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Paper short abstract

The paper focuses on the humanitarian work of Southern Baptist missionaries in Biafra duri9ng the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War.

Paper long abstract

Missionaries of the Southern Baptist Convention (USA)were committed to providing humanitarian aid and comfort on both sides of the civil war in Nigeria. My father, who was trained as a medic in WWII, was one of three missionaries who stayed in Biafra working closely with a medical doctor, Dr. Bill Norman, to provide medical care and food to civilians displaced by the fighting from August, 1967- August, 1968. They left Biafra on a relief flight flown by Count Von Rosen and were relieved by Dr. Bryant Durham, who worked primarily at Annabelle airstrip coordinating WCC efforts on the ground. Based on oral interviews with these men and on several hundred letters reporting their decisions, moral dilemmas, and personal hardships, this paper analyzes the rationale, personnel, and structure of Southern Baptist relief efforts in Biafra at the height of the civil war. These sources provide views from the "frontline" that allow Southern Baptist efforts to be placed within the larger context of the history and politics of humanitarian aid in African conflicts.