Drought And Aid In The Sahel

A Decade Of Development Cooperation

Carolyn M. Somerville

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429711732
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The 1968-1974 drought in the Sahel was an unprecedented catastrophe for the region, causing extensive crop failures, loss of human and animal populations, political instability, and the destruction of social and cultural structures. The response of the world to the catastrophe began with food aid donations from the Western nations and led to the fo

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Introduction: The Political Economy of the Sahel

Since 1981, media images of a human tragedy without parallel in modern Africa have served to remind the world of the precariousness of life. While drought has been a familiar and recurrent feature in the African environment, never in recorded history have its effects touched so many countries at once. In the great drought of 1968-1974, the 16 affected countries spanned the northern part of Africa from west to east and included: Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Benin, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia. The current drought (1982-1985) has touched many more countries: Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Togo, Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as well as most of those affected by the 1968 1974 drought. In all, 26 African nations have been touched by drought and famine since 1982.

Media has focused much of its coverage on East and Southern Africa where We stern--and especially American--concerns about the Marxist regimes of Ethiopia and Mozambique have hinged on the fresh opportunities for political and diplomatic change. Drought and famine in Mozambique, no doubt, played a role in that government's accord with the South African government. In 1984, after two consecutive years of drought and the successful efforts of the South African backed opposition group, the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), in thwarting relief deliveries to affected regions of the country, the Mozambican government was compelled to sign a non-aggression pact, the Nkomati Accord. In signing the Accord, Mozambique calculated that South Africa would halt its support and financing of the MNR destablization campaign. This would allow aid relief to reach the drought affected areas of the country. While MNR destablization efforts have not ended, the Accord has led to the establishment of a new relationship between Washington and Maputo. Washington viewed the signing of the Accord as an indication of Mozambican willingness to move away from the Socialist bloc. The Reagan Administration has provided Mozambique with drought and military aid (1).

In the Horn of Africa, drought in Ethiopia has exposed that nation to some of the contradictions of aid agreements. The need for large amounts of food aid, unfulfilled by the Eastern bloc, has been met by Western donors. This participation has given the Western donors the opportunity to exercise some influence, even if only to demonstrate the limits of Ethiopia's alliance with the Soviet bloc. Western donors witness to the corruption of the Ethiopian government in its mishandling of aid shipments--including documented instances of profiteering--have publicized these findings (2). Media reports of the government's treatment of refugees from Eritrea, Ogaden, and Wallo provinces have helped to generate support for these groups. If political and diplomatic points have been made in recent years by Western donors in East and South Africa, far less attention has been paid to the human consequences of drought and famine recurring in other regions of Africa, particularly the Sahel (3).

Ten years ago the Sahel was the focus of attention paid to the African drought and its victims. The media was captured by the tragedy and because of its coverage, multilateral and bilateral aid poured into the region. Aid donors pledged to help get the Sahel back on its feet economically. What happened to that pledge? After millions of dollars in aid to the Sahel, why did another major disaster occur?

To a certain extent, drought has been a natural phenomenon recurring periodically in Africa. Its effect--famine--however, is symptomatic of a larger problem facing the continent: underdevelopment and dependency. A combination of factors, some internal and some external to Africa, has left their economies devasted.

External Factors

Beginning in the 1970s, the industrialized countries, beset by major economic problems such as growing recession and unemployment, were forced to institute readjustment policies. To counter adverse conditions, the developed nations reduced their demand for imports, thus affecting African economies. As demand for African commodities dropped, Africa's share of the world output of these products also dropped. Between 1961 and 1982 the annual average production of oils and oilseeds in Africa registered tremendous declines (4). For example, production of groundnuts as a percentage of the world's total dropped from 85 percent in 1961-1963 to 18 percent in 1980-1982. During the same period production of cereals as a percentage of the world's total fell from 4.1 percent to 2.5 percent (5). What is particularly disturbing about Africa's declining exports is th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Map
• 1. Introduction: The Political Economy of the Sahel
• 2. Drought and Drought Relief Efforts
• 3. The Search for Development Cooperation
• 4. The Structure of CILSS: Administration and Operation
• 5. Support for CILSS' Operations and Functions
• 6. Support for the First Generation Projects
• 7. Conclusions: Drought and Development in the Sahel
• Bibliography
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Donors
• Index