Practitioner Experience Notes (PENs)

The paper titled ‘The Nigerian Civil War and ‘Humanitarian Intervention’’ by Mike (Michael) Aaronson, affiliated with the University of Surrey and former Save the Children CEO, offers a detailed examination of the humanitarian response during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), also known as the Biafran War. Published in 2013 as a chapter in the volume The History and Practice of Humanitarian Intervention and Aid in Africa, the work draws on Mike’s own experience working on the ground during the conflict. It critically explores how the concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’ at the time was largely understood as emergency relief operations rather than military involvement. Mike argues that while international relief efforts aimed to alleviate suffering, they may have inadvertently prolonged the conflict and increased civilian hardship, particularly through the complex dynamics of aid delivery and political entanglements. The paper also critiques the neglect of broader non-emergency humanitarian strategies by international actors and contrasts the Biafran experience with later humanitarian interventions in Africa and beyond. Ultimately, it suggests that lessons from the Biafra case could inform more effective and enlightened humanitarian responses in contemporary crises. A public link to the text is available here  – note the copyright restrictions on re-publishing – but this is key reference material in all strategic assessmens of the Nigerian conflict. https://openresearch.surrey.ac.uk/esploro/outputs/bookChapter/The-Nigerian-Civil-War-and-Humanitarian/99513513002346