On the 21st April 1967, I arrived at Ikeja Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, to take up my new job as service manager for a British company (Bewac: British [Engineering] West Africa Corporation) which sold, serviced and repaired Leyland, Albion and Scammel trucks, Land-Rovers and Rover cars, Triumph cars, Rolls Royce cars and Massey Ferguson tractors and implements. It was to be a very exciting and dramatic first tour of duty (19 months), because shortly after my arrival I was transferred to the company’s branch at Enugu, capital of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria and seat of power of the Ibo (Igbo) tribe. A couple of weeks later the Military Governor of the Eastern Region, Colonel Ojukwu, declared secession and the Republic of Biafra was born, leading to civil war with the rest of Federal Nigeria. Read about my adventures in Nigeria/Biafra in my latest, 55th anniversary updated edition (third) of The Up-Country Man, a personal account of the first one hundred days inside secessionist Biafra. (See below)
Tag: civil war
Third Edition of “The Up-Country Man” now available.
An updated new, 55th anniversary third edition, with added material and clarifications is now available at Smashwords and all the Amazons as an e-book. The paperback version is now available on Amazon and other on-line retailers: Barnes & Noble , Blackwell and Bookdepository. It’s also available from Lulu direct. With new information and an important illustration, this story of the first 100 days of the 1967-70 Biafran War (Nigerian Civil War) from the point of view of a young British engineer (me) on his first tour of duty, through to final evacuation on the MV Isonzo, (see below) is made even more interesting and readable. (Click on the red coloured links to purchase from those retailers)
My new book, “Boom Town Legacy”, is out now in Paperback and E-book format.
Boom Town Legacy is a story about the corrosive effects of corruption on a young man new to the ways of 1960s post-colonial Africa. In 1967 Charlie Robinson is tasked to open a new branch for the company in the swampy delta region of Nibana in West Africa, where oil has recently been discovered. New to the ways of Africa, Charlie struggles to come to terms with the tribalism, nepotism and, above all, the corruption that confronts him on all sides. Despite all the difficulties and setbacks, he eventually succeeds and the business thrives, but civil war looms and soon all Charlie’s efforts are undone by a single incident. He survives the devastation and ponders on his future when an opportunity to make himself comfortably rich suddenly presents itself. Having put together a plan, Charlie embarks on a long journey through Africa to cover his tracks. He eventually ends up in Europe where he uses the secrecy imbedded in the banking system to his advantage. After some months he returns to a different part of Africa and eventually makes his way to Ian Smith’s rebel Rhodesia, where he hopes to settle down to a quiet, anonymous and newly married life as a tobacco farmer. However, an incident at his farm initiates a period of extreme pressure on Charlie and as tragedy strikes his life disintegrates and his past begins to catch up with him.
The book is available on all Amazon sites as an e-book and a paperback. It’s also available in both formats from other online bookshops. It’s available at Smashwords in e-book format only. It’s also available as a paperback directly from Lulu (click on the red links).
Contact from one of MV Isonzo’s Crew !
At the beginning of June 2021, I received an e-mail from Italy concerning the evacuation ship the MV Isonzo. (See my post below, ‘Are you a fellow MV Isonzo Refugee?’) which transported me and many others from Port Harcourt in what was then Biafra, to Lagos, at that time the capital of Nigeria. The writer informed me he had been a member of the Isonzo crew on that voyage.
His name is Luciano Trevisan and he was, at that time, the ship’s third engineer and only 25 years old. (I was the same age). I was so delighted to receive his email, which at least gave me the opportunity, after 54 years, to thank one member of the crew for safely delivering us all from the food shortages and heavy fighting that was fast encroaching on Port Harcourt.
We exchanged several e-mails and he disclosed the existence of a Pathe News film, taken at the time, of the Isonzo entering Lagos harbour on 22 July 1967. I had never seen this film before and it was with some emotion, despite the passage of 54 years, that I viewed it for the first time. I could not see myself on board the ship, there were far too many people and the film quality is a little grainy, but there was a short clip of Mr Trevisan standing with his chief engineer (the man in glasses) watching us all disembark.
