By admin
Hello my beloved Biafran-war-reports readers !! and how are you all doing ? and I hope everyone is doing well ? Well lets get to it for this week and I think this topic though small, will still be of interest and will be interesting to read, because they’re actually letters written to the editor of the world renowned British Times broadsheet newspaper, this is the most respected paper in the UK and their opinions, have always carried water or weight and actually sways public opinions in many national and internations affairs.
So what I’m I actually getting at you may say ! well what I’m trying to say is that the British media during the Biafran war, was very stark with actual information about the brutality of this most devastating of civil wars, they seemed to under-report the atrocities of the Nigerian forces and, they also appeared to tow the British government line of only reporting as truth only what the Nigerian government had told them about the happenings in Biafra, you will all remember that Fredrick Forsyth resigned from the BBC and went independent, because he was told that the official policy of the BBC, was to keep mute and not report about the Biafran war, quite astonishing to think of.
So what happened ? what was causing these furore in the British media all of a sudden then ? well I guess sometimes, it’s good when a big name gets involved with war, because it helps to bring attention to the conflict and leads to certain actions, that save lives or puts the side contravening the Geneva Convention on war, on its toes and restrain themselves in their battle conduct.
Enter, Winston Churchill Jr. The grandson of the British 2nd World War hero Sir Winston Churchill Sr. He as a reporter flew to Biafra to see things for himself and mind you when he flew out, he was pro-Nigeria in his stance, but the Biafran propaganda so to speak, was having a huge effect on the British populace, who felt that genocide was being carried out in their name, and pictures and reels of dying malnourished children had become a scar on their conscience. These were some of the reasons why Churchill decided to visit Biafra rather than Lagos as was the norm, because a lot of reporters only stopped in lagos; recieved the Nigerian line of events and just relayed that back to London as gospel.
Winston Churchill Jr, got to Biafra and was shocked by what he witnessed, he quickly dropped his pro-Lagos stance on the war and just reported the plain truth about what he saw for himself, his 4-part report caused a huge sensation across Britain and forced Prime Minister Harold Wilson to schedule a visit to Lagos, and the Nigerian governemnt were force to issue statements refuting indiscrimate bombings of civilian targets and the British Parliament got on with debating the Biafran war and the humanitarian issues involved. Below is an excerpt from Winston Churchill’s visit to Biafra taken from the Times newspaper:
“There is a trace of boyishness in Churchill’s sandy hair, freckles and blue-eyed charm, but he is neither naive nor gullible. He doggedly pursued both sides of the confused and rumor-fed struggle in Nigeria, checked federal claims in Lagos against observable fact in Biafra. He carefully outlined his own clear conclusions in a long four-part series for the London Times. Churchill had started with the impression that starvation was exaggerated, bombing of civilians a myth and a federal victory imminent. He wound up appalled at the extent of the Ibo people’s suffering and amazed at their ability to hold off the better-armed federal troops. Moreover, he blasted Britain for supplying those arms”.
After his reports a lot of people wrote to the editor of the Times newspaper voicing their opinions on the Biafran conflict, so here’s the actual letters attached below, please read and share.
Please click on images to enlarge and please leave a comment below:
Ref:https://time.com/archive/6634111/reporters-more-than-a-name/
