Introduction
The Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) was one of the deadliest conflicts in modern African history, claiming over one million lives, largely through starvation and disease. Following the secession of the Eastern Region as the Republic of Biafra in May 1967, the Nigerian federal government responded with a blockade that cut off food, fuel, and medicine. By 1968, images of starving Biafran children had shocked the world.
Amid this humanitarian catastrophe, an unprecedented operation took shape: a clandestine night-time airlift into Biafra’s Uli airstrip. Known as “Annabelle,” Uli became the lifeline through which thousands of tonnes of relief supplies reached civilians under siege. This airlift organised mainly by church coalitions and supported by international volunteers remains one of the most dramatic humanitarian efforts of the twentieth century.
The Federal Blockade and Famine
The Nigerian federal blockade was central to the war. From mid-1967, federal forces sealed off Biafra’s ports and later overran its key cities, Enugu in October 1967 and Port Harcourt in May 1968. These losses left Biafra without access to major trade routes. Food scarcity escalated as displacement disrupted farming and markets collapsed.
By 1968, famine had become widespread. Eyewitness reports, ICRC archives, and international media documented cases of kwashiorkor, with children suffering swollen bellies, brittle hair, and skeletal frames. Relief estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands, perhaps over a million, died from starvation and disease.
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Birth of the Uli Airlift
To bypass the blockade, Biafra converted a stretch of tarmac near Uli, Anambra State, into a clandestine airstrip. Camouflaged by day and illuminated only by shielded kerosene lamps at night, Uli became the operational hub of what historians describe as the largest civilian airlift since the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949.
Flights were staged mainly from São Tomé, Libreville (Gabon), and Fernando Po (now Bioko, Equatorial Guinea). Unlike Berlin, however, the Biafran airlift lacked international recognition and formal safety guarantees. Aircraft flew at night, often without lights, to avoid detection by Nigerian jets. Pilots navigated using dead reckoning, timed radio signals, and the brief glimmer of hidden runway lanterns.
Humanitarian Actors
The airlift was coordinated by several organisations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched operations in 1968 but withdrew after one of its planes was shot down in June 1969. Thereafter, church coalitions, including Caritas Internationalis, the World Council of Churches, and the Protestant and Catholic agencies later known collectively as Joint Church Aid (nicknamed “Jesus Christ Airlines”), sustained the mission.
Volunteer pilots and crews came from Europe, North America, and Africa. Some were seasoned aviators with wartime backgrounds, while others were civilian bush pilots drawn by humanitarian conviction. Michael Draper’s Shadows: Airlift to Biafra (1999) records their perilous work, while survivors’ testimonies confirm the constant risks of interception, accidents, and mechanical failure.
Relief Deliveries
The Uli airlift delivered thousands of tonnes of food and medicine between 1968 and 1970. Cargo typically included powdered milk, dried fish, beans, cassava flour (garri), high-protein biscuits, and antibiotics. Supplies were unloaded within minutes by Biafran volunteers and relief workers, then transported to church missions and feeding centres.
Children and infants were prioritised. At feeding stations, food was rationed carefully: milk and protein for malnourished children, pap and cassava for families, and medical kits for mission hospitals. Despite these efforts, demand consistently outstripped supply.
Dangers and Losses
The airlift was hazardous. Aircraft occasionally crashed on approach or overshot Uli’s short runway. Federal forces bombed the strip during the day, leaving craters that Biafran engineers patched overnight with laterite and gravel. Pilots risked anti-aircraft fire, unpredictable weather, and exhaustion.
The cost was high: several planes were lost, and crew members died. Relief workers described watching colleagues perish in night-time crashes or disappear during dangerous landings. Yet despite setbacks, the operation continued almost every night until the war’s end in January 1970.
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Impact and Controversy
The humanitarian impact of the airlift is widely acknowledged. Tens of thousands of children survived due to food delivered through Uli. Relief organisations later used Biafra as a model for emergency logistics, shaping global humanitarian practice in crises such as Ethiopia (1980s) and Sudan (1990s).
However, the airlift also raised political and ethical debates. Critics argued that supplying besieged civilians indirectly prolonged the conflict by sustaining Biafra’s resistance. Others countered that neutrality required prioritising human survival over political considerations. The ICRC itself struggled with this dilemma, eventually stepping back while church agencies continued.
The End of the Airlift
The war ended on 12 January 1970, when Biafran acting leader Philip Effiong announced surrender. Three days later, Nigerian head of state Yakubu Gowon declared a policy of “no victor, no vanquished.”
With Biafra’s fall, the airlift ceased. Uli airstrip, once the busiest night-time humanitarian runway in the world, was abandoned. Villagers reclaimed the land for farming, though its memory remained strong among survivors.
Legacy
Historians regard the Biafran airlift as a turning point in modern humanitarianism. It demonstrated the feasibility of large-scale, non-state relief operations in conflict zones. It also highlighted the dilemmas of neutrality, access, and the politicisation of famine relief issues still debated today.
The story of Uli stands as testimony to the intersection of aviation, humanitarianism, and civilian suffering in modern warfare.
Author’s Note
This article is based entirely on verifiable historical sources. Focusing on the humanitarian realities of the Biafran airlift at Uli. The airlift saved countless lives but also revealed the limits of relief under siege. Its legacy remains relevant to humanitarian practice today.
References
- de St. Jorre, John. The Nigerian Civil War. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972.
- Draper, Michael. Shadows: Airlift to Biafra. Manchester: Hikoki Publications, 1999.
- Heerten, Stefan, and Moses, A. Dirk (eds.). The Nigeria–Biafra War: Genocide, Politics, and the 1960s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017
