Nigeria War Changes Once-Happy Capital

Nigeria War Changes Once-Happy Capital
October 10, 1967
October 1967
Lagos, Nigeria
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Far From Fighting, Lagos Seethes With Troops Harassing Civilians in Petty Ways - Lagos once was a happy city, teeming and jangling. Now, in the midst of civil war, it is depressed and depressing, almost drab, almost quiet. With its population of 650,000 crowded onto three islands and a nub of mainland, Lagos, despite its poverty and squalor, had always seemed an urban symbol of all the best in independent black Africa - brash, confident, aggressive, proud. Then civil war came. The war has not meant battling or much bloodshed for Lagos. Planes of secessionist Biafra have raided the city twice, inflicting little damage. Saboteurs have planted bombs occasionally, killing nine people. But the actual fighting has been far away. The town did get tense and frightened on Aug. 9 when Biafran soldiers shocked the federal government by sweeping through the Midwest state. By morning, the Biafrans had captured the Midwestern capital, Benin, just 150 miles east of Lagos...
Far From Fighting, Lagos Seethes With Troops Harassing Civilians in Petty Ways - Lagos once was a happy city, teeming and jangling. Now, in the midst of civil war, it is depressed and depressing, almost drab, almost quiet. With its population of 650,000 crowded onto three islands and a nub of mainland, Lagos, despite its poverty and squalor, had always seemed an urban symbol of all the best in independent black Africa - brash, confident, aggressive, proud. Then civil war came. The war has not meant battling or much bloodshed for Lagos. Planes of secessionist Biafra have raided the city twice, inflicting little damage. Saboteurs have planted bombs occasionally, killing nine people. But the actual fighting has been far away. The town did get tense and frightened on Aug. 9 when Biafran soldiers shocked the federal government by sweeping through the Midwest state. By morning, the Biafrans had captured the Midwestern capital, Benin, just 150 miles east of Lagos...
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