Nigeria: Slowdown as Biafra separatists call strike

Shops, schools and banks were shut in many parts of southeast Nigeria on Monday (December 5), the first day of a two-day strike called by a separatist group refusing to abandon its long fight for an independent state. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) called the stay-at-home protest to back a demand for independence for the region's ethnic Igbos. The group is also protesting the continued detention of its leader, Ralph Uwazurike, currently facing trial for treason. One MASSOB activist said the strike was but a "warning" of things to come if their leader is not released.