In 1967, an ethnic conflict broke out in Biafra, pitting the central Nigerian government against the Ibos ethnic group, the majority of whom live in the eastern province of Biafra. The authorities launched a blockade, causing a near-genocidal famine. Gilles Caron travelled to the region four times and produced a report that attested to the scale of the disaster and left a lasting impression on people’s minds.

In agreement with the former British colonial power, Nigeria gradually gained independence in 1960. At the time, it was the most populous country in Africa, with significant oil resources. In 1966, the role of the central government was strengthened at the expense of a division of power between three provinces. In the predominantly Muslim north, the largely Christian Ibos population was the victim of massacres. After months of conflict and cruelty aimed at wiping out the rebel soldiers and civilians in Biafra, the country’s eastern province where the Ibos population is in the majority, a milestone was reached in 1967 with a political solution of last resort: that year, the province of Biafra declared its independence through its military governor, Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu. It was the start of the civil war.

Less numerous and under-equipped, the Biafran troops received military aid from France and the help of European mercenaries. Nigeria, for its part, was supported by Great Britain. Rather than launch a massive invasion, the central government imposed a blockade that led to terrible famine. The Nigerians completely sealed off Biafran territory, so that nothing could enter or leave: food, medicines and personnel could no longer circulate, leaving only the gradual agony of an entire ethnic group as an option. By condemning nearly 14 million people to hunger, disease and the injuries that follow, the authorities are showing their determination and sliding dangerously towards genocide.

By thwarting the blockade and encouraging journalists to come and publicise the situation, the Biafran leaders tried to mobilise public opinion for the cause of independence. During 1968, media campaigns, particularly in France, were conducted to collect donations. Images of skeletal children aroused strong collective emotions, while the use of the term « genocide », particularly by the French authorities, revived memories of the Word War II. Non-governmental organisations and Christian clergy present in Biafra organised humanitarian aid. After a strategy of suffocation, the Nigerian government regained control of the province in 1970.

Gilles Caron travelled to Biafra four times during the conflict: first in October 1967 to investigate the disappearance of a colleague in the field, then in April, July and November 1968 to report on the situation. These repeated visits testified to the importance of the problem and the essential role of the press in mobilising public opinion, so that it could play a part in bringing the conflict to an end. During his first visit as a reporter, in April, Gilles Caron concentrated mainly on the army and the fighting between the Nigerians in favor of the government and the Biafran rebels. The acts of cruelty were numerous already and gave the measure of the disaster in progress.

It was especially during his second trip in July, during which he devoted 36 rolls of film to the famine, that Gilles Caron, like other photojournalists, played a key role. The images he produced of emaciated children with swollen bellies and desperate look in their eyes travelled around the world and triggered a surge of awareness in the West, which then seriously grasped the scale of the problem. The presence of Catholic missionaries and humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross, while helping to limit the damages, did not seem to be able to halt the process of famine that swept over the Ibos like a cataclysm. With this report, Gilles Caron finds himself at the limits of his practice and faced with a question of conscience: should he produce images that are on the verge of being unbearable or, on the contrary, favour a form of solemnity in the way he reports on the conflict? He asks himself these questions, aware that things need to be shown as they are in order to mobilise public and political opinion, and at the same time doubting the ability of his images to make a real difference. By this time, Gilles Caron had become one of the key figures in this crisis in photojournalism, to the extent that he was invited on public television to give more details of what he had seen in Biafra. His Gamma agency, keen to provide a full, fair and faithful account of his experiences, published a book entitled La Mort du Biafra! illustrated with Caron’s photographs and accompanied by an account by journalist Floris de Bonneville to guarantee the authenticity of the facts described. Essential for understanding the situation, Caron’s report (which also appeared in other press titles such as Paris-Match) made a lasting impression and became part of our collective visual memory.

During his last visit in November, Gilles Caron documented the role of European mercenaries, reminding us that, beyond the victims of famine, the conflict is being waged by armed men guided by geopolitical interests.

1968, Nigeria, Biafra, war, rebellion, uprising, Nigerian Civil War…