A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets, manufactured by Embraer of Brazil in the United States, are at the center of a legal battle that recalls one of the most dramatic wars of the 20th century.
On July 31, a separatist group from the Biafra region of eastern Nigeria filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, the US capital, against two key members of President Joe Biden’s administration: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
The aim is to block the sale of 12 combat units to the Nigerian government on the grounds that, as in the past, they could be used against the people of Biafra.
The note refers to a conflict between 1967 and 1970 when the region sought independence, which killed around 2 million people and was best known for the images of starving children that sparked an unprecedented international mobilization at the time.
The lawsuit is filed by the Ipob group, which stands for Original Peoples of Biafra and is calling for a referendum on the independence of nine Nigerian states that now make up the region.
The new country would have 8% of the current area of Nigeria, an area slightly smaller than that of Santa Catarina State, but 30% of the country’s population, or 65 million people, including much of the African nation’s oil reserves.
Founded in 2012, Ipob is classified as a terrorist organization by the Nigerian government and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested in Kenya in June. The group’s command, which is very strong in the American diaspora, denies the use of violent methods.
“We are a peaceful people who want to live together with everyone else. But we have been persecuted since the 1967 war, ”says Oliver Obi, coordinator of Ipob in the US, whose strategy for the popular consultation is to exert pressure through strikes and marches. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the separatist group by prominent attorney Bruce Fein, an expert on constitutional law and a loose fixture on American television programs. Wanted, he didn’t respond to interview requests.
Made in Florida, the result of a joint venture between Embraer and the American company Sierra Nevada, the fighters are ideal for combating insurgent movements because they are light, versatile and can carry bombs, missiles and machine guns.
In Afghanistan, however, where they were used by the former government against the Taliban, their performance was criticized for failing to stop the advance of the fundamentalists. Nigerians say the plane will be used against the Islamist terrorists Boko Haram, who operate in the north of the country, far from Biafra. The separatists are sure that the devices will also be used against them.
“We found a way to protect ourselves. We’re not going to stay here and wait for these planes to go into action, ”says Obi.
The aircraft order worth 593 million US dollars (3.2 billion R $) comes from the administration of Barack Obama (2009-17). However, the then US President blocked the sale, citing the history of the disregard for human rights by the armed forces of the African country.
The sale was finally cleared in 2017 by the Democrat’s successor Donald Trump. A first batch of six aircraft was delivered to Nigeria last month, with the other six expected to follow by the end of the year.
The court proceedings want to force the return of fighters who have already been deployed and the suspension of fighters who have not yet been extradited. One of the separatists’ arguments is the existence of American laws prohibiting the sale of weapons to regimes that could use them to commit atrocities. “In the case of Nigeria, there is no longer any suspicion of human rights violations, it has already been proven,” says Obi.
Initially, it is not planned to take legal action against the sale in Brazil or against Embraer. The path chosen is the American judiciary, as the devices were manufactured and sold in the USA.
Activists are also on the lookout for other US arms sales deals with Nigeria that have been blocked by US Congress over human rights concerns. Last month, Foreign Policy magazine reported that a US legislature had suspended a $ 1 billion deal for 12 Cobra attack helicopters plus 2,000 precision bombs.
The African country is led by General Muhammadu Buhari, a former dictator who was democratically elected in 2015 and heads a highly militarized government. “Nigeria has a long history of military rule since the 1960s. The real problem is that the military is realizing that fighting violent uprisings goes beyond the use of bullets and bombs, ”says Akinola Olojo, senior researcher on the Nigerian conflict at the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar, Senegal.
In his opinion, human rights concern is a real issue in the country. “Concerns have been raised in recent years and there are cases where security forces and authorities have been involved in violations. Lessons have been learned from this, but there is still a lot to be done, ”he says.
There is no credible research in support of separatism in the region today, half a century after the war ended, but the researcher says it still matters.
One of the factors that feed this feeling is ethno-religious. The territory of Biafra is largely Christian and is dominated by the Igbo group, while the country is generally predominantly Muslim.
“Biafra remains a wound that does not need to be healed and the sensitivity associated with remembering the conflict is still great. There is clearly a need for real dialogue in the country because these separatist feelings are not limited to this region, ”says Olojo.
Embraer wanted to comment on the mess and did not answer the questions sent. The US State and Defense Departments did not comment either. A spokesman for the Nigerian Justice Department told Bloomberg that the country’s government is “globally recognized for its respect for human rights” and the allegations are “speculative”.
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