Famine & War

Conflict makes people more prone to famine:

Disrupts their traditional ways of coping with food scarcity, which might range
from gathering wild plants to migrating in search of work.
Destroys market centres and transport links, which are prime military targets.
Stops people cultivating their land - for years, any field work in Eritrea and
Tigray has had to take place at night, while in Angola the UNITA rebels have
indiscriminately scattered land mines across the countryside.
Turns ordinary people into refugees: in Mozambique there are over four
million internally displaced people with a further 1.2 million living as refugees
in neighbouring countries.
Brings about long-term economic decline, as the infrastructure is destroyed
and foreign investment collapses.

Russia, 1921: 5 million dead. Throughout the wars, the Bolshevik soldiers
often forced peasants to sacrifice their food, with little in return. As such, many
peasants stopped growing crops, as they could not eat what they sowed. This
resulted in a massive shortage of food and seed. Many peasants had taken to
eating seeds, as they knew they could not eat any crops they grew. By 1921,
5 million Russians had perished.

Nigeria, 1967-1970: One million die in civil war and famine in the breakaway
Biafran republic

Somalia, 1991-1992: Drought and war contribute to famine across the

country; about 250,000 famine-related deaths reported in 1992. In the
sorghum-growing areas that are Somalias breadbasket, al-Shabaab forces
looted grain stores, taxed food markets and menaced farmers until they gave
up planting crops. These farmers are Rahanwein, a family of clans who
suffered most of the 300,000 deaths in Somalias 1992 famine. Some
Rahanweins are aligned with al-Shabaab, but that hasnt saved them.

Sudan, 2008: Localised famine in some areas of southern Sudan due to war
and drought

Ethiopia + Eritrea 1984 - 1985: A civil war between Ethiopia and Eritrea had
been waged for several years and made it difficult to get food into Ethiopia,
including aid, since Ethiopia is landlocked and Eritrea was the only country to
have access to a port. In addition, it soon emerged that some of the aid that
had been sent over to Ethiopia had been used to feed Ethiopian soldiers and

the vehicles used to transport the aid were used for military use. In the 1984
famine, 40,000 refugees in Koran were at risk of starving. Of the 40,000
people, some 15,000 children were affected by the famine. A third of these
children were severely malnourished. In the 1984 famine, 1 person died every
20 minutes due to undernourishment. 1 million dead in total. Aid wasnt well
distributed. The poor infrastructure of Ethiopia and its landlocked nature made
getting aid into the country hard. When Ethiopia appealed for aid, the world
didnt respond with aid due to other problems in the world and reports that
donated money was going into the army rather than towards food. Medical
workers were killed due to the ongoing civil war.
Landmines are an additional serious problem that has a profound impact on
health, the economy, and the environment. In many war-torn countries these
weapons have been scattered in farm fields, roads, even around schools and
health centres. According to Adopt a Minefield, a UK-based organization,
more than 80% of landmine causalities are civilians. Every day women and
children are killed by landmines or injured during and after violent conflicts.
Besides causing death and injury, landmines prevent people from using their
farm lands and they block roads needed to fetch water. Landmines
additionally cause village markets to close and communication between
different villages to stop. Therefore, people either starve to death or wait for
relief aid. But aid is also hampered or blocked entirely by mines in the roads.
The Horn of African countries have been infested by landmines. For example,
a UN Mine Action Center survey indicated that the rural and nomadic people
in Ethiopia and Eritrea are highly affected by landmines and unexploded
ordinance left from long-lasting struggle of Eritrea for independence,
Ethiopia's conflict with neighbouring countries and the recent conflict between
Ethiopia and Eritrea. The report states that there are around 6,295victims of
mine accidents in those two countries.