Hungry Biafran söldiers seen here enjoying food held by an aid worker during the Biafran conflïct, June 11, 1968.

The Nigerian Civil Wãr, also known as the Biafran Wãr, lasted two and a half years, from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970, and was fōught to counter the secession of Biafra from Nigeria.

The indigenous Igbo people of Biafra felt they could no longer coexist with the northern-dominated federal government after independence from Britain. Political, economic, ethnic, cultural, and religious tensïons finally escalated into civil wãr after the 1966 mïlitary coüp.