Word: ethiopia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...what has been labeled Africa's worst famine yet, 300,000 people have already starved to death in Ethiopia and an additional 1 million may perish before the storm begins to abate. Up to seven million currently risk starvation while still others will suffer from prolonged malnutrition. Domestic harvests scheduled to commence next month probably will yield only two thirds of the usual total and the next major harvest is not expected for another year. There's no guarantee that those harvests won't fail; specialists have estimated that a minimum of 600,000 metric tons of grain will...
...latest media blitz has brought the usual round of recriminations and half-baked relief efforts, but nothing in the current debate suggests that Africa and the West have come up with anything that will help Ethiopia and other afflicted countries in the long-term...
...Ethiopia famine this fall needs to be approached as part of a comprehensive assault on-poverty and famine throughout the continent...
Blame cannot be placed only on the western, developed nations. A significant part of the damage has been self-inflicted, resulting from government mismanagement, corruption and civil strife. In 1982, a group of Oxford economists warned Ethiopia's Lt Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam that disaster was on the horizon for his nation. The group suggested immediate food rationing and concentrated emphasis on rural development. Instead, Mengistu channeled 46 percent of his GNP into military spending, purchasing at least $2.5 billion worth of arms from the Soviet Union. What's worse, the agricultural investment in which he deigned to engage aped...
African government in general spend more on armaments than agriculture, but civil war hasn't made the situation any better. Many of the starving in Ethiopia are in the northern areas controlled by anti-government guerrillas lighting for the independence of the Eritrea and Tigre provinces Both sides, but particularly the government, have used food as a weapon in the struggle for control. The government has kept a tight leash on food distribution so many refugees from the war area dominated by the guerrilla forces have been hard pressed to receive food...