2014/07/03 by Douglas Anthony · 41 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Criminology #Genocide #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #Independence (probability theory) #International Law and Human Rights #Law #Nationalism #Nazism #Political science #Psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/14623528.2014.936701
published in Journal of Genocide Research 16(2-3), 205-225 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2014/07/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Arguments about genocide played a central role in how the government of Biafra and its supporters framed Biafran assertions of independence. Claims that genocide was occurring first cited violence directed against Igbos in northern Nigeria during 1966, before expanding to include both Nigerian military action against civilian targets in Biafra and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Belief in Nigeria's genocidal intentions became a central tenet of emergent Biafran nationalism, and drew on both distorted representations of Nigeria and on historical analogies with the Nazi genocide against Jews. While the determination by a team of international observers that genocide was not occurring eroded the persuasiveness of Biafran genocide claims abroad, it did little to undercut Biafrans' belief that they were marked for extermination.