1960
October 1
Nigeria gains its independence from the United Kingdom. Its first government was a coalition of conservative parties that came into power on the platform of colonial independence.
![Associated Press photo of Nigerian Independence talk](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_oct-1-1960_Nigerian-Independence.png)
1966
January 15
Coup d’état led by Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and other junior Army officers, including the murder of numerous Northern political leaders. It is often referred to as “The Coup of the Five Majors”
![Headline reads "Balewa and Okot'eboh missing"](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Nigerian-Times-Jan-16-1966.jpeg)
January 16
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, head of the Nigerian Army, who aided in coup suppression efforts in the South, is declared head of state
![Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, head of the Nigerian Army](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Aguyi-Ironsi-v2-1024x577.jpeg)
January 17
Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu becomes Military Governor of the Eastern Region. At the time, only 15 of Nigeria’s 250 military officers were Nigerian.
![Photograph of Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu speaking into a microphone](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Ojukwu.png)
July 29
Mutiny by northern soldiers at the Abeokuta barracks leads to a counter-coup in which many Northern and Western leaders were killed. Ultimately, Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon was appointed as Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces
![Portrait of General Yakubu Gowan](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-01-at-1.11.11-PM-810x1024.png)
September 29
Considered to be the deadliest days during a series of pogroms against Igbo people in the North. In response, hundreds of thousands of persecuted Igbo flee to the Eastern region
![](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-01-at-11.04.07-AM.png)
1967
May 30
Three days after Yakubu Gowon announces the creation of 12 states, Ojukwu declares independence for the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria
![Ojukwu declares the independence of the Republic of Biafra](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_1967-05-30.png)
June
The Federal Military Government (FMG) of Nigeria places an embargo on the shipping of goods to and from Biafra. A complete embargo begins at the end of June 1967. The ICRC plays a leading role in arranging deliveries of aid, working with the FMG and not defying the blockade
![Federal Military Government places an embargo on the shipping of goods to and from Biafra](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline-loading.jpeg)
July 6
War begins when Nigerian Federal troops advanced two columns into Biafra and began to attack Biafran soldiers
![Map shows the advancement of Nigerian Federal troops attacking Biafran soldiers between May 30, 1967 and August 1967](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Biafra_progressive_reduction_in_size_1967_1970.jpeg)
December
Irish Catholics sum up a sense of devastation regarding the failure of the Biafran state and establish a campaign that sought to send money and support to Biafra
![Reporter speaks into a microphone on location in Biafra](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_LeMass-RTE-Night-Flight-to-Uli-1024x783.png)
1968
January 26
War reaches a stalemate, and neither side is able to make significant gains
![A soldier walking through ruins](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Magnum-Barbey-Ogoja-1967-Soldier-bldgs-1024x696.jpeg)
January 29
First introduction of Biafran currency. When the new currency was announced, there were frantic efforts from many Biafrans to exchange their holdings
![Biafran five-shilling notes](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Bank-of-Biafra-5-shillings-968x1024.jpeg)
March 27
First airlift into city of Port Harcourt, organized by Father Anthony Byrne, who also managed the Catholic relief operations in Biafra
![Father Anthony Byrne stands in front of three planes](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Father-Tony-Byrne-1024x743.png)
April
British photojournalist Don McCullin arrives in Biafra. One of his most famous photographs entitled “Albino Boy” was taken the following year in 1969
![Two starving children](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_McCullin-very-starving-child-copy-1.jpg)
May 4
Photographs from Biafra/Nigeria taken by French photojournalist Gilles Caron appear in Paris Match
![photograph of a person carrying weapons on their head](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Caron-photo-with-weapons.png)
June 26
The government of the Republic of Biafra releases a “Charge to Humanity” statement outlining the deteriorating situation in Biafra
![Copy of a charge to humanity statement](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Charge-to-Humanity.jpeg)
July
Founding of the American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive, an organization with a mission to inform and educate Americans about the Nigeria-Biafra War
![Headline of an article is "6 million," emaciated children are photographed, caption reads "Dear God, not again. Does this scene look familiar? It should. It was only twenty-five years ago that similar scenes scarred the face of Europe, while nations turned their heads and said they did not know. You don't have that excuse"](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_ACKBA-6-million.gif)
July 20
World Council of Churches (WCC) meets in Sweden and discusses relief actions taken since outbreak of Nigeria-Biafra War and what to do going forward
![Two men speaking](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Dr-Ibiam-of-WCC.jpeg)
July 12
Photographs of Biafran children appear on the cover of Life Magazine with headline “Starving Children of Biafra War”
![Cover of LIFE magazine](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Life-cover.jpeg)
August 7
The announcement of the formation of the American Jewish Emergency Effort for Biafran Relief
![a booklet with the words "Auschu Biafra" with two skeleton illustrations on it](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_A-is-for.jpeg)
August 14
OAU opens Nigeria Biafra Peace Conference in Addis Ababa.
