Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria

Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria
	Part of the herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria and the conflict in the Niger Delta
	; Separatist presence; Government presence; Contested
Date	16 January 2021 – present; (4 years, 5 months and 3 days)
Location	Former Eastern Region of Nigeria, plus Delta State and Benue State; (spillover into Bakassi, Cameroon)
Status	Ongoing IPOB declared on 19 February that a state of war existed; Ban of Twitter in Nigeria from 5 June 2021; Nnamdi Kanu arrested by Interpol on 27 June 2021;
Territorial; changes	Biafran separatists control about 700 hectares in southeastern Nigeria by mid-2024
Belligerents
NigeriaSpillover into Bakassi:; Cameroon	Biafran separatists; Oduduwa separatists (only against Fulani herders)
Commanders and leaders
Bola Ahmed Tinubu; (President of Nigeria); Ibrahim Attahiru; (Chief of Army Staff); Ibrahim Tukura; (Brig. Gen. of 34 Brigade); Hope Uzodinma; (Imo State Governor); Abdulkarim Usman; (Col. of 302 Artillery Regiment)	Nnamdi Kanu (POW); (Leader of IPOB); Emma Powerful; (IPOB/ESN commander); Chinasa Nworu; (IPOB/ESN commander); Simon Ekpa (arrested); (leading IPOB member, later BLA and BRGIE leader); Asari-Dokubo; (Head of BCG); Princewill Chimezie Richard; (BNL leader); Innocent Orji; (BNG leader)
Units involved
Nigerian Armed Forces Nigerian Army 82 Division 34 Brigade; ; 6 Division; 302 Artillery Regiment; ; Nigerian Air Force 211 Quick Response Group; ; Nigerian Navy; Nigeria Police Force Imo State Police Command; State Security Service; Ebube Agu Armed Fulani raiders	Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Eastern Security Network; "Autopilots" faction, became BRGIE ; Biafra Nations League (BNL) Black Marine; Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) Biafra Liberation Army (BLA); "Angry Vipers"; Niger Delta militants; Oduduwa Volunteer Force for the Liberation of Southern Nigeria; Biafran National Guard (BNG) / Biafran Supreme Military Council of Administration
Casualties and losses
127 killed (government claim as of Aug. 2021)	Unknown
	115 civilians and militants killed (acc. Amnesty International as of Aug. 2021)

The insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria is a military conflict that broke out in the city of Orlu, Imo State, Nigeria on 16 January 2021, when the Nigerian Army moved to crush the paramilitary wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network (ESN). The conflict escalated after the ESN managed to repulse the initial push by the Nigerian Army, but IPOB ended the initial crisis by unilaterally withdrawing the ESN from Orlu. After a few weeks of quiet, Nigeria launched a military offensive in the area to destroy the ESN. On 19 February 2021, IPOB declared that as of the day before, a state of war existed between Nigeria and Biafra. Three weeks later, another separatist group declared the formation of a Biafran interim government which was subsequently endorsed by IPOB. Since then, the Biafran separatists have begun to form alliances with other separatist groups in Nigeria and Cameroon. Despite these developments, the separatists claimed that their militant operations were mainly aimed at defending local communities from armed herders and bandits instead of fighting the Nigerian government. In late June, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by Interpol and handed over to Nigerian authorities.