Other nations played an important part in the war. When a secessionist state declares its independence, its first battle is the struggle for legitimacy.
When it was declared on May 30, 1967, only five nations (Haiti, Tanzania, Zambia, Gabon and Côte d’Ivoire) acknowledged the tiny nation of Biafra.
In the hardest months of the war, when weapons and aid became valuable currencies, both sides got help from foreign interests.
The Federal government received support from the United Kingdom, (desperate to secure the unity of the project it had started), the United States, Egypt, Syria, Algeria and Russia, which mostly gave weapons and aircraft.
The United Kingdom tried to play both sides by sending aid to Biafra, which was also supported by South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Israel, Portugal, Spain and France (which sent heavy caches of weapons through neighbouring Gabon)