Mr Trevisan told me that after the Isonzo trip he went on to study to be second engineer on passenger liners to Australia and other destinations for some years and then achieved his Chief Engineer’s ticket and served aboard container ships until he retired.
It means a great deal to me when people respond like this so thank you again Mr Trevisan for your service on that voyage and for making contact. Are there any more Isonzo crew members out there?
This is the link to the film.
For the full story of the evacuation and much more, read my memoir The Up-Country Man featured below.
(Photographs of the Isonzo courtesy of Mr Trevisan)
Are You a Fellow MV Isonzo Refugee?
On a hot, sultry afternoon in July 1967, a small Italian freighter eased itself away from the quay at Port Harcourt in Eastern Nigeria, or Biafra as it had become by then. On board were 600 or so expatriates who were being evacuated from Biafra to the comparative safety of Lagos in Federal Nigeria. The ship, the MV Isonzo, was the only way out of the rebel enclave as Federal Nigerian troops closed in on the township for the final assault. There were many nationalities on board including British, American, Dutch, Israeli, Japanese and Italian, all of whom had previously worked in Enugu, the regional capital, or Port Harcourt the region’s major sea port. An account of my adventures in Biafra is detailed in my memoir entitled The Up-Country Man, which is featured on this page. It’s the story of a young British engineer, (me), straight out from England, who was posted to Enugu just as the Nigerian civil war began and the book relates some of the problems and difficulties encountered by a white man living in an enclave of determined indigenous people. Roadblocks, marauding Biafran soldiers, food shortages and the secret police caused many problems for the small contingent of Europeans remaining in Enugu, not to mention the trauma of the final evacuation itself, first by road from Enugu to Port Harcourt and then by sea from Port Harcourt to Lagos on the Isonzo. Since the evacuation, I have managed to make contact with several people who were aboard the Isonzo and resident in Enugu or Port Harcourt at the time and I would like to make contact with others if possible. Were you on that small Italian freighter? Do you know anyone who was on that ship? If so, perhaps you would be kind enough to make contact using the comments facility or by means of my e-mail address (top right hand column).
Review of The Mine “A Real Page-Turner”
The author has a real problem at the beginning of this book and that is getting the reader to appreciate the complicated historical, social and political background that is vital to the story he is about to tell. However, once this phase of the novel is over, the story grips the reader and Ryeland’s real skills come to the fore.
The strengths of the book come from the author’s effortless command of the complex series of plots and sub-plots underpinning and driving the story. It is admirable how Ryeland balances so many balls in the air at the same time, keeping the reader keen to find out how the trick will work out in the end as the juggler finishes his final act with a flourish.
At the same time as the author is entertaining us with a multi-faceted thriller, we are being shown insights into the world of post-colonial Africa. If some of the scenes of utter corruption seem far-fetched to readers who have never experienced it, I can assure them that from my own experience of living in West Africa at the time, the picture Ryeland draws up of betrayal, sleaze, bribery and the general cheapness of human life is an accurate portrait of the times and is probably still reliable today, if news reports from the area are anything to go by. Ryeland’s Nibana may be imaginary, but the Nigeria on which it is based (and whose history it shadows so closely) really was the fraud-ridden, chaotic, divided nation of this book.
The book can be depressing at times, since with the exception of the three main heroes, everyone else in the novel is on the make or else pursuing their own political ambitions. Honest, decent men in Africa of the calibre of Bello do appear to be sadly thin on the ground. However, this trio of good men certainly arouse our approval and by this means the author ensures that the reader cares what happens to them as well as focusing our sympathies on their plight as the novel develops.
