There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (38 page)

Okongwu, Sonny Chu, 17

Okonkwo, Major Albert Nwazu, 131

Okoye, Major, 159

Okpara, Dr. Michael I., 91, 119

“Old Order in Conflict with the New, The,” 33

Onabanjo, Bisi, 37

Onenyi, Okudo, 146–47

Onosode, Gamaliel, 27

Oral tradition.
See
Igbo traditions; Storytelling

Organization of African Unity (OAU), 96–99, 136–37

Oshuntokun, Oluwokayo, 28

Osinyi, Udoh (great-uncle), 7, 12–14

as
ozo
(religious official), 12–13

Otamiri deity, 18

Owerri (Biafra), 149, 217–18, 223

Oyo kingdom, 1–2

Oyolu, Dr., 159

Oyono, Ferdinand, 53

Ozo
(religious official), 12–13

Palm-Wine Drinkard, The
(Tutuola), 57, 113

Pan-African flag, 151

Parks, Rosa, 103

Parrinder, Dr., 33–34

Passport of Mallan Ilia, The
(Ekwensi), 109

Paton, Alan, 53

Paul VI, Pope, 134, 219, 230–31

“Penalty of Godhead,” 84

People’s Redemption Party, 46, 244

Phelps, Gilbert, 37–38

Poetry, African, great works of past, 53

Pogroms, Igbo genocide, 67, 82–83, 92, 95, 123

“Polar Undergraduate,” 33

Portugal, Nigeria-Biafra war, response to, 104–5

Protest literature, 58–59

Queen’s College (Lagos), 20

Queen’s Own Nigeria Regiment, 119

Radio broadcasts, during war, 183, 259–65

Radio Nigeria, 183

“Refugee Mother and Child (A Mother in a Refugee Camp)
, 168

Rent-a-crowd, 69, 248

Republic of Biafra, 143–68

administrative functions, 150

Ahiara Declaration, 143–49

Biafran Organization of Freedom Fighters (BOFF), 159–60

Biafran spirit during war, 171–72

capital city, 149, 176

Chinua, on new-nation committees, 143–49

creation of, 91–92, 128

ethnic groups of, 150

flag of, 151

intellectual foundation of, 143–49

military and armaments of, 153–60

national anthem of, 151–53

National Guidance Committee, 144–49

-Nigerian war.
See
Nigeria-Biafra war

population (1967), 150

post-war devastation, 227

relief efforts, 154–55, 164–66, 194

secession, Nigerian position on, 96–97

secession, supporters of, 91, 97–98

Road, The
(Soyinka), 109

Robertson, Sir James, 49–51

Rocheau, Monsignor Georges, 134

Romain, Jacques, 164

Rotimi, Ola, 114

St. Jorre, John de, 120, 128–29

St. Michael’s School (Aba), 16, 17–18

St. Philip’s Central School (Ogidi), 15–17

St. Philip’s Church (Ogidi), 11–12

Salih, al-Tayyib, 113

Sardauna of Sokoto, 51, 81

Sardaunians, 51

Saro-Wiwa, Ken, 25

Sartre, Jean-Paul, 139, 164

Scandinavia, Chinua as Biafran envoy to, 164–65

Schlesinger, Arthur M., 231

Schreiner, Olive, 53

Scramble for Africa, 1

Segun, Mabel, 27, 113–14

Selassie, Haile, 211

Senegal, Chinua as Biafran envoy to, 160–64

Senghor, Léopold Sédar, 160–64

Shell Camp, 193–94

Shuwa, Mohammed, 132–33, 136, 139, 173

Simpson, W. C., 25

Simpson, William, 23

Sisulu, Walter, 163, 258

Slater, A. P. L., 25

Smith, Arnold, 167

Smith, Harold, 50

Society of Nigerian Authors (SONA), 57, 63

Sofola, Zulu, 28

Sokoto Caliphate, 46

Solarin, Dr. Tai, 114

South Africa, Mandela as model leader, 258

Sovereign National Conference, 252–53

Soviet Union, Nigeria-Biafra war, response to, 104, 154

