|
The Biafran Airlift was an international humanitarian relief effort that transported food and medicine to Biafra during the 1967-70 secession war from Nigeria (Nigerian Civil War). It was the largest civilian airlift, and after the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, the largest non-combatant airlift of any kind ever carried out. The airlift was largely a series of joint efforts by Protestant and Catholic church groups, and other non-governmental organizations (NGO)s, operating civilian and military aircraft with volunteer (mostly) civilian crews and support personnel. Several national governments also supported the effort, mostly behind the scenes. This sustained joint effort, which lasted one and a half times as long as its Berlin predecessor, is estimated to have saved more than a million lives.〔(''Biafra Relief Heroes: remembering--in the words of those who were there...'', Voice of Biafra International ). Retrieved 2013-01-03〕 ==Background== By 1968, a year after the start of the Nigerian Civil War, large numbers of children were reported starving to death due to a blockade imposed by the Federal Military Government (FMG) and military.〔(''Remembering the Nightmare of Biafra'', The Free Library ). Retrieved 2013-01-04〕 By 1969 it was reported that over 1,000 children per day were starving to death.〔(New York Times, August 24, 1969 ). Retrieved 2013-01-04〕 A FMG representative declared, “Starvation is a legitimate weapon of war, and we have every intention of using it.”〔(Philip Gourevitch, ''Alms Dealers,'' The New Yorker, October 11, 2010 ). Retrieved 2013-01-02〕 With the advent of global television reporting, for the first time, famine, starvation and humanitarian response were seen nightly on world television. People around the world demanded action. International reaction to plight of the civilian population in the secessionist region was diverse. The United Nations and most national governments, expressing reluctance to become involved in what was officially considered an internal Nigerian affair, remained silent on the escalating humanitarian crisis. Secretary General of the United Nations, U Thant, refused to support the airlift.〔(Roy Thomas, ''The Birth of CANAIRELIEF'', Vanguard Magazine, September 2006 ). Retrieved 2013-01-03〕 The position of the Organization of African Unity was to intervene in conflicts its members' deemed internal and to support the nation-state boundaries instituted during the colonial era.〔(Sixties in America ). Retrieved 2013-01-11〕 The United Kingdom, which together with the USSR was supplying arms to the Nigerian military,〔(BBC, on this day in history, ''1969: Nigeria bans Red Cross aid to Biafra'' )〕 dismissed reports of famine as "enemy propaganda".〔(Secret papers reveal Biafra intrigue, BBC News, January 3, 2000 ). Retrieved 2013-01-03〕 The UK also reportedly provided military assistance on the ‘neutralisation of the rebel airstrips’, with the understanding that their destruction would put them out of use for daylight humanitarian relief flights.〔(Nigeria's War Over Biafra, 1967-70, Mark Curtis ). Retrieved 2013-01-02〕 The church-funded groups and NGOs became the most outspoken of the international supporters of aid to Biafra. The Joint Church Airlift provided relief aid as well as attempted to establish an air force for Biafra. This led to a ban by the Federal Military Government on aid flights into the region. The ICRC accepted the FMG’s ban and did not participate in any international publicity about Biafra, a position that was condemned by the more vocal and active NGOs providing aid. Bernard Kouchner, a French doctor and one of the more outspoken critics, declared that this silence over Biafra made the ICRC's workers ‘accomplices in the systematic massacre of a population’.''〔(Biafra and the Birth of the new Humanitarianism ). Retrieved 2013-01-05〕 The American president demanded his State Department "get those ... babies off my TV set.”〔(Cohen & Tucker, page 275 ). Retrieved 2013-01-02〕〔(Philip Gourevitch, ''Alms Dealers,'' The New Yorker, October 11, 2010. ) Retrieved 2013-01-02〕 However, the US government began providing funding to relief efforts. By 1969 the US had sold eight C-97 military cargo aircraft to JCA and was reported to be providing 49% of all aid to the relief effort.〔(New York Times, July 21, 1969 ). Retrieved 2012-01-04〕 Canada, facing its own internal separatist threat, was reluctant to extend aid to an area trying to separate from a fellow Commonwealth member, particularly in a region in which it had no prior experience. However, early assistance was provided with food, material and one military transport aircraft for several months. Financial assistance was also provided in the closing months of the airlift.〔(Roy Thomas, ''The Birth of CANAIRELIEF'', Vanguard Magazine, September 2006 ). Retrieved 2013-01-03〕 France responded by providing aid to Biafra: humanitarian aid through the French Red Cross and military aid quietly, if not officially.〔(The Tragedy of Biafra: A Report by the American Jewish Congress, December 1968 ). Retrieved 2013-01-11〕 While the vast majority of governments remained uninvolved, assistance was demanded by people around the world. Approximately 30 non-governmental organizations responded.〔(''Humanitarian Aid and the Biafra War: Lessons not Learned'', Africa Development, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, 2009, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2009 ). Retrieved 2013-01-03〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Biafran airlift」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|