A tragic mosaic: Many factors lead to famine in Africa

By Carola Frentzen Jul 27, 2011, 15:23 GMT

Addis Ababa - Eastern Africa and especially the Horn of Africa are notorious for periodically emerging droughts and famine. But what is ongoing in Ethiopia, Kenya and especially in civil war stricken Somalia has not happened in 60 years according to the United Nations.

What are the reasons for the devastating drought and dramatic situation for the people in large parts of the region? Is it only the lack of rain which has caused the catastrophe? Or have various factors come together like a mosaic to form the perfect tragedy?

'There are numerous reasons which have led to the horrible situation, including the worldwide increase in food prices, long periods of drought and an on-going conflict in Somalia which has sent millions of people fleeing,' said Christopher Tidey from United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF.

The catastrophe had been initiated months ago, said Tidey. 'But sometimes a crises has to reach its full capacity before it receives the attention of the international community.'

Weather experts say the phenomenon La Nina - the sister of the famous El Nino - is one of the main causes. It is not the first time that the weather has acted out of the ordinary in various parts of the world. But La Nina has raged on unusually strong since summer 2010 according to meteorologists. Among the impacts are intensified westerly winds over the Indian Ocean that pushed moisture from eastern Africa towards Indonesia and Australia. The result is flooding and luxuriant vegetation in Oceania and Southeast Asia and drought in major portions of eastern Africa.

The beginning of the crisis came months ago. 'It began after the rains from October to December 2010 did not come and neither did the harvesting,' Judith Schuler of the World Food Program told the German Press Agency dpa. When the rain did come, it was too late and entirely unpredictable.

'The rain averages in some parts of northern Kenya and southern Somalia were 30 per cent of what came down between 1995 and 2010,' said Schuler. These kinds of droughts are fatal in eastern Africa, where everything in life is dependant on the alternating rainy and dry seasons.

And if that were not enough, Somalia has also been ravaged by civil war for the past 20 years. It's not a surprise that the country is suffering more from the hunger than its neighbours, especially in the south, which is largely controlled by the Al-Shabaab militia rebels. The UN-supported transitional government seems powerless and even has only portions of the capital Mogadishu under its control.

'After two decades of continuous fighting, most Somalis live on the edge anyhow,' said the BBC. And the situation only worsened when Al-Shabaab refused aid supplies from western organizations in 2009.

The drought was one of the reasons. Another is of the political nature. 'These kinds of crises occur when the migration patterns of the shepherds are interrupted and they don't have access to other pastures and water sources,' said a member of the well-known British think tank group Overseas Development Institute (ODI). When the traditionally nomadic shepherds cannot cross larger areas because of territorial fighting or new borders, then a disaster is pre-programmed.

The Al-Shabaab also install fear into the population in an extremely brutal manner. The Society for Threatened Peoples recently reported that rebels had beheaded numerous shepherds and drove their bodies around on the streets. The men had solely refused to hand over to the militia their few animals that were still alive.

The horror is a reality and exits in the middle of eastern Africa. And it cannot be averted. The only things that can be treated are the 'worst symptoms' of the crisis, according to Tidey. 'Maybe it could not have been avoided, but it could have been much less worse if the world would have paid attention a couple months earlier,' he said.