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| | Flashback 1984: Portrait of a famine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many mistakes were made in the 1980s, both by the West and by the Ethiopian Government. The West was criticised for not reacting to the crisis in time; the Ethiopian Government for its spending on civil war.
Warning signals should have been sounding from 1981, when a drought in Ethiopia wiped out harvests. But Western governments were slow to get involved and aid to Ethiopia was lower than to most other developing countries.
Western reluctance
In 1984 the harvest looked likely to be very poor. There had not been the usual spring rains and disease had destroyed crops in Sidamo, Ethiopia's traditional breadbasket region.
In March the Ethiopian Government warned that five million people were at risk from starvation because the country could produce only 6.2 million tonnes of grain a year, one million less than needed.
Countdown to crisis 1984 |
Mar: Ethiopian Government appeals for international aid Aug: Thousands dying; six million people at risk Sep: Europe's bumper harvest - but food stockpiled Oct: TV pictures shock the world Nov: Western aid efforts stepped up Dec: Band Aid single raises £8m |
But Western governments were reluctant to get involved.
Ethiopia had been a Marxist state since the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in September 1974. The West feared it would bear the cost of drought aid while the military government of Mengistu Haile Mariam spent money buying weapons and cementing a Marxist-Leninist regime.
But if the West did not help, hundreds of thousands of people would die.
The dilemma was complicated by Ethiopia's 20-year civil war in the northern provinces of Eritrea and Tigre.
Ethiopian wars
Aid agencies blamed Western governments for not doing more. In September Oxfam tried to shame governments by giving £500,000, the single largest donation in its 40-year history.
But private relief agencies and diplomats also started saying the Ethiopian Government had not given high enough priority to the famine. There were criticisms that socialist policies were holding back the economy.
Meanwhile Europe had record harvests, with huge stockpiles of surplus grain. But the food was not being redirected.
 The UK public gave £5m in three days.  |
But under pressure from aid agencies, the West finally pledged extra money.
By October, eight million people were in danger of starvation.
But increased television and newspaper coverage throughout Western Europe led to an increase in public donations - the UK public gave £5m in three days.
Even then, government response was low-key. In the UK there were plans to provide RAF transport to drop food, but there were delays and diplomatic arguments with the Ethiopian Government. The first Hercules aircraft went to Ethiopia in November.
Public donations
In October 1984 the death toll in Ethiopia was estimated at 200,000. Western diplomats said 900,000 people would die by the end of the year whatever the level of aid.
In November the first British relief plane arrived in the capital Addis Ababa, sponsored by UK newspaper the Daily Mirror. But it was more a publicity stunt for proprietor Robert Maxwell, who arrived personally to deliver just 20 tonnes of supplies. As BBC Correspondent Michael Buerk reported it was enough to last 12 minutes.
By December the Western public had donated more than £100m, but the Ethiopian government was stepping up its internal war and continuing to divert aid supplies to its troops. Heavy storms flattened the few crops that had been planted.
But Western awareness was now high, helped by the Band Aid single, "Do they know its Christmas?", which raised £8m for charity.
Foreign aid was flown into Ethiopia throughout 1985, and two Live Aid charity concerts raised millions of pounds.
Ethiopia's fortunes gradually improved, or at least, the worst was over. But drought and famine are recurrent problems and once again Ethiopia is desperate for humanitarian aid.
Ethiopia's government has changed and international response to crises is quicker and more organised - or at least that is the hope of aid agencies. With Ethiopia fighting a two-year border war with Eritrea, the old problems could yet re-surface.
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