COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT on SETTLEMENT and RESOURCE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS Tfie AFRICA DROUGHT and FAMINE, 1981-1986

COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT ON SETTLEMENT AND RESOURCE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS TfIE AFRICA DROUGHT AND FAMINE, 1981-1986: CHRONOLOGIES OF ETGIOPIA, SUDAN, MOZAMBIQUE, MALI, KENYA, .'dD BOTSWANA Appendix to accompany the report "Drought and Famine in Africa, 1981-1986: The US Response" Clark University Settlement and Resource Systems Analysis Cooperativa Agreement USAID Clark ~niversity/Institutefor Development Anthropology Clark University Institute for Development wropology International Development Program 99 Collier Street, Suite 302 950 Main Street P.O. Box 2207 Worcester, MA 01610 Binghamton, NY 13902 THE AFRICA DROUGHT AND FAMINE, 1981-1986: CHRONOLOGIES OF ETHIOPIA, SUDAN, MOZAMBIQUE, MALI, KENYA, AND BOTSWANA Appendix to accompany the report "Drought and Famine in Africa, 1981-1986: The US Response" Clark University July 1987 Prepared for the US Agency for International Development TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.............................. iii Section 1. Chronology of the Drought and Famine in Ethiopia, 1981-1986......................... 1 Section 2. Chronology of the Drought and Famine in Sudan, 1981-1986. 29 Section 3. Chronology of the Drought and Famine in Mozambique, 1981-1986......................... 59 Section 4. Chronology of the Drought and Famine in Mali, 1981-1986 . 91 Section 5. Chronology of the Drought in Kenya, 1984-1985 . 113 Section 6. Chronology of the Drought in Botswana, 1981-1986. 127 References. 141 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations. 147 INTRODUCTION This document supplements The African Drought and Famine, 1981-1986: The US Response, and consists of factual chronologies for the six countries studied in that report: Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique, Mali, Kenya, and Botswana. These chronologies represent the economic, political, logistical, and meteorological events which led up to the crisis in each country and which occurred during the unfolding of the disaster; they also chronicle the local, national, and international response to the situation. Sp~zialemphasis is given to the US response both in-country and in Washington, DC. The text of the chronologies is assembled from excerpts from variors sources footnoted at the end of this document. The sources include academic books and articles from scholarly journals; Ao1.D. documents, memoranda, and cables; UN documents, particularly those published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program, and the Office for Emergency Operations in Africa; and newspapers and news bulletins published both in the US and Africa. Also inserted within this text are quotes from interviews with AoIoDo, State Department, and UN officials. These quotes are indented and represent commentaries on particular events. iii SECTION 1. CHRONOLOGY OF THE DROUGHT AND FAMINE IN ETIiIOPIA 1981-1986 Ethiopia CHRONOLOGY OF THE DROUGRT AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA, 1981-1986 --TlHE EVENT March i981 First documented reports of drought. UN commission investigates and recommends relief and development package 12 1. July/August Rain failures reported in Wollo, Tigray, and Eritrea [2]. 1981 April 1982 Relief and Rehabilitation Co sion (RRc) requests assistance for 4.7 million drought and war affected people. Asks for 695,000 MT grain [2]. The Government of Ethiopia was not trying to cover up the problem. They were in fact announcing and telling the international community as early as 1981182, asking for organizations like ours which work in rural areas. Those of us in development assistance saw food going toward emergency. As the amount of food increasingly shifted toward emergency rather than development, we knew there was a problem [S]. July 1982 National Meteorological Services Agency (NMSA) reports further rain failures, Early Warning System (EWS) warns of crop failures [21 The present drought situation is mainly due to inadequate rainfall during the principal rainy season of 1982. In several regions the rains which normally begin in May came early iri July. These climatic anomalies combined with the pressure of a large population on the arable land in the northern part of Ethiopia, as well as with the effects of civil disturbances, resulted in poor crop yields in areas where food deficits are chronic 1211. Augus t A UN multi-agency mission visited Ethiopia from 15 to 20 August 1982 1982 to assess the medium-term and long-term needs of the government for its drought afflicted population. In its Report to the General Assembly (A/37/198) the mission warned that due to below normal rainfall in the course of 1982, total crop failure was to be expected in the north-central and eastern parts of the country (ibid-para 54). In December of that year the General Assembly endorsed the findings of the mission and requested the UN system to continue providing all necessary assistance [21]. September Diatress migration into Korem from Sekota/southern Tigray begins. 