The Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-08-07, Page 12I1R�li SJON1A1«$TAR,T�URS�AYsAUGUST 7, 1969
RUE TIR UMB.
By O. MacLEOD ROSS
Rivhard West, a foreign
correspondent who has
specialised in African affairs, was
in, Biafra some three months ago.
"What follows is based' on ysome
of his observations and
arguments.
Perhaps the first fact to
assimilate when discussing
Nigeria and. Biafra is that Nigeria
is composed of three major
nations, totally different m
' language, customs, . and religious
beliefs. These three are the
Yorubas, ,the Hausas and the
.�•.-Ibos12�-millions):—The-eurrent
Ibo fight for their own nation
has been characterized as
"Balkanisation"; that is, the
splitting up of the country into,
immediately, two nations;
Nigeria. with the Yorubas and
Hausas and Biafra with the Ibos.
As everyone knows the
attempt at independence by the
Ibos has been countered by the
Nigerians with ruthless civil war
' I which has had the support of
Harold Wilson and his party,
which does not necessarily mean
of Britain and the British people.
)Now the Russians have appeared,
hoping to gain a toehold which
might develop into warm water
access to the Indian Ocean.
This Wilsonian policy of
.preventing the Balkanization of
Nigeria is not supported by
precedent.,. At the close of the
nineteenth century, Austria
ruled Hungary, Croatia and
Slovenia, while Turkey ruled
Greece, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria
and Rumania. After World War
I, Slovenia and Croatia, joined
with Serbia to form Yugoslavia.
_Czechoslovakia was formed out ,
of Austrian territory and Poland
from portions of 'Austria, Russia
and . Germany. Finland,
Esthorria, Latvia, and Lithuania .
all broke away and became
separate entities from Russian
Principals . .
attend
courses
Several area school principals
are attending special courses at
the ' University of. Western
Ontarii this summer; in
preparation for the coming
school term.
Ralph Smith, principal of
Robertson Memorial- Public
School next term is attending as
is John . Kane, principal of
Victoria School next term. Also
attending is G. L. Walter of,
Goderich who is principal of
South Perth Centennial School.
The course' is held under the,
auspices of the Ontario
Department of Education and is
for elementary school principals.
The 91 principals and
• prospective principals taking
part in the course are attending
lectures, seminars • ' and
.workshops to bring_ them up to
date., with the changing aspects
of the education field. Main
topics are leadership, conditions
for human effectiveness, student
services,` s organization, for
instruction and program ' and
.evaluation.
J. A. Martin, Port Arthur is
principal of the course. Peter
Gravelle of Timmins is vice
principal.
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rule, This was an example of
Balkanization.
Today only Russia has
reversed , the Balkanization of
eastern Europe with a "Socialist
Commonwealth" which, in their
own words, enjoys only "limited
sovereignty." Just as the
Russians sent tanks to prevent
the . Czechs from leaving
Czechoslovakia,: so the Russians
have .sent jet bombers to Nigeria
to prevent the Biafrans\ ,from
leaving Nigeria.
Silt the British record of
policy supports Balkanization.
She has given sovereignty to four
African states, namely Lesotho,}
Botswana,, Swaziland- and
Gambia, none of which, of itself,
numbers one million people.
These enlightened actions were
taken to preserve British
influence and' commercial
privilege in those nations.
The only solvent states iii
West Africa are the Ivory Coast
(four millions) and Gabon
(600,000), both of which
recognize Biafra. The Belgian
Congo is not exactly a success
story, so that size, in countries
the economy of which is based
on " peasant agriculture, ;is no
valid criterion. But the Wilsonian
policy in Nigeria is not the only
failure. In the Sudan (12
million), an imposed federation
of Arabs and Negroes has caused
a civil war on a scale of severity
equalled by that in Nigeria.
Ethiopia (20 million) is also on
the verge of civil war.
Other recent failures by
Britain in the realm of
federation have been ' the
Caribbean Federation: Malaysia
and Singapore; The Central
African Federation, which failed
because it gave Rhodesia too
''much power. And do not .forget,
Nigerian federation was to have
been the shining: example to the
world- of how, after some years
of colonization, a huge state
could emerge and function
efficiently in its own right. It all
goes to underline the fact that
you cah lead nations to the -
waters' of federation,, but' 'you
cannot make their peoples drink.
But to revert to the Ibos. The
argument isadvanced that
Ojukwu of Biafra is very rich
and therefore in the pay of
foreign capitalists. In rebuttal it
is pointed out that the eastern
region of Nigeria is rich, largely
because.-, of . the, industry, „of its
people the Ibos. There are oil -
wells in the area- Biafra claims as
its own, butthere are just as rich
deposits in the mid"est and
Inside Biafra
west. If the Ibos had remained in
the Federation, they would,
because of their education and
skills, have got a major share of
the oil revenues from the whole
of Nigeria.
