jan Hyde and his wife who worked in a hospital near Onitsha until they were forced to leave when the Federal troops moved in. The Hydes tell a horrifying story of the Apostolic Church near their home, where the congregation decided to stay and pray for deliverance instead of fleeing before Federal advance ... " " 1969 Moved to the riverine town of Ndoni with overnight stay at Atani, near Onitsha war front. 1970 January 9, 1970: Ojukwu flees Biafra and "in search of peace." January 15, 1970: Major General Phillip Effiong formally surrenders to General Gowon at Dodan Barracks in Lagos. Gowon ordered the word "Biafra" expurged from Nigerian documents. For instance: Bight of Biafra was renamed Bight of Bonny. January 17. Trekked with my family of seven children from Ndoni to Fegge quarters of Onitsha. The 50 mile trip took three days. Close encounters with Nigerian soldiers armed with rifles and "koboko" horse tail whips. March. Was recruited as an interpreter on two cases in which non-English speaking Nigerian soldiers raped two Igbo women. Many house wifes remained indoors to avoid being raped by Nigerian soldiers. April. Enrolled in Christ the King College, Onitsha. Attended school barefooted from Fegge to CKC. Studied with palm-oil lamp. Fetched water from River Niger. During the war, my family and I were refugees as we fled from Agbor to Onitsha, Ogidi, Awka, Oba, Nnewi, Awka-Etiti and Ndoni. At Ndoni, I fished on the River Niger and became a cook for Biafran army officers.