THE NIGERIAN WAR BEGAN FIFTY YEARS AGO ON JULY 6, 196

became exactly %0 years on July 8, 2017
Exactly 50 years ago day before yesterday, the Nigerian Biafran war began in earnest. Actually by July 8, 1967, the New York Times reported the following:

"Fighting between Nigerian Army troops and Biafra forces entered its third day today, with both sides saying they had inflicted heavy losses on the other and neither side boasting on conclusive victory. Military spokesmen in the federal capital in Lagos confirmed that their troops had invaded the Eastern Region, which has called itself the Republic of Biafra since its declaration of independence May 30, at several points along the northern border. They said federal troops had captured Eastern army trainees at a camp on the road between Obudu and Ogoja in the eastern part of the northern border yesterday morning but that the captives were mostly raw recruits.
American diplomatic personnel studied the possibilities of evacuating an estimated 1, 040 Americans from the Eastern Region.Less than 300 of these are United States Government Personnel. A roughly equal number of Americans are connected with the booming oil industry in the area, and the rest are businessmen and missionaries."

Reuters reported on July 8, 1967:
"After three days of heavy fighting with Nigerian forces, Biafran troops appeared to be holding their own at nearly all key points along the northern frontier.
According to usually reliable high-ranking military sources in Enugu, Biafran units armed with mortars and recoilless rifles were standing firm against continued thrusts by an armoured column that penetrated its Region yesterday from their staging base at Idah on the Niger River. Officials in Enugu also denied that attacking Nigerian troops had penetrated to Nsukka, a key junction and university town 50 miles north of Enugu.
Fighting was concentrated along the four main entrance roads into Biafra: in the Nsukka area, and at Obudu, Gaken and Nyonya in Ogoja province to the northeast."

Reuters also reported that same day:
"In Nairobi four African presidents appeared tonight for an immediate halt to the fighting in Nigeria and urged the reopening of discussions for a peaceful solution. The four heads of state were Presidents Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Milton Obote of Uganda and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who met in Nairobi to try to work out a solution to the Nigerian crisis. The conference was held at Mr. Kaunda's suggestion."

Excerpts from pages 124 and 125 of "The Untold Story of the Nigerian Biafra War" by Dr. Luke Aneke (Triumph Publishing, USA, 2007). It is 5, 500 Naira only. This book has an impressive chronological newspaper and magazine reports of each day of the war from July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970. I recommend it as the first framework text for any historian who is trying to gather newspaper reports. Luke has done the gethering of reports of Reuters, New York Times, Associated Press. United Press International, Agence France-Presse, Time Magazine, Le Monde of Paris, Candian Press and Newsweek Magazine. The book is 771 pages long.

                                                                                                 Credit: Jeff Unaegbu