There is . an analogy between
the Nigerian treatmentof the
Biafrans and the Nazi treatment
of the Jews. The Ibos have
always. been nicknamed "the'
Jews of Africa." But the Jews of
eastern Europe, before the war,
did not believe -the Nazis were
planning genocide and for that
reason they did not fight back.
This analogy breaks down in its
denouement, for while the Jews
had -CO- seek out' a new country in
Palestine the Ibos could retire to
their own Iboland. There used to
be millions of Ibos in western
Nigeria also, but they do not
claim this area. '
The weakest analogy of all
links the war in' Nigeria with the
American Civil War, in which
General Gowon, of Lagos and
Nigeria, is cast as the black
Abraham Lincoln. It is
suspected that Harold Wilson if
much enamoured of this
analogy, for he considers himself
an expert on the military history
of the Civil War. In 1861 the
United' States were 8Q years, old,
tied by' a common language,
religion and political theory.
Nigeria was but six years old
when this war started and had
no common language, culture,
religion, or theory of politics.
The North fought, partly at
least, to end slavery, but to date
not even the British Foreign
Office has suggested that slave
holding is practised in' Biafra.
Yet another excuse for
Britain sending or selling arms to
Lagos is the fear 'the Russians
may infiltrate the country, for
apart ,from:the aircraft they have
sent in, they have given huge
bribes to the so-called Nigerian
labor leaders. Meanwhile the
Yorubas have been laughing up
their sleeves at their new Russian
friends as being some of the
daftest white- suckers that ever
came east. As Stanislav Andreski
put it in his book:"The African
Predicament;".:.the Russian
conveyors... seem to have found
buying African politicians very
tiresome. They. cannot be
bought, but only temporarily
hired." The European secret
agent is much concerned to hide
the fact that he receives money
front a foreign :gbverninerit;' arid
thus renders himself open to
blackmail py his employers and
has to '• continue to spy or
intrigue. The African,
suprisingly, is not susceptible to
blackmail because, provided he
" shares some of his illgotten gains,,
with his kinsmen, he is
acclaimed as a hero by his
people and may even boast
about his skill in getting money
out, of foreigners, and of course
there is the language barrier to
help him.
Present 'businessmen are open
to graft from either Britain or
..Russia to the same extent as the
Nigerians. As an Englishman,
who has lived in Nigeria for
many years remarks: "The
English here have as k
patronizing affection for
Yorubas and Hausas. They know
how to deal with them. Wit- of
them hate the Ibos and hated
working in Iboland. The Ibos
were too well educated and
wanted tb do the job the
Europeans did. Often they did it
much better."
This month of July, Biafra is
two years old and some million
of her people have been starved
to death. Harold Wilson, by his
policy of political and moral
support to • the Nigerian
government bears a major
responsibility for this brutal,
fact. His Foreign • Office
contends it could all have been
avoided if General Ojukwu had
just been reasonable, but like de
Gaulle,he is "difficult."
However- opinion is veering to
the belief that , Wilson is
motivated by the failure of a
dream • to leave a united Nigeria,
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formed though it • was under
British administration, without
regard to considerations of
nationalities. Now it has become
an emotional commitment to
make this dream, work,
apparently at any .cost. The
policy is so inconsistent. On the
one hand Wilson says he has no
power to intervene in Rhodesia
and ' thus create yet another
bloody holocaust on the African
continent, yet he feels justified
in overriding decency and
civilized practice► by egging on
the Gowon government with
weapons with the sole purpose
of ``burying- -the Ibo—nation."_
From a humanitarian point of
view it is appalling that no
statesmanlike • figure has
appeared on the scene to
proscribe the several
proponents: The Nigerians in
attempting to federate using
starvation as a weapon albeit,
they had the recipe from two
world wars; Harold Wilson for
his blind emotion in the face of
logic; The Russians with their
ignorance of African
psychology.
There is a lesson too for tight
little Canada, where we are being
pushed around and dictated to,
more and more. For whether
under our fast vanishing.
democratic regirile, rapidly being
replaced by authoritarianizm, or
in an emerging African country,
When the. proposition ignores the
innate'feelings:of'tk mass of the
people concerned,then they
refuse .tad budge. Some of our
Provincial moguls might benefit
from a quick- glance at
contemporary ' history and its
lessons in human relations.
IIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII llllllllllllllllllllllll11111111111IIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIImIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIte
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