Unforgotten Biafra 50 Years Later

摘要

Fifty years ago, a civil war broke out in Nigeria (May 1967January 1970), causing an estimated one million civilian deaths, mostly among starving children and the elderly, and more than 100 000 deaths among military forces on both sides. In 1967, for the first time ever, the massive impact of warfare on a civilian population could be witnessed almost in real time on televisions worldwide, often during viewers' dinnertime. The media displayed images of starving and dying children who were bloated with kwashiorkor while others were barely surviving with nutritional marasmus and were referred to as "shrimp babies" or "Biafran babies." These images played an important role in shifting global public opinion and creating widespread empathy for the victims. These atrocities were unfolding merely a few decades following the World War II genocide, which was fresh in people's minds and should "never again" happen. Today, the unbearable images of the victims of the Biafran War remain in our collective memory, even among those who were not yet born at that time.