Famine in Ethiopia 1984–1985

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The famine in Ethiopia in 1984–1985 , caused by drought and political circumstances, affected an estimated eight million people, especially in northern Ethiopia, and resulted in the deaths of an estimated half a million to a million people. It had a lasting impact on the idea of ​​Ethiopia as a typical hungry country.

background

At the beginning of the 1980s the situation was as follows: Ethiopia's economy was largely based on agriculture. This employed four fifths of the workforce and made up 90 percent of exports. The most important export product is coffee , whose origins are in Ethiopia. An estimated 15 million Ethiopians made a living from growing coffee. That was a quarter of the population. The agriculture in Ethiopia , however, is inherently vulnerable to fluctuations in precipitation, the consequences of centuries of deforestation and overuse are exacerbated soil.

Since the 1960s, rebels have been fighting for independence from Ethiopia in the northern province of Eritrea . Unrest also broke out in other regions, such as Tigray , which borders on Eritrea . After the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 which came to power drove Derg - military dictatorship under Mengistu Haile Mariam continue with the fight against Eritrean rebels. The export proceeds hardly went into the development of the country, but were used for debt servicing and for arms purchases.

As early as the 1970s, droughts in the Sahel and Ethiopia led to crop failures and famine. At the beginning of the 1980s, the situation in the northern highlands of Abyssinia (central Eritrea, Tigray, Wällo and parts of Begemder and Shewa ) came to a head again.

famine

In 1984, almost eight million people in these areas were starved after a nearly complete loss of harvests. Many starving people fled to towns and cities such as Mek'ele and Korem , where so-called hunger camps were formed.

Another year of drought followed in 1985, and by the beginning of 1986 the famine had spread to parts of the southern highlands. This year the situation was further exacerbated by the plague of locusts and an estimated 5.8 million people were dependent on food aid .

Reactions

Dropping relief supplies from a C-130 Hercules of the Royal Air Force , 1985

A BBC report on the famine in Ethiopia shocked the public in industrialized countries in 1984. Pictures of starving children, such as Birhan Woldu, who was around three years old at the time (who became famous as the face of the famine ), went around the world.

In response, donations were raised on a large scale for the starving, especially as part of the Live Aid / Band Aid concerts by musicians such as Bob Geldof . The governments of the industrialized countries also came under pressure to take action.

Beginning in November 1984, a cross-block air transport was organized from the port city of Assab on the Red Sea to the interior. Under the conditions of the Cold War , the Bundeswehr , Interflug and NVA worked together on this task. Furthermore involved were France , Great Britain , Canada , Poland , Sweden , the Switzerland with her liaison aircraft Pilatus Porter as well as the Soviet Union and the United States .

The fighting in parts of the areas affected by the famine and the sparse infrastructure made the delivery of relief supplies much more difficult. The Ethiopian government has been heavily criticized for largely showing itself to be unable or unwilling to combat hunger effectively.

The government also tried to force the international aid organizations operating in Ethiopia to support various controversial government projects. Around 600,000 farmers from the drought-plagued regions in the north were resettled by the government - most of them forcibly - to the rainier south. However, they received no further support there. Many farmers preferred to flee than to be resettled, and many resettled people tried to return to their homeland. According to human rights organizations, tens of thousands died as a result of these forced relocations; According to Médecins Sans Frontières , the international relief efforts for Ethiopia are said to have claimed more victims than saved lives due to the forced support for such government projects.

During the famine, thousands of Ethiopian Jews - as well as Christians and Muslims - fled to refugee camps in neighboring Sudan . As part of Operation Moses , around 8,000 of them were then airlifted to Israel .

literature

  • Alex de Waal, Africa Watch: Evil Days. 30 Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia , 1991
  • Alula Pankhurst: Resettlement and famine in Ethiopia. The villagers' experience , Manchester University Press 1992, ISBN 978-0-7190-3537-1

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