Ethiopia Famine Research Paper

From 1983 to 1985, a famine in Ethiopia had disastrous consequences. The death toll was much higher than previous famines, as over a million had died. Many people blamed this famine on droughts that had been taking place all over Ethiopia's provinces. This was not the case. The drought did, of course, contribute but the main reason for the severity of the famine was the government. The government worsened the famine in three ways: promoting Communism and its policies, blocking aid, and annexing Eritrea, which caused civil war in the process.
One of the main way the government made the famine worse was by promoting Communism as Ethiopia's main form of government. In a group interview with nine escaped refugees, Jason Clay and Bonnie Holcomb
In an interview with Rony Brauman, the President of Medecins Sans Frontieres, [Doctors Without Borders] it is found out that the non-profit organization was being restricted from helping those in Ethiopia. " We have been seeking authorization to open an intensive feeding center in Kelala for four months... Since June, we have been asking the Ethiopian authorities to just give us the go ahead because MSF will take care of everything in the field- from people to supplies. There is an intolerable bureaucratic blockage in Ethiopian administration, mean-while in Kelala, more than 6,00 children under 5 are suffering from very serious malnutrition. Several hundred children have already died for lack of treatment in four months. New deaths are recorded every day. How long will we stand by as children die? Things can't go on like this!" Brauman expresses his extreme outrage at this injustice delivered by the government. One of the main reasons the death toll was so high was due to the fact that the government repeatedly refused the aid of anyone not directly associated with the government. According to a released CIA report "In addition...the government gave priority to Soviet ships unloading military cargo at least twice in January at the expense of Western relief shipments... Mengistu has publicly rejected repeated calls for a "food truce." The regime clearly is prepared to use force, including airstrikes, to