Thursday 23 April 2015

1.5 m Armenian Genocide recognized by all - 3.5 m Biafran Genocide denied by the world

1.5 m Armenian Genocide recognized by all 3.5 m Biafran Genocide denied by the world


That's one of the hush-hush topics across the world - the Biafran Genocide, which world powers helped to commit, Till date they have continued to deny it.

Today Armenians are canonizing their citizens who met their untimely death at the cruel hands of the Ottoman Turks.


On 24 April 1915, near the end of the Ottoman empire, more than 200 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul, most of whom were in government custody, were killed. More than a million of their kin were killed in the following year as part of a national program designed to quite literally decimate the Armenian populace of the crumbling empire.

The world today has accepted and recognized the Armenian Genocide. The genocide which took place a century ago is easily remembered and accepted, whereas the Biafran Genocide, which took place barely 48 years ago is TOTALLY forgotten.

In July 1966, the Yakubu Gowon-led Mohammedian Emirates of Northern Nigeria went into a spree of massacring Biafran soldiers  residing in the then Northern Region, after assassinating the then military Head of State, General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi. Hundreds of military officers from the Eastern Region of Nigeria were massacred in a premeditated pogrom designed to cripple the military might of Biafrans. This orgy of slaughter was soon extended to Biafrans residing in the Northern Region. Hundreds of thousands of Biafrans were massacred, which subsequently led to the exodus of Biafrans back to the Eastern Region. Fearing for their lives, the independence of the Republic of Biafra was declared.

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Gowon directed the death of over 4 million Biafrans between 1966 and 1970
Gowon-led Nigerians forces, supported by Britain, Russia, United States, Egypt and other world powers went into a genocidal spree which lasted for three years (1967-1968). At the end of the genocidal war over 4 million Biafrans lost their lives including children and women who were deliberately starved to death.

The 1949 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as:

"any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."Some analyst have said that the Biafran Genocide was conviniently ignored because it was a genocide committed by the world."

The catholic pontiff sparked the recent spate of recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Pope Francis during a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians on April 12 called the massacre by Ottoman Turks "the first genocide of the 20th century" and urging the international community to recognize it as such. 


Blood on his hands Gowon and co have continued to evade justice
Francis issued the pronouncement during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica attended by Armenian church leaders and President Serge Sarkisian, who praised the pope for calling a spade a spade and "delivering a powerful message to the international community."

"The words of the leader of a church with 1 billion followers cannot but have a strong impact," he told The Associated Press.

Like the Nigerian government, Turkey, continues to deny a genocide took place. It has insisted that the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. Turkey immediately responded to the popes recognition, by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and accusing Francis of spreading hatred and "unfounded claims." 

Several Europen Union countries and Israel have recognized the Armenian Genocide. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin endorsed the comments made by Pope Francis. “I will congratulate the Pope on these comments,” Rivlin said. “This is important to Christians, Jews, Muslims—to human beings.”

However, United States President Barack Obama has refused to use the word Genocide to describe the Armenian slaughter. This is despite Obama, as a senator in 2006 (before he sought to be elected to the highest office in the land) stating thus: “The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence.” 

Horrific images of Biafran children deliberately starved to death by Nigerian Government has continued to haunt the conscience of the world
The Armenian Church on Thursday conferred sainthood on 1.5 million Armenians massacred by Ottoman forces in 1915, in what is believed to be the biggest canonization service in history.

According to AFP, the ceremony outside Armenia's main cathedral, Echmiadzin, close to the capital Yerevan, ended at 7:15 pm local time, or 19:15 according to the 24-hour clock, to symbolize the year when the massacres started during World War I.

The ceremony came ahead of emotional commemorations expected to see millions including heads of state mark a hundred years since the start of the tragedy on Friday.

Rephrasing Obama's 2006 comment, "The Biafran Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence." Failure of the World to acknowledge and address is a slap on human rights, justice and equity!

The time has also come for the pope and other world powers to recognize Biafran Genocide for what it is - The 3rd GENOCIDE of the 20th Century after the Nazi Holocaust.

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