1982 EWS synoptic report lists 3.8 million people "affected" by drought and crop failure [2]. October Food Security Reserve set up with initial donation of 12,000 MT 1982 of grain from World Food Program (WFP). No other donor commit- me5ts made [2]. November Relief Society for Tigray reports drought and warfare displacing 1982 populations in Tigray and Eritrea. Uigh food prices three times the normal price. reported in center of farrine zcne [2]. Late 1982 Even though the Ethiopian Government's relief agency and international organizations had reported in late 1982 that there was a drought in northern Ethiopia and that living conditions were causing people to flee to the Sudan, the drought and famine candi- tions were not substantiated by the Sthiopian Ministry of Agriculture [3O]. In Ethiopia, they had a strong institution for dealing with the emergency: the RRC. The RRC in Ethiopia had a staff of 10,000 people. They had dealt with the situation before, also in Ethiopia, other donors were already there [S]. The RRC's methodology is an approach which prevents people from getting food. One must belong to a peasant association to get food from the RRC. Private voluntary organizations (PVOs) ate told only to give food to people who belong to the associations [S]. December Encouraged by the US Embassy, the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) 1982 submitted an emergency feeding program proposal to A.I.D. in December 1982. The proposal requested 838 MT of food and necessary ocean transportation costs valued at about $397,000. Inland transportation costs were to be paid by CRS. Though small when considering emergency requests, CRS determined the 838 MT to be the amount necessary to assist approximately 5,000 families in Makelle for 9 months [30]. Throughout 1983, the general belief was that while food shortages existed in the 4 northern provinces, ample food was either pledged by external donors or was ia-country stocks to meet the country's immediate needs. The Ethiopian Governma,nt did not provide data supporting the extent of food needs. Since travel within country was restricted, the US relied on inspection visits by US Embassy and visiting A.I.D. officials, other external donors, and international and private voluntary organizations to verify the extent of the drought. However, the full extent of food needs, and the number of Ethiopians directly affected, remained uncertain to external donors throughout 1983 and most of 1984 [30]. January The situation was further verified when a Department of State 1983 refugee official, after a January 1983 field visit, reported that "serious emergency food needs exist in the Makelle area" [30]. February The United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO) plea was 1983 preceded 1 month by a League of Red Croes Societiesf appeal for $2.9 million in supplementary food, shelter, and medicines for 19,000 people in the seriously affected areas of Condar and Welo provinces. Those pleas provided partial substantiation that serious drought and famine conditions existed [30]. At the reqaest of the Government of Ethiopia, UNilRO sent a repre- sentative at the end of February 1983 to discuss the situation in the drought stricken areas with the government's RRC and the local UN agencies [Zl]. Yarch 1983 An A.Z.D. March cable traffic from WF? headquarters in Rome indicated that the deteriorating situation in Ethiopia continued to be a priority concern. Satisfied that these concerns had been adequately addressed, A.I.D.'s Office of East African Affairs forwarded the request to the Assistant Administrator for Africa for his approval in late March 1983 [30]. On 28 March 1983, the Sunday Times of London reported an allegation that food aid donated by the European Economic Community (EEC) was being diverted from drought stricken northern Ethiopia to the Ethiopian army or to the Soviet Union as payment of arms. Neither CRS nor US Government food was involved in the allegation; however, the report rekindled A.I.D.'s concern as to whether the CRS program should be approved [30]. Early In the early spring of 1983, the US hvernment knew that over Spring 3 million people in the northern 4 provinces of Ethiopia, 1983 Eritrea, Tigray, Gondar, and Wello, were suffering from large shortfalls of food [30]. Spring During the spring of 1983, 2 international PVOs made extensive 1983 - visits to the Tigray Province and reported that acute malnutrition and serious drought conditions existed [30]. The lack of rain, coupled with the presence of armed conflict, proved disastrous to the spring 1983 harvest in northern Ethiopia [301 Distress migration into Korem reaches 4,500 with 10,000 registered for relief before disruption of feeding activities by the Tigre People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in April [2]. April 1983 New RRC aid request for 3.3 million drought affected people in the 4 northern regions. Part of food reserve sent to these provinces [21 Responding to an Ethiopian Government request, UNDRO reviewed the food situation in the Eritrea, Tigray, Wello, and Gondar provinces in early March 1983 and issued an appeal for international assistance to these provinces on 22 April 1983.

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