Editing Famine (section)

====20th century====
[[File:Niger childhood malnutrition 16oct06.jpg|thumb|left|Malnourished children in [[Niger]], during the 2005 famine]]
For the middle part of the 20th century, agriculturalists, economists and geographers did not consider Africa to be especially famine prone. From 1870 to 2010, 87% of deaths from famine occurred in Asia and Eastern Europe, with only 9.2% in Africa.<ref name = "democracyFT">{{Cite news
|url= https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription
|title= As democracy retreats, famine makes a comeback
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|first=David |last=Pilling
|date= 22 March 2017
|access-date=1 April 2017
|format={{registration required}}}}</ref> There were notable counter-examples, such as the famine in [[Rwanda]] during World War II and the [[Malawi]] famine of 1949, but most famines were localized and brief food shortages. Although the drought was brief the main cause of death in Rwanda was due to Belgian prerogatives to acquisition grain from their colony (Rwanda). The increased grain acquisition was related to WW2. This and the drought caused 300,000 Rwandans to perish.<ref name="Masci 2002"/>

From 1967 to 1969 large scale famine occurred in Biafra and Nigeria due to a [[Nigerian Civil War|government blockade of the Breakaway territory]]. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died of starvation due to this famine. Additionally, drought and other government interference with the food supply caused 500 thousand Africans to perish in Central and West Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John |title=Africans: The History of a Continent |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge}}</ref>

Famine recurred in the early 1970s, when Ethiopia and the west African [[Sahel]] suffered [[Sahel drought|drought and famine]]. The Ethiopian famine of that time was closely linked to the crisis of feudalism in that country, and in due course helped to bring about the downfall of the Emperor [[Haile Selassie]]. The Sahelian famine was associated with the slowly growing crisis of pastoralism in Africa, which has seen livestock herding decline as a viable way of life over the last two generations.

[[File:Starved girl.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A girl during the [[Nigerian Civil War]] of the late 1960s. Pictures of the famine caused by the Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans worldwide.]]
Famines occurred in Sudan in the late-1970s and again in 1990 and 1998. The 1980 famine in [[Karamoja]], [[Uganda]] was, in terms of mortality rates, one of the worst in history. 21% of the population died, including 60% of the infants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|title=Food and bulletin volume 9, number 1, march 1987|website=www.unu.edu|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=26 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226004126/http://unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1980s, large scale multilayer drought occurred in the Sudan and Sahelian regions of Africa. This caused famine because even though the Sudanese Government believed there was a surplus of grain, there were local deficits across the region.<ref>{{cite web |last=B. E. |first=Spiers |title=Famine in Africa |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |access-date=27 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823070354/http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |archive-date=23 August 2012}}</ref>

In October 1984, television reports describing the Ethiopian famine as "biblical", prompted the [[Live Aid]] concerts in London and Philadelphia, which raised large sums to alleviate the suffering. A primary cause of the famine (one of the largest seen in the country) is that Ethiopia (and the surrounding Horn) was still recovering from the droughts which occurred in the mid-late 1970s. Compounding this problem was the intermittent fighting due to [[Ethiopian civil war|civil war]], the [[Derg|government]]'s lack of organization in providing relief, and hoarding of supplies to control the population. Ultimately, over 1 million Ethiopians died and over 22 million people suffered due to the prolonged drought, which lasted roughly 2 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ethiopia in Crisis: Famine and Its Aftermath 1984–1988|url=http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|publisher=U.S. Library of Congress|access-date=29 November 2011|archive-date=12 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012005810/http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1992 Somalia became a war zone with no effective government, police, or basic services after the collapse of the dictatorship led by [[Siad Barre]] and the split of power between warlords. This coincided with a massive drought, causing over 300,000 Somalis to perish.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Masci |first=David |title=Famine in Africa |journal=CQ Researcher |date=8 November 2002 |volume=12 |issue=39 |url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155152/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |url-status=live }}</ref>