Sir: Robert Horton (Letters. 21 June) no doubt writes with
passion to advance the Federal Nigerian government's claim that their troops are in Biafra to 'liberate' the non-Ibos from what he calls the 'Ibo political and economic domination of their region' (Biafra). And he goes on to paint a picture deliberately calcu- lated to suggest that the vast majority, or per- haps all, of the non-Ibos in Biafra are violently opposed to the State of Biafra and would, by inference (though one may prefer to add, given a choice), like to remain in the Nigerian federa- tion.
One hopes Robert Horton would agree that the fairest and most convincing way to estab- lish (or refute) this contention is for the Federal Nigerian government and the Biafran government to agree to a plebiscite under neutral supervision in the non-Ibo areas of Biafra. The result of such a plebiscite should, of course, be binding on both governments. It is common knowledge that the Biafran govern- ment have agreed to such a plebiscite being held in any disputed areas in and outside Biafra, but as far as I know the Nigerian government have remained silent on the point. I think the Nigerian government's smugly sanctimonious posture as the 'liberator' of the 'oppressed' minorities in Biafra would be far more strengthened by their agreeing to this demo- cratic means of determining the true wishes of the minorities than by all the unproven claims made by and for that government by supporters like Robert Horton.
Robert Horton tells us that . . a cease-fire, forced upon or voluntarily agreed to by the Federal government, will not lead to reciprocal action by the Ibo leaders. On the contrary, it will lead first to an airlifted arms build-up, and then to a major Ibo offensive aimed not only at regaining the oil- and land-rich minority areas of the old Eastern Region, but also at the conquest of the more attractive neighbouring areas of the rest of Nigeria. . . f But Robert Horton forgets to tell us that he has no means of knowing what is in the minds of the Ibo leaders, and to pretend, as he does, to know what the Ibo leaders would do in the event of a cease- fire is not really impressive. The Biafran dele- gation at the Kampala peace talks revealed that the Biafran government would be willing during a cease-fire to accept inspection at points of entry into Biafra and Nigeria to ensure that there was no arms build-up by either side while talks on a permanent settlement continued. Would the Nigerian government agree?
Robert Horton's concluding paragraph could win for Biafra more friends titan enemies. Only this gentleman knows exactly what he means by . . the broth of confused emotions and shady financial interests that slops about in the
pot labelled "Liberialism" . . One can only hope that he is not referring to such bodies as the World Council of Churches, the Church Missionary Society, the Church of Scotland, the Roman Catholic Church, or the Interna- tional Red Cross, or to those MPS of all parties (and the recent debate in the House of Com- mons showed them to be probably in the majority) who are opposed to Her Majesty's Government's policy on Biafra. Or could he'be referring to such financial interests as Shell- BP, Unilever, the UAC, to name but a few, which are known not to be supporting the Biafran government?
Robert Horton hopes that . . Mr Wilson will trust the Federal government to conclude this unpleasant business in a humane way, and will supply it with any arms still required for
the purpose . . (italics mine). Who or what Mr Wilson trusts is Mr Wilson's own business, but it may be worth reminding your readers that Robert Horton is hoping that Mr Wilson will trust a federal government '. . . whose [army] commanders have freely confessed to correspondents that they cannot stop their men from killing Biafran civilians on sight . . (Guardian, 3 June 1968), a federal government waging a war which has been described by such observers as Monsignor Rochau, a Papal Dele- gate to both Nigeria and Biafra, as 'veritable genocide' (Le Monde, 13 April 1968). Anybody who can trust such a government can trust any- thing.
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