Posted by BBC News on
Nigeria has arrested the leader of a separatist organisation that has campaigned for the creation of a Republic of Biafra.
Nigeria has arrested the leader of a separatist organisation that has campaigned for the creation of a Republic of Biafra.
The leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was flown to the capital, Abuja.
Mr Uwazuruike leads the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra, which wants a separate state for the Igbo people in the south-east.
The Igbo fought to break away from the rest of Nigeria during a three-year civil war that ended in 1970.
News of the arrest is reported to have provoked demonstrations by supporters of the separatist movement.
The Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) was banned three years ago. It says it is pursuing its objectives peacefully.
Several Massob members have died in the last three years in clashes with the police in south-eastern Nigeria, where it draws the bulk of its support.
The government is intolerant of its existence because it revives memories of the horrors of the Biafran war, in which one million people died.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4383172.stm