Hail Biafra
Sir: In reply to Mr Waugh (9 August): I. Of course I am aware that hundreds of thousands of Ibos fled their homes. But they did so because they were told by the rebels that otherwise they would be killed by the Federal army, and the point of my story was to show that this was a lie.
2. In spite of Mr Waugh's scepticism I still prefer Dr Martin's evidence of what was hap- pening in a region where he was stationed and Mr Waugh could only know of by hearsay.
3. I was asked not to reveal the identities of the two Bishops, as some of their flocks have been victims of rebel atrocities and others may be exposed to reprisals. I am however com- municating their names to Mr Waugh privately.
4. Since I am not in the confidence of Her Majesty's Government I cannot comment on Mr Waugh's assertion that only British pressure prevented agreement between Colonel Ojukwa and General Gowon and led to the present war, except to say that on the face of it it strikes me as wildly improbable.
5. To deprive the Federal government of arms would be intervention in favour of the rebels, which is why the Biafra lobby is press- ing so hard for it.
6. To lose the good will of thirty million Nigerian's, thereby jeopardising British invest- ment in and trade with Nigeria, for the sake of an independent Biafra which has been rejected, not only by its non-Ibo population but even by the more responsible Ibos, and is not a viable state, would in my opinion be pure lunacy.
As for Mr Waugh's insinuation, he is pre- sumably alluding to the fact that in company with Mr Douglas Brown of the Sunday Tele- graph, Mr Geraghty of the Sunday Times, Mr Ian Mather of the Daily Mail, Mr Peter Snow of rrv, and a number of other reputable journ- alists I recently visited Nigeria as a guest of the Federal government, I could as easily accuse Mr Waugh of working for the Ameri- can firm of public relations consultants who have been providing 'facilities' for British journalists to visit Biafra, and making sure that they get their full quota of horrors.
George Martelli Wooth Manor, Bridport
Auberon Waugh is at present abroad, but Mr Martelli's final paragraph cannot be allowed to stand unanswered. Whereas Mr Waugh and the other journalists mentioned by Mr Martelli were sent to cover the Nigeria/Biafra war by their respective newspapers (and TV networks), Mr Martelli is a free-lance whose only published article arising from his trip is scheduled to appear in the next issue of the official bulletin of the Nigerian High Commission in London, a publication produced by the Federal government's public relations consultants, Messrs Galitzine, Chant, Russell and Partners. —Editor, SPECTATOR.
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