Ojukwu Interprets the Kwale Incident
In addition to the main invasion of August 1967, there were several
incidents of Biafran incursion into the Midwest during the civil war. In
May 1969 for example, Biafran commandos crossed the River Niger and
siezed foreign hostages in Kwale. This caused an international
uproar. This was Ojukwu's international press statement (on June 6,
1969) in response:
A few weeks ago, during an operation at Kwale across the Niger,
gallant Biafran troops captured and brought into Biafra fourteen
Italians, three Germans and one Lebanese. From the reports of our
field commanders in that sector and form evidence produced during
investigations and the subsequent trial of the men concerned, they
were captured fighting alongside Nigerians against our troops. In
addition, they assisted in constructing roads and other means of
communication to aid the enemy in their operations against our
republic.
As all of you now know, these men were duly tried for crimes against
the Republic of Biafra. A total of eleven charges were preferred
against them. Of these, they were acquitted on nine and found guilty
on two. The two counts on which they were convicted carried, in
accordance with our law, the death penalty. They were accordingly
condemned. In response to the direct appeal by His Holiness the Pope
and the intercession of our friends, I, two days ago, on June 4,
1969, exercised my prerogative of mercy and granted the men a
reprieve. We meet today, on this happy but solemn occasion, to
witness their release. They will be released and handed over to our
friends of the Republic of the Ivory Coast and the Republic of Gabon
who have kindly agreed and undertaken to take them back to the
Republics of Ivory Coast and of Gabon where arrangements will be made
to fly them to their respective countries. All of us, in Biafra, are
happy and proud that we have been able to perform this Christian and
magnanimous act in spite of all provocations and injuries of the
greatest and varied magnitudes which we have suffered at the hands of
our enemies. Our action has been influenced by humanitarian
considerations and respect for the sanctity of human life. In all
our actions and conduct right through the whole period of this
episode, we have placed three considerations and factors above
everything else, namely (i) the fact of our sovereignty; (ii) the
indispensability of our security; (iii) the image of our country and
that of our friends. The men to be released have been described as
'oil men,' that is to say, people working for oil companies in
Nigeria and Biafra. This immediately brings to mind the significance
of 'oil' in the current Biafra/Nigeria conflict. Oil is the mainstay
of the Nigerian economy and it is on oil that they obtain all the
credits necessary for the prosecution of this futile war. Anyone,
therefore, who does anything to sustain Nigeria in its genocidal war
against Biafra, is the enemy of Biafra pure and simple, and will be
treated as such when apprehended . . . . There is a significant
side-line to the events connected with the release of these men - a
situation from which all Africa should draw a healthy and wise
lesson. For the lives of eighteen individuals, the entire white
population of the world - from east to west, north to south - have
risen in an impressive solidarity. Even those who for these two
years of war have actively supported Nigeria in the slaughter of
thousands and thousands of black lives in Biafra, have raised
passionate voices and made desperate moves. I am not a racist. Far
from it. But it is impossible to avoid the need to point to these
facts and to make appropriate deductions. I appeal to Nigeria and
all countries of Africa to draw a useful lesson. Those countries who
instigate and encourage Africans to destroy fellow African lives, no
matter the pretext, are no friends of Africa. In this issue, Africa
and the black race should emulate the action of the white world, as
clearly brought out over the fate of the eighteen lives now spared,
and rise up in concert to end the current bloodshed in African. With
the incapability of the O.AU. as an organization to stop the
conflict, and the reprehensible indifference of the Secretary-General
of the U.N.O., I hereby take this opportunity to call for a cessation
of hostilities and negotiations leading to a permanent solution - the
negotiations to be without pre-conditions. It if is impossible for
the two sides to do so directly, then I suggest that friends of the
warring parties should get together for preliminary discussions which
would facilitate a peaceful confrontation of the conflicting view
points. We repeat that this war is futile. The war will, and can,
never solve anything. The current conflict can only be resolved
round a conference table.
Compiled by NOWAMAGBE AUSTIN OMOIGUI, MD
