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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Drought, War, and the Politics of Famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea |
Author: | Keller, Edmond J. |
Year: | 1992 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 30 |
Issue: | 4 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 609-624 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Ethiopia Eritrea |
Subjects: | rebellions food policy famine Drought and Desertification Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Politics and Government Ethnic and Race Relations Military, Defense and Arms nationalism |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161267 |
Abstract: | This article analyses how political decisions exacerbated the consequences of drought in Ethiopia during the mid-1980s. It shows that although the drought of 1983-1986 was bound to be major because of climatic changes, its effects might have been mitigated through effective policies and timely foreign disaster relief. But the Ethiopian regime seemed more interested in pursuing a political agenda of Statist control rather than a strategy designed to achieve food security. This could be seen in its policies relating to State farms and collectivization, as well as resettlement and villagization. The Derg continued its attempts to eliminate its opponents, and in the process systematically used relief aid as a replacement for funds that were being devoted to prosecuting military objectives. The net effect of these policies was to inhibit the achievement of food security not only in Ethiopia and Eritrea, but in the Horn as a whole. In addition, the protracted civil conflicts threatened the political stability of the entire region, and ultimately led to the collapse of Mengistu's Afro-Marxist regime. Ref. |