Shops, schools and businesses were shut in south-east Nigeria,
on Tuesday, 50 years to the day since an independent Republic of Biafra was
declared, sparking a brutal civil war.
In Onitsha, the economic hub of Anambra State on the banks
of the River Niger, most markets were closed and the streets were largely empty
of people and traffic.
Separatist sentiment persists in the region, which is
dominated by the Igbo people, and the main pro-Biafran independence group has
called on supporters to stay at home.
“No work today, we are Biafran, we are not Nigerians,” said
Ebere Ichukwu Eli, one of the few people to venture outside, where there was a
visible security presence.
“No violence, it is a peaceful sit at home. We are
protesting peacefully,” the 47-year-old told AFP.
A woman who gave her name only as Justine, said: “The market
is closed today. I’m just going home to stay with my children.
“We want our one Biafra. It’s our land. That’s why we all
sit at home today.”
The closures were either to commemorate the anniversary in
support or because of fears of violence, local people said.
Nigerian police last week denounced “planned protests and
order of market closures” and warned it would “deal decisively” with any breach
of the peace or unlawful protest.
Last year, demonstrations marking the declaration of Biafran
independence turned bloody. Amnesty International said the military gunned down
more than 60 people.
Since August 2015, more than 150 people have been killed in
pro-Biafra protests, said Amnesty’s Nigeria director Osai Ojigho. Nigeria’s
government denies the claim.
“We urge the Nigerian security agencies to conduct
themselves in a manner that will ensure public order without resorting to
force,” he added.
Amnesty said the security forces had arrested more than 100
members of pro-Biafran separatist groups in the run-up to Tuesday’s
anniversary.
Calls for independence never disappeared even after the
30-month civil war, which left more than one million dead, most of them Igbos,
mainly from starvation and disease.
Many people accuse the government of failing to invest in
the southeast since the end of the war in 1970, blighting development. Some see
it as a punishment for the conflict.
Support for secession has increased since the arrest in late
2015 of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the pro-independence Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) movement.
(AFP)
