By Kiflu Hussain
Any report of famine from below the Sub-Saharan Africa has long ceased to be shocking news to the world. Consequently, those to whom it’s incumbent upon to ensure food security to their people have even lost any sense of shame and guilt in the face of massive starvation and plague that wipes an entire society. To one who is familiar with Ethiopian history, for instance, this is the pattern he sees clearly. During the “Great Ethiopian famine” in 1888-1892 known as “KIFU KEN” in local parlance, meaning evil days, Emperor Menilek took measures to avert or alleviate the disaster, albeit inadequate. Starting from ordering national prayer for divine intercession to doling out food to those who made it to the palace, he tried everything at his disposal. By contrast, Emperor Haileselassie hid the 1973 famine that consumed the lives of 200,000 Ethiopians from Wollo and Tigray.In fact, when one of his officials was informed of the influx of people from Wollo to the capital; he reportedly replied “It’s in the nature of Wollo to migrate.” One can see elsewhere in Africa that shirking of ones official duty cruelly like this is still endemic by recalling a news conference addressed by two cabinet ministers of the Ugandan government, Mr. Musa Ecweru and Mr. Aston Kajara (see Daily Monitor, 21 May 2008). After having defended recent deaths in Karamoja as caused largely by poor hygiene and not famine, they added that the Karimojong eat rats and herbs not because they are famished but because the rodents “may be a delicacy.”
The worst cruelty, though, is the holding of starving people as hostages for political ends. During the military regime, Derg used to divert aid meant for victims of drought to its own militias whereas the present regime of Zenawi blocks aid heading for the same victims/see “Ethiopia thwarting food aid to rebel regions in East” by Jeffrey Gettleman, July 22, 2007 The New York Times/.Ironically, the so-called international community, namely the west which blew the cruelty of Mengistu Hailemariam out of proportion became timid to face the callousness of Meles Zenawi even when he suppressed news of impending disaster by expelling journalists and staffs from humanitarian organizations such as Red Cross, Save the children, Norwegian NGO’s etc. Also, tycoons from the Netherlands whose nation achieved a landmark success by becoming the first to eliminate famine in Europe in the early 17th century, are hindering Ethiopia’s chance to do the same by colluding with the present rulers of Ethiopia in a water-thirsty and land hungry flower production business which causes the shrinkage of arable land.
To summarize, as has been said ad nauseam by various scholars, no functioning democracy has suffered famine. Ethiopians too proving themselves as capable of voting in a civilized manner elected those candidates in 2005 that exuded confidence by promising “to do away with famine, if not to step down assuming full responsibility and by apologizing to the Ethiopian people.”Unfortunately, that election was rigged brutally; hence we’re still stuck with tyranny that spread famine inter alia unabashedly with a host of misguided policies.
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The writer, an Ethiopian Refugee in Uganda, can be reached at [email protected]