![OAU flag](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_OAU-flag-1024x683.jpg)
September 8
The New York Times publishes “The ‘Point of No Return’ For the Biafrans,” an article written by Lloyd Garrison
![Garrison Lloyd at a checkpoint in Biafra](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Garrison-Lloyd-at-checkpoint-in-Biafra.jpeg)
September 8
Republican Candidate Richard Nixon issues Call for American Action on Biafra
![Nixon speaks to a crowd holding up his hands in peace symbol](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Nixon-1968.jpg)
September 13
The National Council of Churches in the United States of America meets in Houston, Texas, and condemns the mass starvation occurring in Biafra, calling it a “human tragedy” and appealing for increased humanitarian relief
![Volunteer offers aid to Biafran children in a school](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_V-P-NG-N-00039-22A-660x1024.jpeg)
October 4
James MacCracken, Executive Director of the Church World Service (CWS) of the National Council of Churches, delivers statement before Senate Foreign Relations Committee concerning assistance in Nigeria and Biafra
![Statement from the Senate Relations Committee Concerning Relief Assistance](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Senate-Statement.jpeg)
November
Joint Church Aid (JCA) forms and consists of churches from 33 countries that worked together to increase the flow of aid to Biafra
![Plane with words "Joint Church Aid" written on its side](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Joint-Church-Aid-prop-plane-1024x682.jpeg)
1969
February 22
Nixon appoints Dr. Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. as the U.S. Special Coordinator on Relief to the Civilian Victims of the Nigeria Civil War
![Dr. Clarence Clyde Ferguson Jr. at Howard](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Clyde-Ferguson-at-Howard-1024x1009.png)
May
Biafrans commence land offensive reinforced by foreign mercenary pilots, attacking military airfields in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Ughelli, and Benin City
![Biafran mercenary pilot flying above military airfields](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_pilot.jpeg)
May 9
A squad of Biafran commandoes attack an oil facility belonging to an Italian oil company on the west bank of the River Niger
![Article Detailing the Biafran Raid of an Oil Field in Kwale](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-01-at-2.07.32-PM-1024x702.png)
May 27
Gowon declares the division of Nigeria in 12 states, which includes splitting the Eastern Region into three parts
![Map outlines the states of Nigeria in 1967-1976: from left to right descending, Northwestern State, Kaduna, Kano, Northeastern State, Kwara, Benue-Plateau State, Western State, Bendel, East Central State, Cross River, Lagos, Rivers](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Nigeria_states-1967-1976.png)
June 5
Red Cross ceases air deliveries to aid Biafra after a plane with relief supplies is shot down by the Nigerian airforce
![Depicts the ruined wing of a Red Cross plane strewn on the ground](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/1969-07-05-ICRC-plane-crash-1.jpg)
June 30
Nigeria bans International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid to Biafra. Meanwhile, the American Jewish Emergency Effort for Biafran Relief has raised a total of $185,000
![Article: headline is "Have you ever seen millions of children starving to death? Now you have."](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Have-You-Seen.png)
1970
January 7
Nigerian forces launch their offensive called “Operations Tail Wind,” which succesfully conquers towns of Owerri and Uli within 5 days
![Map depicting the Operation Tailwind strategy, which consists of flanking the enemy on both sides](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/operation-tailwind.jpeg)
January 15
Official surrender papers signed by Biafran General Philip Effiong, deputy to Ojukwu who had fled to the Ivory Coast a few days prior
![Soldiers walk toward on a road, a sign in the background says "to ensure Biafra's freedom we must stem Nigerian aggression"](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/07/timeline_Nigerians-enter-Biafra-w-sign-1024x679.jpeg)
1971
December 20
Médcins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) is founded in Paris by several doctors who volunteered in Biafra and were frustrated by the ICRC and international community’s response to the crisis. Bernard Kouchner is the most well-known spokesperson for the group
![Founding members of Doctors Without Borders sitting around a conference table](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/doctors-without-borders.jpeg)
1985
July
The National War Museum, commissioned in Umuahia, Nigeria, inaugurates the process of national reconciliation and healing with a collection of objects from both traditional and modern warfare, outdoor displays of warships, military aircraft, armored tanks, and “Ogbunigwe” – bombs produced locally by Biafra during the Nigerian civil war.
![Front of the National War Museum building](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/national-war-museum.jpeg)
2006
September 12
Nigerian author Chimamada Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, a novel about the Nigeria-Biafra War, is published
![Cover of Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/half-of-a-yellow-sun-664x1024.jpeg)
2012
September 27
Publication of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s memoir, “There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra,” written about coming of age during the Nigeria-Biafra War
![Cover of There Was a Country by Chinua Achebe](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/there-was-a-country.jpeg)
2017
April 21
The George Washington University’s Institute for African Studies hosts an international conference on the Nigeria-Biafra war featuring scholars, activists, literary writers, and many other prominent academicians
![Photo of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on stage with Melani McAlister at the Remembering Biafra Conference](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/remembering-biafra.jpeg)
2018
January 11
An art exhibition, titled Legacies of Biafra, was held at the University of London to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Nigeria – Biafra civil war and explore the legacies of the British colonial divide and rule policy
![Flyer for the Legacies of Biafra Art Exhibition](https://blogs.gwu.edu/elliott-biafra/files/2022/08/legacies-of-biafra-1024x576.jpeg)