ABSTRACT

This article presents Egbesu as both a philosophy and a practice of war. Currently, Egbesu is known as a spiritual instrument of warfare that vaccinates Ijaw fighters against bullets. Since the 1990s, Ijaw youths from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have been engaged in inter-ethnic as well as oil-related conflict with the federal government. Reporting on data collected from participant observation and interviews with relevant authorities, we present Egbesu as a ‘just war’ philosophy, a set of war ethics delineating the criteria for a just cause of war (jus ad bellum), just conduct during war (jus in bello) and just actions after war (jus post bellum), that also establishes a reward system through the promise of victory for just warriors. The promise of victory seems to be the essence of the conception of Egbesu as a spiritual instrument for victory in warfare, translated into immunity to bullets and other enemy weapons. The Egbesu war philosophy has long been preserved in Ijaw culture through oral tradition. This article draws on interviews with custodians of Ijaw culture and Ijaw foot soldiers (militants), along with extensive participant observations conducted by the first author (Courson).

摘要

本文将Egbesu既作为战争哲学，又作为战争实践。目前，Egbesu被称为战争的精神工具，可以向Ijaw战士接种防弹药。自1990年代以来，来自尼日利亚尼日尔三角洲地区的Ijaw青年一直与联邦政府进行种族间以及与石油有关的冲突。报告从参与观察收集的数据，并与相关部门，我们目前Egbesu作为“正义战争”的理念，集战争道德划定标准战争的正义事业（采访诉诸战争权），只进行战争期间（强制在Bello）和战后正义行动（强制交的战争权），这也通过对勇士的胜利承诺建立了奖励制度。胜利的希望似乎是埃格贝苏（Egbesu）概念的实质，它是战争胜利的精神工具，可以转化为对子弹和其他敌方武器的免疫力。埃格贝苏（Egbesu）战争哲学长期以来通过口头传承保存在伊贾夫文化中。本文基于对Ijaw文化保管人和Ijaw步兵（武装分子）的采访，以及第一作者（Courson）进行的广泛参与者观察。