Within the meaning of the Act
Sir: Mr Auberon Waugh's article on genocide 16 December) makes compelling reading and you should be congratulated for publishing it. But the correspondence provoked by Mr Angus Buchanan (Letters, 13 December) is in danger of making calm discussion impossible.
The Nigerian position can be thus briefly stated: 1. An independent Biafra consisting entirely of Iboland is economically unviable and landlocked. 2. An independent Iboland would pose an aggressive threat to Nigeria and would precipitate disintegration in Nigeria and in Africa. 3. Biafra must be crushed at all costs. But Colonel Ojukwu should trust Gowon and hand the Ibos over to him for 're-integration.'
The Biafran position is that: 1. An indepen- dent Biafra freely decided upon by plebiscite is economically viable—rich in palm produce, minerals, oil (66 per cent of Biafra's oil lies in Iboland) and human resources. Opobo, belong-
ing to the Ubani Ibos is an Ibo outlet to the sea. 2. An independent Biafra would enter Common Market arrangements with Nigeria and would ease the major irritants that made the Nigerian Federation unworkable—rivalries between I bos, Yorubas and Hausas and others. 3. Far from weakening Africa, the principle of self-deter- mination if respected can only lead to peace and cooperation in peace and mutual respect.
The fact is that no one believes that it makes
economic sense to bomb or starve the Ibos to death in order to provide for the Ibos a higher standard of living. In fact, it makes no sense at all. If the Nigerians continue to reject an un- conditional ceasefire and continue to refuse a demilitarised land corridor for refugee relief then there is bound to be a tragedy which will reduce Biafra to a desolate place half cemetery and half concentration camp.
It is in Britain's interest to suggest self-deter- mination in Biafra if only because the bour- geois people of Biafra represent the only credible counter to the Russian menace in Lagos. For Britain to help Russia win the war is simply a question of lambs and lions lying down together. Mr Wilson must act now and use his much-vaunted influence in Lagos to pro- duce an unconditional ceasefire.
F. Iheanacho Okole Pembroke College. Oxford
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