Biafran Ghosts

The MASSOB Ethnic Militia and Nigeria's Democratisation Process

Suspected Boko Haram members © Aminu Abubakar/IRIN

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), an ethnic militia, emerged in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria in 1999. MASSOB's stated goal is the struggle for Igbo self-determination and the re-emergence of a new sovereign state in Nigeria to be known as the 'United States of Biafra', thereby raising the specter of a possible breakup of the country. This paper examines the circumstances of MASSOB's emergence in a period of political transition and considerable uncertainty, and the specific ways the promoters of this ethnic militia movement have shaped Nigeria's still unfolding democratization process since 1999.

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