Soyinka, Wole, 28, 52, 63, 107, 115, 164

antiwar activism of, 109–10

Starvation

of Biafrans, 195, 199, 209–10, 226, 231

as weapon of war.
See
Genocide

Stewart, Michael, 214

Stone, R. H., 25

Story of an African Farm
(Schreiner), 53

Storytelling, 8–9

African epics, 53

as beneficent fiction, 57

Chinua’s early exposure to, 8–9

Sunset at Dawn: A Novel about Biafra
(Ike), 156–57

Swados, Harvey, 105

Swamp Dweller, The
(Soyinka), 109

Tambo, Oliver, 258

Thant, U, 211–12

Thelwell, Michael, 38

Things Fall Apart

appeal to readers, 39

publishing of, 38

reception/reviews, 38–39

typing of manuscript, near fiasco, 35–37

writing of, 35–39, 61

Thiong’o Ngúgí wa, 113

Thomas, Dylan, 113

Thurmond, Strom, 221–22

Tiffin, Helen, 38

Tigrigna writings, 53

Tiv people, 47

Trial of Christopher Okigbo
(Mazrui), 56

Trials of Brother Jero, The
(Soyinka), 109

Trouble with Nigeria, The
, 74, 249

Tutuola, Amos, 53, 57, 113

Tyler, Priscilla, 38

Uchendu, Major Jonathan, 173

Udoji, Jerome, 91

Uganda, Chinua as Biafran envoy to, 166–67

Ugoh, Dr. Sylvester, 150

Ukwu, Dr. Ukwu I., 159

Uli airport, 154–55

Ume-Ezeoke, Philip, 70

Umuahia (Biafra), 149

United Nations, neglect, and Nigeria-Biafra war, 211–13

United States

Chinua as Biafran envoy to, 167

Nigeria-Biafra war, response to, 102–4, 139–40, 210–11, 221–22, 231

University College (Ibadan), 26–29, 33–35

University Herald
, 33

University of Biafra, 111

Urhobo people, 47

Uwechue, Raph, 125

Uyanga people, 150

Uzochukwu, Benjamin, 24

Visser’t Hooft, Willem, 166

Vonnegut, Kurt, 105–6

Von Rosen, Carl Gustaf, 154–55, 165

“Vultures,” 204–5

Wachukwu, Jaja, 26

Walcott, Derek, 164

Warrant chiefs, 2

Washington, Booker T., 163

Wasp (Anwu), 108

Waugh, Auberon, 105

“We Laughed at Him,” 196–98

Welch, James, 34

West, Richard, 171–72

West Africa.
See also
Nigeria

ancient kingdoms of, 1–2, 47

in British empire.
See
British colonial rule

Ghana independence, 40–41

newspapers of, 42

West African Pilot, The
, 42–43

“Who Cares About Biafra Anyway?” (Blum), 212–13

Wiesel, Elie, 249

Wilkins, Roy, 104

Williams, Grace Alele, 27

Wilson, Angus, 38

Wilson, Harold, pro-Nigerian position of, 99–101, 105, 106, 213–14, 229, 232

World Bank, on missing Nigerian national funds, 249–50

World Council of Churches, 165–66

World War II, 44, 48

Yako people, 150

Yoruba people, 45, 47

Igbo dominance over, 74

A
LSO BY
C
HINUA
A
CHEBE

The Education of a British-Protected Child

Collected Poems

Anthills of the Savannah

The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories

Things Fall Apart

No Longer at Ease

Chike and the River

A Man of the People

Arrow of God

Girls at War and Other Stories

Beware Soul Brother

Morning Yet on Creation Day

The Trouble with Nigeria

The Flute

The Drum

Home and Exile

Hopes and Impediments

How the Leopard Got His Claws

(with John Iroaganachi)

Winds of Change: Modern Short Stories from Black Africa

(coeditor)

African Short Stories

(editor, with C. L. Innes)

Another Africa

(with Robert Lyons)