The History and Legacy of the Asaba, Nigeria, Massacres

Abstract: In early October 1967, four months into the Nigerian Civil War, federal troops massacred hundreds in Asaba, a town in southeast Nigeria on the west bank of the Niger. While ethnically Igbo, Asaba was not part of Igbo-dominated Biafra. Through the reconstruction of this event, the article fills a significant gap in the historical record and contributes to the discussion on the impact of traumatic memory at the local and national levels. It also suggests that the Asaba massacres speak to larger issues of potential reconciliation that extend beyond Asaba and Nigeria. Resume: Au debut du mois d'Octobre 1967, quatre mois apres le commencement de la guerre civile au Niger, les troupes federales ont massacre des centaines de personnes a Asaba, un bourg au sud est du Nigeria sur la rive ouest du Niger. Bien qu'ayant une majorite ethnique Igbo, Asaba n'appartient pas geographiquement au Biafra, domine par les Igbos. Avec la reconstruction de ce massacre, cet article comble un vide significatif dans les archives historiques et contribue a la discussion sur l'impact de la memoire traumatique au niveaux local et national. Il indique egalement que le massacre d' Asaba recouvre des questions plus larges de reconciliation potentielle s'etendant au-dela d'Asaba et du Nigeria. On the afternoon of October 5, 1967, four months into the Nigerian Civil War over the secession of the predominantly Igbo region east of the Niger River, Nigerian federal troops entered Asaba, a town on the west bank of that river. As one witness recalled, We had been expecting their arrival with fear and trembling since Biafran troops started withdrawing on the third of October. We remembered vividly the fate of our people in Northern Nigeria in May, July and September 1966 and the threat that Ibos were going to be wiped out. When the Federal troops arrived some people had fled across the Niger, some into the bush but some remained in their homes, waiting for what fate would bring.* When the troops appeared, the worst fears of the ten thousand townsfolk were realized. Over the next few days, up to one thousand Asabans died at the hands of the federal soldiers, the majority in a single, systematic massacre of men and boys on October 7. The killings at Asaba, as well as smaller events at other towns in the Midwest, remained little known outside Igbo communities for many years, largely because they went unreported in the press at the time and subsequently received scant attention in histories of the Civil War. Our goal here is to reconstruct the history of the events, primarily using survivor accounts in the absence of other primary documents. We suggest that a fuller accounting of the Asaba massacres not only fills a significant gap in the historical record, but also helps us understand more completely the subsequent development of the Civil War. In particular, we argue that the unsuccessful Biafran incursion west of the Niger, and the subsequent atrocities committed against civilians by federal troops, became a major factor in confirming the rhetoric of genocide that hardened Biafran resolve and disastrously prolonged the war. In addition, our work will contribute to scholarship on the impact of traumatic memory at the local and national levels. Background to the Civil War Although a full history of the Nigerian Civil War is beyond the scope of this article, a brief overview is needed to place the Asaba events in context. The origins of the war lie in the country's colonial past. Starting at the end of the nineteenth century and over a period of forty years, the British took control of previously independent territories with distinct languages, religions, and customs, from the Bight of Benin along the coast, to the fringes of the Sahara Desert in the north. In 1914 the Colonial Office decided to amalgamate this complex ethnic mosaic into a single entity called "Nigeria" by joining the British colony of Lagos with the Protectorates of Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria. …