BEST SELLING author and former Irish resident, Frederick Forsyth, was back in Dublin last night to launch a book by a Holy Ghost priest on the airlift to Biafra in the late 1960s.
Mr Forsyth was a foreign correspondent for the BBC at the time of the Nigerian civil war when he met Father Tony Byrne, one of many Irish missionaries involved in breaking the blockade of Biafra.
Thanks to television, Biafra became the first great African famine to reach the sittingrooms of the West. The subsequent airlift is credited with saving the lives of one million Biafran children.
Last night's publication of Air lift to Biafra: Breaching the Blockade brought together veterans of that time, including many of the 106 Irish priests expelled from Nigeria for their support of the Biafrans.
Describing the airlift as "one of the most extraordinary events in the second half of this century Mr Forsyth paid tribute to the Irish missionaries.
Airlift to Biafra is published by The Columba Press at £7.99.