FRANCAISNorwegian Church Aid - History
1960-1969
-From 1960, Norway: as the parish based Confederation created in 1945 is dissolved, the Norwegian Church Relief becomes an independent organisation. To avoid competition with Norwegian missions abroad, it starts new projects in India, Bangladesh and Africa through the Lutheran World Federation. Later on, the Norwegian Church Relief progressively becomes operational in developing countries thanks to the rise of its income. The media coverage of the Biafra war in Nigeria brings new private funding: 4 millions of Norwegian Crowns in 1967, 12,4 in 1968 and 17,9 in 1969, as against 2,9 in 1966. Professional fund-raising also helps the yearly budget to reach 330 millions of Norwegian Crowns during the 1986 telethon, instead of 50 in 1980.
-1962-1970, Nigeria: with Jakob Modalsli and Edvard Nordrum Ikwo, the Norwegian Church Relief begins an agricultural project amongst the Ikwo of Abakaliki in the Eastern Region. But the programme has to stop when Odumegwu Ojukwu proclaims an independent Republic of Biafra and the civil war starts in May 1967. Visited in Oslo in February 1968 by Doctor Francis Akunu Ibiam, a Presbyterian of the World Council of Churches and a former governor of the Eastern Region from 1960 until 1966, the organisation wants to supply the secessionists and decides to circumvent the Nigerian government because the federal authorities forbid the access to the Ibo enclave and divert one of its food cargo to Santa Isabel, now the capital city of Equatorial Guinea. The Norwegian Church Relief’s general secretary, Elias Berge, then goes secretly to Lisbon to send provisions from the Portuguese island of São Tomé in the planes of an American adventurer, Hank Wharton, who carries weapons for the Biafrans. By loading food onto these planes whenever there is space available, the agency opens itself to the charge of being involved in arms-smuggling. But the organisation justifies the violation of the Nigerian airspace because the blockade is an illegitimate weapon of war and can therefore be broken. The Norwegian Church Relief thus goes clandestine. On 26 August 1968 with its Danish, Swedish and Finnish counterparts, it participates to the creation of Nordchurchaid, an ad hoc organisation with a company based in Reykjavik, Flughjalp (“Aid by Air”), to send food to São Tomé. From there, planes fly by night to the rebel enclave in very difficult conditions, as three of them are bombed and destroyed by the Federal Nigerian army. The Norwegian Church Relief funds two out of a total of seven million dollars spent during these operations, which are joined in June 1969 by secular organisations like Oxfam, Save the Children and the International Committee of the Red Cross. From August until September 1968, Carl-Gustaf Von Rosen, a Swedish Count who rebuilds the Biafran Air Force in May 1969, heads up the Nordchurchaid relief effort with JCA (Joint Church Aid), a consortium of some thirty European and American NGOs. If internal rules don’t mention the prohibition of weapons as such, all cargo is supposed to be checked by the humanitarians themselves, including spare parts for the trucks which supply food within Biafra. Yet JCA is a vital link that helps the rebels to be supplied and to resist 19 months after the fall of their last access to the sea, Port Harcourt, in May 1968. Indeed, the introduction of new currency notes by the federal government in January 1968 renders valueless the millions of old Nigerian pounds still in Biafran hands. Moreover, no foreign private interests are willing to risk purchasing rights to exploit Biafran mineral resources and oil revenues do not materialize because of the federal blockade. Humanitarian aid thus becomes crucial to prevent the collapse of the secession, for the rebels eventually lose the war because of a lack of money according to their Commander Alexander Madiebo. Their only foreign exchanges funds, explain Kennedy Lindsay, are relief and mission organisations (£4,3 million), the French secret services (£2 millions) and donations from the Ibo diaspora overseas (£750,000), the Ibo in Nigeria (£100,000) and various concerned citizens in the West (£100,000). Within the enclave, the military importance of the Nordchurchaid relief effort is quite clear in this regard. Unlike the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), observes Laurie Wiseberg, JCA cooperates for instance with the Biafrans to enlarge Uli airstrip and keep it operational to continue receiving arms planes. Quoted by John Stremlau, Odumegwu Ojukwu explains that “the only source of income available to Biafra was the hard currency spent by the churches for yams and garri [a staple food item made from cassava]”. His Chief of Military Planning, Mike Okwechime, confirms that “financing the war was largely accomplished through private and humanitarian contributions. Much was diverted from funds raised abroad. Those who wished to make strictly humanitarian contributions could give to specific agencies but those giving to Biafra often didn’t ask any questions, and the money could be used to purchase arms on the black market”. Out of 250 millions of dollars, it is estimated that 15% of humanitarian aid to Biafra was directly spent on military items. This money, explains Ian Smillie, is equivalent to the amount of hard currencies spent by Nigeria to buy weapons during the whole war. Hence the role of humanitarian workers brings a lot of controversies, especially after the Biafrans are eventually defeated in January 1970. Quoted by Hugh Lloyd, even an official of the WCC (World Council of Churches) raises doubts about JCA “because of its political effects… which include exposing the churches to charges of prolonging the war and adding to the suffering of the people”. Critics suggested that the initials WCC stood for “War Can Continue” and JCA for Jesus Christ Airlines.
-From 1965, Bangladesh: through a Norwegian missionary, Olav Hodne, the Norwegian Church Relief and the LWF (Lutheran World Federation) help refugees who escaped the breakaway of India in 1947. After the liberation war of Bangladesh and its secession from Pakistan in 1970, the organisations then facilitate the repatriation of the populations who had run away to Western Bengal in India. They also support a local NGO, RDRS (Rangpur Dinajpur Rehabilitation Service), which is going to be a regular partner of the Norwegian Church Relief, while Olav Hodne becomes the first director of the LWF in India. Besides development programmes, NCA will carry on relief assistance during humanitarian crisis like the floods that kill more than 7,000 people in Southern Bangladesh in May 1985.
-From 1969, Zimbabwe: in co-operation with the LWF (Lutheran World Federation) and the WCC (World Council of Churches), NCA helps refugees from South Africa. But the organisation is criticised because the exiles it supports are linked to liberation movements and because it works through the WCC, which accepts the use of violence against apartheid. Through the CEIR, the Church of Norway’s Council on Ecumenical and International Relations (Mellomkirkelig Råd), NCA eventually disapproves the WCC’s financial support to only one of the liberation movement which fights against White domination in Harare: this money is not restricted to humanitarian purposes and politicises aid by giving preference in 1978 to the ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) led by Robert Mugabe (which comes to power at independence in 1980) instead of the ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People’s Union).