I would guess that some people might find some of the minor characters in the book to be rather two-dimensional. However, I would come to the author’s defence by noting that the kind of pompous and insensitive “cartoon” attitudes shown by the High Commissioner (for example) are in fact accurate portrayals of the public personas that those characters exhibited to the world at the time. The bar at the Ikoyi Club, in Lagos, where expatriates met to socialise, was full of such apparent “caricatures” when I frequented it as a child.
Having said all that, “The Mine” is a real page-turner. The reader will surely be anxious to find out how the various plot strands come together and who will survive the violent times in which the characters find themselves: times in which power seeking military bullies and corrupt officials covering their asses are only too willing to utilize people and then cast them aside.
Like Ryeland’s other books set in West Africa, “The Mine” is also a valuable document that records (from a largely European perspective) the reality of Africa at a vital time in its development. Historical records of the time might give readers a dry account of the facts and figures of the conflict that resulted from the first serious attempt to redraw the map of post-colonial Africa, but Ryeland’s novel gives us an insight into what it was actually like to be there among all the turmoil and chaos.
**** (4 stars)
Berni Armstrong
Review of Tribal Gathering “Fine Examples of the Storyteller’s Art”
“Tribal Gathering” is a collection of eight short stories set in the fictitious Republic of Nibana in the 1960s. Readers familiar with West Africa, however, should have little difficulty identifying many of the fictionalised places mentioned. The stories draw upon the author’s extensive experience of living and working in West Africa and are fine examples of the storyteller’s art. The author takes the reader into the heart of the changing West Africa of the time, creating a vivid picture of human shortcomings against a background of tribalism, corruption, rebellion and civil unrest. Recurrent themes include the clash of European and African cultures and the continuing impact of ancient religions and old ways upon everyday lives.
***** (5 stars)
Dr Peter McCree
Review of The Up-Country Man “A Fascinating Insight”
My interest in the war in Nigeria was piqued some time ago when I read Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Being a child of the 70s it was something I knew virtually nothing about. Therefore when I came across this book I thought it would be really interesting to read a first-hand account. The author Kenneth Ryeland moved to Nigeria as a young man in 1967, working as an engineer. His company had played down reports of previous unrest and Ryeland planned to move his young family to the country to join him after the completion of his probation period.
The book intially details the culture shock experienced by the author and another young colleague upon their arrival, having to adjust to a new geography and culture. Ryeland is moved to a posting in Enugu amid rumours that secession will occur, and when it does he finds himself living in the new state of Biafra. The “police action” seriously disrupts life for the Europeans as well as for the rest of it’s new citizens.
I found the book fascinating. I really liked the use of Pidgin English in the book as I felt it illustrated one of the most obvious difficulties the author must have faced on arriving in Nigeria and lent real flavour to the book. The story of Adam and Eve in Pidgin at the start really helped my understanding, so while I couldn’t translate it I certainly got the gist. The story was so descriptive of the places and people, but without being unnecessarily wordy.
I can imagine some people might be uncomfortable with some of the portrayals of the white man as master and the locals as servants but it is illustrating how things really were at the time, is basically a historical account of events and it would be wrong to sanitise the book to appease people.
This book contained enough description of Nigeria and it’s people to satisfy me as a travel book, enough about factual historical events to make me feel like I was learning something by reading it, and enough emotion and anecdotes for it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.
***** (5 Stars)
Tracy Cook
Review of The Up-Country Man “I Thoroughly Recommend this Book!”
I have to admit to a natural bias towards this book. I was a young man in Nigeria during the time the book is set and it brought back so many memories for me.
Ryeland captures the uncertainty of the build up to the Nigerian Civil War with mastery. His observations are incredibly detailed and perfectly illustrate the society to which I belonged as a child: the ex-patriot community. He truthfully depicts the lives of the Europeans resident in that young independent country and their attempts to try to help it get on its feet (while enjoying a life style we’d never have had “back home”). He observes how we remained outside of the mainstream African culture which fascinated, repelled and puzzled us in equal measure.
