Severe malnutrition underlies all other Biafrian diseases. Severe anemia is widespread among children and pregnant women. Infectious diseases, including meales especially, hit hardest at the very young and the elderly. Tuberculosis, malaria, and dysentery also are prevalent. Hospitals are not only consistently bombed, but airplanes come in low and strafe the fleeing patients and staff.
Before the war, Biafrans, particularly the Ibos, had stood out among inhabitants of West Africa in literacy, youths admitted to universities, and general respect for learning. Many observers believe that the Ibos' high level of education, coupled with the extremely high number of managerial and professional posts they occupied, generated intense envy among the Nigerians. Now there is next to no formal education going on among the Biafrans. The University has closed completely. Only here and there through the area a number of primary schools hold classes in the forest so that the leaves will hide the children from enemy aircraft.
The Biafrian Mission Recommends:
1) The fundamental action needed to alleviate suffering in the Nigerian civil war is an immediate ceasefire, for this is the only way that food and medical relief can be adequately provided. 2) The atrocities being inflicted upon Biafrian civilians must be halted. 3) The Biafrans need a greatly expanded tonnage of relief supplies, especially food. To accomplish this,, in addition to the relief plane flights, a sea or land corridor must be opened up under international control. Only this method would be able to furnish Biafrans with the six to eight thousand tons of relief supplies needed each week.
The Mission also made suggestions in the following specific areas:
* Health -- The already existing campaign for vaccination against measles and smallpox should be widened so as to include more than 50 per cent of the population and health education plans should be instituted to spread information into the more remote areas.
* Agriculture -- Relief supplies -- insecticides, seeds, baby chicks, tools, etc.--should be made available to the Land Army, Biafra's farmers' corps.
* Education -- Bombing of schools should be stopped so that children can use school buildings, as well as to avert the carrying out of intellectual genocide against the next generation.
* Transportation -- In order to insure the adequate distribution of relief supplies, tires and spare parts for cars and trucks should be supplied when required along with lubricants, gas, and vehicle repair tools.
The Mission expressed deep dismay over the United States' and the United Nations'--except UNICEF--low level of involvement in the Biafrian crisis. The Mission proposes, in effect, four steps for the U.S. to take: 1) to play a more active role as a mediator in the negotiations leading to a cease fire and expanded relief. 2) To station in Biafra some medical and nutritional personnel to report possible solutions to the President. 3) To send a relief coordinator to Biafra who would work with voluntary agencies and with the Biafran physicians. 4) For this and similar situations which could arise in the future, the President should designate a Relief Advisor to work in a voluntary capacity as his consultant on problems of international relief.
Mayer would not comment on whether the report would hasten U.S. recognition of Biafra. However, he did observe that "arriving at some sort of accommodation is made easier by the fact that about four African states have recognized Biafra and France has made gestures that have enhanced Biafra's dignity as a nation." He added that the Biafrians' situation was similar to the Isrealis. Both countries are heavily intellectual groups set upon by less educated peoples who have superior numbers. "To borrow a phrase, the highly-civilized have been bombed back into living in caves," Mayer added. He pointed to the Biafrans' skill in setting up petroleum distilleries from scratch. "They are very inventive, and experiment constantly to find out how best to use their resources."
Mayer blasted the British -- who, along with the Russians, arm Nigeria--for their "clumsy, heavy-handed role in this conflict." He said he hoped President Nixon would convince Harold Wilson that Britain's policies in West Africa should be drastically changed.
THE ONE aspect of the situation which impressed the Mission most was the Biafrans' good spirits in the