Biafra World Health Organization of the United Nations, which led to the early and cost-effective interruption of smallpox transmission in West Africa and elsewhere. On 29 May 2000, the Lagos "Guardian" newspaper reported that the now ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo commuted to retirement of the dismissal of all military persons, soldiers and officers, who fought for the breakaway Republic of Biafra during Nigeria's 1967–1970 civil war. In a national broadcast, he said the decision was based on the belief that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy". In July 2006 the Center for World Indigenous Studies reported that government sanctioned
Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages main reason is the planning issue—the state would like to see the Bedouin living in the planned settlements, like Rahat and Hura. However, most of the unrecognized villages are dispersed far apart and are situated in unsuitable places, e.g., military fire zones, natural reserves, landfills, etc. Another reason is an extremely high number of land ownership claims filed by the Bedouin making it impossible to recognize all of them. Negev Bedouin claim the ownership of land totaling some , or 12 times the size of Tel Aviv. Ultimately, the state does want to recognize as many of these unrecognized settlements