Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), a civil war in Nigeria caused by the attempted secession of Biafra
The coup, despite its failure, was wrongly perceived as having benefited mostly the Igbo because most of the known coup plotters were Igbo.
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Although the area contained many different groups, the three predominant groups were the Igbo, which formed between 60–70% of the population in the southeast; the Hausa-Fulani, which formed about 65% of the peoples in the northern part of the territory; and the Yoruba, which formed about 75% of the population in the southwestern part.
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The conflict was the result of economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions mainly between the Hausas of north and the Igbo of the southeast of Nigeria.
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Bernard Kouchner was one of a number of French doctors who volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra.
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Several peace accords, especially the one held at Aburi, Ghana (the Aburi Accord), collapsed and the shooting war soon followed.
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On 29 May 2000, The Guardian (Nigeria) reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war.
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During the 1940s and 1950s the Igbo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the fight for independence from Britain.
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The war became notorious for the starvation of some of the besieged regions during the war, and consequent claims of genocide by the largely Igbo people of the region.
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Venter has reported on a number of wars in Africa, starting with the Nigerian Civil War in 1965, where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague Frederick Forsyth, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time.
Major (Dr.) Albert Nwazu Okonkwo was briefly the Military Administrator of the Mid-Western State of Nigeria in mid-1967 during an attempt to establish the region as the independent Republic of Benin early in the Nigerian Civil War.
On 6 July 1967 the Nigerian army invaded Biafra resulting in the Battle of Nsukka and ultimately the commencement of the Biafran War.
Notable sons of Bayelsa State include veteran novelist and poet Gabriel Okara; pioneering Nigerian journalist and pre-independent freedom fighter Ernest Ikoli; Nigerian Civil War hero Major Isaac Adaka Boro (Nigerian Army) and Canadian Olympic gold medalist and world wrestling champion Daniel Igali; and former National Team footballers Finidi George and Samson Siasia, Olympic / under-20s coach.
He reported from numerous countries around the world, providing coverage of major events including the Vietnam War, the Nigerian Civil War, and the Arab–Israeli conflict.
He returned to Nigeria in 1963, where he joined the Ministry of Justice in the Eastern Region of Nigeria, until 1967 when the Nigerian Civil War broke out and he joined the Biafran Army, rising to the rank of major.
He rose to the level of Lt. Commander of the 4th Commando Brigade in the Biafran Army during the Nigerian Civil War, and later served with the Anyanya rebels in southern Sudan.