WORLD HISTORY

____ Once thought of as a model for other young African democracies, Nigeria has buckled under the weight of persistent enmities [hostilities] among four major tribes-the Moslem Hausas and Fulanis in the North, the Yorubas in the West and the clever Ibos in the East. In January 1966, five years after independence, a group led by Eastern army officers toppled the Northern dominated regime of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and exposed the raw nerves of those ancient rivalries. Northerners countered with a coup that installed [General Yakubu] Gowon, and their pent-up fury exploded in the massacre of thousands of Ibos living in the North ____ This passage illustrates the impact ethnic loyalties can have on