(The Nationalist, 16 February 2007)
In 1968, civil war broke out in Nigeria. The south-east of the country, rich in oil, broke away from the rest, setting itself up as Biafra. As is usually the case in war, issues were not clear-cut. Though oil was the main issue, the south-east was predominantly Christian, and feared dominance by the overwhelmingly Muslim north. To complicate matters further, the civilian government had been overthrown in a military coup led by northern officers.
Initially, Biafra had great military success, and came close to capturing Lagos, the federal capital. But it gained little international recognition, except from France. Eventually, the federal army, through its access to military supplies, turned the tide of battle. Biafra was squeezed by a blockade imposed by the federal government. Food supplies began to run out. The federal army saw this as an opportunity and intensified the blockade. Two million people, half of them children, died of starvation and disease. (The world watched it on TV, but did nothing.) Biafra surrendered.
The federal government leader, Yakubu Gowon, pursued a policy of reconciliation, but was soon overthrown by other officers with their eyes on the oil. The south-east was marginalized in the political settlement that followed.
Today, the situation there has not changed greatly. The war, the blockade, and the deaths by starvation, have not been forgotten; oil is still a contentious issue; there are many kidnappings of oil company staff; there is huge environmental degradation, and frequent fatalities resulting from fires when people try to siphon fuel from pipelines. In short, the legacy of bitterness is still strong.
Move from there to the Middle East. In 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973, Israel and Egypt fought each other in war. Israel won each round. Egypt suffered heavy losses in men, money, and military material. Then, a new president in Egypt, Anwar Sadat, tried a different approach. He went to Israel, addressed the Israeli Parliament, and proposed peace between the two countries. After years of tough negotiations, a peace treaty was signed in 1979 between Sadat and Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister, at Camp David in the USA, with President Jimmy Carter as mediator. Since then there have been no wars between the two countries, no soldiers’ deaths, and no squandering of resources on military equipment. Despite the persistent negative background of the Palestinian situation, the peace treaty has held, and both sides have benefited.
These stories illustrate different ways of dealing with political or personal tensions. They could be called the way of revenge and the way of reconciliation.
How can we move beyond the cycle of attack and counter-attack, the blame game, the whataboutery? It is when individuals of generosity, imagination, and courage stop being prisoners of their own propaganda, climb out of the mental trenches, and start creating a new relationship.
It boils down to the F words – F for forgiveness. Forgiveness is a decision to let go of hatred, to reach out to the other person as a human being.
That involves another F word – freedom. Forgiveness is an act of freedom. It flows from a free choice; it is not a feeling, but a decision. It leads to freedom. Those who forgive free themselves from the anger of the past, and for a future unburdened by resentment.
The process ends with yet another F word – friendship. Reconciled enemies can be closer than those who never quarrelled. They have shared in the pain of division and in the peace of reconciliation.