MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra) survives, despite six years of government efforts to stamp it out. Forty years ago, the Igbo (or Ibo) people of southeastern Nigeria attempted to establish the separate state of Biafra. Over a million died before the separatist movement was put down. Down, but not gone. MASSOB arose in the late 1990s, trying to revive the separatist movement. Some 600 MASSOB members have been killed, and nearly 400 imprisoned, while the government insists that Biafra is gone forever. But as details of the extent of government corruption during the last few decades come out, Biafra again looks like something worth fighting for.
