Aba General Hospital Massacre

In many ways, the genocide inflicted upon the Igbo people of Nigeria during the 20th century is disturbingly akin to that of the Jewish Holocaust. The main difference between these two tragedies, however, is that one remains forever immortalized as a dark act in human history, while the other is suppressed and forgotten in the forests of time.

During the Nigerian-Biafran War, countries such as The Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, which formed the same coalition that toppled the Nazi war machine a mere twenty years earlier, failed to recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Biafra, in fear of forfeiting their economic and political interests and investments in Nigeria. These countries not only ignored the plight of the Igbo people, but directly financed and exported the very weapons which led to one of the bloodiest acts of genocide in sub-Saharan Africa.

In July 1968, Soviet-built Nigerian Migs (fighter-bombers) bombed and strafed the Aba general hospital (shown in this picture), killing and wounding hundreds of innocent civilians and non-combatants.

In that same year, when the Nigerian commander Major Benjamin Adekunle was asked of his army's intentions upon reaching the Igbo heartland, he replied "we will shoot at everything that moves; whether man, lizard, or goat." He is said to be responsible for the death of nearly 100,000 Igbo people.

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