As another reviewer has mentioned, this is not a book for the PC brigade. Ryeland is no racist, but his portrayal of the sense of superiority that was instilled in the Europeans working and living out in the ex-colony is bound to offend some. I would advise people likely to be offended by that to simply appreciate those aspects for what they are, invaluable first-hand accounts of a particular moment in history, whose protagonists are now slowly disappearing off the world stage.
The book reads like a thriller. I found it difficult to stop myself starting another chapter as I finished each one… even when common sense said it was time for sleep. You really get drawn into this first person narrative and rapidly become keen to find out what happens to him, his friends and acquaintances as the political situation deteriorates.
As for his use of Pidgin English, I recognise that for some this might present a problem to the uninitiated, but if you persevere, it will become easier to understand and it is yet another element by which Ryeland allows you to put yourself into his predicament. As a fluent pidgin speaker myself, I found those dialogues really added to the atmosphere and to the authentic tone of the book.
If anyone is seeking to understand what it was like for a European to live in post-colonial Africa, under the threat of coup d’etats and civil wars, this book will offer you the chance to experience that life in great detail.
It has even given me a desire to finish my long abandoned novel about my own experiences in Nigeria as a child. I thoroughly recommend this book!
***** (5 stars)
Berni Armstrong
Tribal Gathering: Synopsis
Tribal Gathering is a collection of stories set in Nibana during the 1960s, an imaginary, newly independent ex-British colony, situated on the West African coast. Against the backdrop of a nation embroiled in tribalism, nepotism and corruption, the rapidly failing infrastructure, three military coups and a bloody civil war simply add to the chaos as the main African and European characters try to live out their lives against all the odds. From the dry heat and desolation of the Northern Desert to the suffocating humidity of the oil-rich swamplands of the Enube Delta, the stories tell of the humour and tragedy of life and the frailty of human nature. Betrayal, revenge, ignorance and stupidity are intermingled with witchcraft, African Deities and Freemasonry, in a detailed and consummate way to provide interesting and compulsive reading.
HOT METAL: During a visit to the ancient town of Ifun, Peter Stafford and John Hughes encounter a mysterious African boy in the forest and the repercussions reach out to Peter Stafford’s family far away in England.
JUJU-MEN: By persuading Ade Soyoyi and Bande Abaleko to deliver a package, this minor indiscretion by an African houseboy working for the master of the local Freemason’s lodge leads to multiple deaths and chaos in the Western Region.
THE PRICE OF TIN: John Trevelyan and Umoru Ibrahim go tin prospecting in the remote Northern Desert. They desperately need to find new deposits, but all they find is an untimely demise, brought about by one of nature’s smallest of creatures.
THE VISIT: Two ungrateful, hard-to-please senior executives from the UK visit Arthur Meadows, the branch manager at Kuna, and receive an unusual punishment from the Emir of the region for their boorish and inconsiderate behaviour.
COMRADES: Sule Mohammed is persuaded to join the Nibanan People’s Freedom Party, an illegal organisation that, he is assured, will rid the country of the corrupt military junta and the white man. Only when it is too late does he realise that a colleague, who simply wanted his job, had duped and betrayed him.
TIEF-MAN: Encountering hard times after leaving home, young Idewu Kosae turns to crime only to meet his maker at the hands of his best friend.
SMOKESCREENS: Ade Awole attends a course of instruction at a tobacco factory in the UK and meets Jane Middleton, the young English woman assigned to conduct the course. Eventually they agree to marry and she travels to West Africa, but they both have their own agendas and not all is what it seems for either one.
The Up-Country Man: The Story Behind the Story
When the “Winds of Change” began to blow through the African colonies in the late fifties and early sixties, the author began to take a deep interest in these vast territories. Even after leaving school, he nurtured his secret desire to live and work in the ex-colonies of Africa. His ambition was eventually fulfilled shortly after his 25th birthday.
