The declaration of the Republic of Biafra on 30 May 1967 triggered a conflict that lasted until January 1970, one of the bloodiest wars in modern African history. For three years, the Nigerian Civil War uprooted millions of people across eastern Nigeria. Frontlines shifted repeatedly: Enugu, the Biafran capital, fell in October 1967; Port Harcourt was captured in May 1968; and Owerri was fiercely contested in late 1968 and into 1969, enduring prolonged fighting and siege conditions. As towns fell, civilians were driven further into the countryside, abandoning homes that became barracks, hospitals, or ruins.
For ordinary people, survival meant negotiating daily restrictions rather than fighting battles. Markets closed under threat of air raids, soldiers blocked major roads, and famine spread with the tightening blockade. Families constantly calculated risks: whether to fetch water across exposed paths, whether to cook without drawing bombers, and how far one could travel before nightfall.
The Federal Blockade and Relief Efforts
By mid-1968, the federal blockade had cut Biafra off from food and medicine. Famine followed swiftly, and harrowing images of malnourished children drew global attention. Relief organisations, notably the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Caritas, and church missions, attempted to fill the gap.
The most dramatic form of relief came through the night-time airlift into Uli airstrip, with a secondary strip at Uga handling limited flights. Pilots flew without lights to evade detection, bringing powdered milk, beans, dried fish, antibiotics, and medical supplies. Feeding centres prioritised the severely malnourished and young children, although exact practices varied from place to place.
Yet aid never met demand. After an ICRC aircraft was shot down in June 1969, the organisation scaled back its operations. Thereafter, church-based groups such as Joint Church Aid continued most of the flights, though on a reduced scale. The blockade remained devastating, and famine mortality climbed into the hundreds of thousands, with some scholarly estimates exceeding one million.
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Women Traders and “Afia Attack”
When official rations fell short, women became the hidden backbone of survival. Known in survivor testimony and later documentary accounts as engaging in Afia Attack, these market women crossed frontlines and bush paths, carrying essentials such as palm oil, garri, cassava, and salt.
Their movements required careful negotiation with soldiers and intimate knowledge of hidden trails. These traders turned commerce into a supply lifeline. They bartered and smuggled goods across dangerous zones, sustaining households that would otherwise have starved. Their role highlighted both the vulnerability and resilience of civilians, especially women, during the war.
Escape and Movement
Displacement was constant. Families travelled by night, following overgrown railway lines, wading through rivers in dugout canoes, or moving under cover of cassava fields. Checkpoints were perilous; survival often depended on a soldier’s arbitrary decision.
Church missions became sanctuaries in this uncertainty. Mission staff registered names, distributed food, and treated the sick. Children were weighed to determine feeding priority, a grim but necessary system. Milk was often diluted or stretched with pap to reach more mouths.
Civilian Experience of War
Testimonies from survivors reveal the war in human terms. Mothers described carrying children for hours through forest paths in search of food. Many families kept bags permanently packed, ready to flee at the sound of artillery. Hunger reshaped daily life: a cup of milk, a handful of cassava, or shared palm oil became acts of survival.
For children, war meant learning to identify aircraft sounds before learning to read. Bombing raids left deep psychological scars, while starvation thinned entire communities. Civilian life was not measured in territorial maps but in footsteps, calculations of risk, and moments of endurance.
The End of the War
On 12 January 1970, Biafran acting leader Philip Effiong announced a ceasefire and surrender. Three days later, General Yakubu Gowon declared “no victor, no vanquished,” pledging reconciliation.
Civilians began returning to their towns and villages, but many found only rubble. Markets reopened, schools resumed under trees, and missions shifted from emergency aid to rebuilding efforts. Yet memories of war lingered. Some families continued to keep packed bags by their doors long after peace. Low-flying planes still filled children with fear. Mothers retold stories of survival in small, practical terms: how food was hidden, how fires were lit, how families endured.
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Author’s Note
This account draws on verified historical records and testimonies of survivors of the Nigerian Civil War. It highlights the civilian dimension of the conflict: famine caused by the federal blockade, the relief airlifts into Uli, the resilience of women traders known as Afia Attack, and the sanctuaries created by church missions. The story of Biafra is not only one of battles and politics but of endurance, measured in the courage of mothers, the footsteps of displaced families, and the fragile networks that kept people alive under siege.
References
- John de St. Jorre, The Nigerian Civil War. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972.
- Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra. London: Penguin, 2012.
- Michael Draper, Shadows: Airlift to Biafra. Manchester: Hikoki Publications, 1999.
