Nigeria honours civil war "heroes" after 37 years
ABUJA (AFP) Mon Jan 15, 2007
President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerians to observe one minute silence in honour of soldiers that died during the country's bloody 30-month civil war which ended in January 1970.
"As we remember the gallant fallen heroes of our armed forces, I call on all Nigerians wherever they may be at 12.00 noon today, 15th January 2007 and every subsequent January 15th, to observe a one-minute silence in honour of our brave patriots," Obasanjo said in a nationwide broadcast Monday to mark Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
More than one million ethnic Igbos from southeast Nigeria died, mostly of hunger and disease, during the 30-month-long civil war between 1967 and 1970.
The war broke out when the Igbos, led by then Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu of the Nigerian army, launched a rebellion to form a separate state following allegations of ethnic cleansing, neglect and marginalisation against federal forces.
"That war was the refining fire that forged the enduring corporate existence and abiding unity of our dear country, Nigeria," Obasanjo said.
He said despite the country's participation in peacekeeping operations across the world, the civil war has had the greatest impact on the nations development.
"It was for this reason, lest we forget the sobering lessons of the civil war that the federal government decided to adopt January 15th every year as the Armed Forces Remembrance Day," he added.