Having finished his engineering apprenticeship and obtained the necessary academic qualifications, the author joined a British company with commercial interests in the West African state of Nigeria. In the six and a half years since independence in October 1960, the people of this ex-British colony had already experienced civil unrest and two military coups. Now the country was on the brink of three long years of civil war, primarily because of an argument over oil revenues between the Federal Military Government and the Governor of the Eastern Region. The author arrived in Nigeria in April 1967, just as the Biafran crisis was about to enter its final and most devastating stage.
This book records his personal views and experiences of the events leading up to and beyond the act of rebellion that created the short-lived Republic of Biafra. The work concentrates on the author’s arrival in the territory and the first one hundred days following secession when he was resident in Enugu, the capital of Biafra. His job as a manager with one of the most important companies in the region gave him a particular insight into the bid for independence and the consequences arising from many of the policies adopted by the Biafran Government thereafter.
The narrative deals with the culture shock that everyone experiences when they arrive in a country where the lifestyle, customs and climate are vastly different to their own. It also looks closely at the relationship between the Africans and the Europeans who lived and worked in Nigeria, reflecting the reality of post colonial Africa in the nineteen-sixties in a sensitive and honest way. Though there is cognisance of the wider political machinations in Biafra, Nigeria and the UK during the period of the crisis, the work is really a personal reflection of the day-to-day difficulties and problems encountered by both Africans and Europeans as Nigeria raced headlong into civil war.
Despite being resident in Biafra for only a short time, this work captures the mood and relates some of the incidents that occurred during the build up to all out war in July 1967. These include the close surveillance of all foreigners by the Biafran secret police (an activity that caused many problems for the author); the difficulty he experienced with the Biafran military when the company driver was beaten close to death by drunken soldiers; the illegal and barbaric activity of the police and army personnel who manned the hundreds of road blocks; and the effect that all this chaos had on the lives of the people and the economy of Biafra. The work also reflects the feeling of vulnerability that pervaded the author’s daily life as the Federal Nigerian Army penetrated the northern and western sectors of the new republic and began to advance inexorably towards Enugu, the seat of power of the rebel regime.
However, it is not all gloom and misfortune. Many passages touch on the humour and grit of the ordinary citizens trying to cope with the chaos around them. The sections of dialogue written in the style of spoken Pidgin English will provide the reader with an intriguing insight into the use of English as a means of communication in a country where 250 languages are in daily use. The work is presented from the viewpoint of a young Briton, seemingly abandoned by his company, stranded in a rebel enclave, threatened by war and separated from his wife and child.
The climax of the book describes the author’s evacuation by road from Enugu to Port Harcourt. During the journey the civil defence volunteers manning the roadblocks subjected the author and the other Europeans in the vehicle convoy to many threats, and there is an account of the evacuees being dragged from their vehicles and lined up at the side of the road ready for a firing squad.
The author, together with over 600 other expatriates, was eventually evacuated from Port Harcourt to Lagos by sea on the MV Isonzo, a small, 7,500-ton Italian freighter. This was the last vessel to leave rebel held Port Harcourt and required a special agreement between the warring parties for its safe passage. Even at this late stage, however, the Biafran military continued to harass the evacuees as the ship steamed down the river Bonny on its way to the open sea.
The work will satisfy a wide spectrum of readers ranging from those interested in British post-colonial African history to the many who simply enjoy a good, true life adventure story. Though the outline for the book was written twenty-five years after the events, this does not dilute the impact of the story. Contemporaneous diary notes, a sharp memory, reflection and hindsight give the work an unusual strength and character.
This book will provide the reader with a detailed insight into the traumatic conditions that prevailed in Nigeria as the country embarked upon a bloody and cruel civil war. It was a war fuelled on both sides by the Western Powers because of the importance of Nigerian oil. No other British author has written an account of the misfortunes and sufferings of ordinary individuals caught up in the power politics and lust for oil revenues that broke the uneasy peace in Nigeria during the late sixties.
African Tales 