Nigerian Civil War

===Rest of Africa===
Biafra appealed unsuccessfully for support from the [[Organisation of African Unity]] (OAU), the precursor to the [[African Union]]. The OAU, bound by its charter to oppose any secession from a member state, denounced Biafra's attempt to secede from Nigeria. Equally bound by its charter to refrain from interference in the internal affairs of its member states, the OAU took no further action.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kamanu |first1=Onyeonoro S. |title=Secession and the Right of Self-Determination: an O.A.U. Dilemma |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |date=September 1974 |volume=12 |issue=3 |page=373 |quote=The obligation to 'defend' the territorial status quo theoretically precludes the participation of the O.A.U. in any settlement of an internal conflict whose terms might favor the break-up of a member state. The dilemma this creates for the Organization was made startlingly and embarassingly apparent by the Nigerian-Biafran war. While one of the costliest wars in African history was raging out of control and hundreds of thousands of African lives were being lost, all the O.A.U. Assembly of Heads of State and Government could do was to reiterate its 'condemnation of secession in any Member State' and to 'send a consultative mission of 6 Heads of State...to the Head of the Federal Government of Nigeria to assure him of the Assembly's desire for the territorial integrity, unity and peace of Nigeria'. |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00009678 |s2cid=153949636 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/secession-and-the-right-of-selfdetermination-an-oau-dilemma/F3F8BC828CE731E8FE48703ED5A8E9E5 |language=en |issn=1469-7777}}</ref> Countries such as Ethiopia<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sadleman |first1=Stephen |title=The Ties That Divide |date=2000 |page=86 |publisher=Columbia University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8UzCgAAQBAJ&q=ethiopia+support&pg=PA87 |access-date=8 June 2018|isbn=9780231122290 }}</ref> and Egypt vocally supported the Nigerian government's policies in order to prevent inspiring revolts within their own borders.<ref name="HeertenMoses2014page175">Heerten & Moses, "The Nigeria–Biafra War" (2014), pp. 174–175. "Realising their slim chances on the battlefield, the Biafran leadership moved the conflict into the propaganda domain. The situation did not look promising for Biafra's propagandists in the international sphere, either. Governments of the global south were particularly hesitant. As many of them faced separatist movements at home, they were adamantly opposed to what they understood as illegitimate secession rather than the legitimate exercise of the Biafran's right to self-determination."</ref> However, Biafra received the support of African countries such as Tanzania,<ref>Malcolm MacDonald: ''Bringing an End to Empire'', 1995, p. 416.</ref><ref>''Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria'', 2001, p. 54.{{full citation needed|date=October 2022}}</ref><ref>''Africa 1960–1970: Chronicle and Analysis'', 2009, p. 423.{{full citation needed|date=October 2022}}</ref> Zambia, Gabon and Ivory Coast.<ref name="africamasterweb.com"/> [[Rhodesia]]n pilots smuggled weapons and money into Biafra, which Rhodesian intelligence chief [[Ken Flower]] claimed was part of the operations of Rhodesia's [[Central Intelligence Organisation]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Luise |title=Unpopular sovereignty: Rhodesian independence and African decolonization |date=2015 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago (Ill.) |isbn=9780226235226}}</ref>