Now, jump over Sudan to Ethiopia. There also two heavily populated provinces are in the midst of severe drought and malnutrition. Yes, from west to east, northern Africa is seared with famine. Though there has apparently been exaggeration in some reports coming out of Africa, the fact remains that conditions are serious.

Conditions in the Sahelian Zone

In the Sahelian region the daytime temperature is customarily 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. Such blazing heat without the benefit of rain at the proper time has made once semifertile land impotent. The few crops that manage to cling to life in the dispiriting heat are stunted, half-grown and wilted. Trees stand like stark, brittle skeletons. Where once there were pastures, now there is desert.

Rivers have turned to sand. Watering streams are no more than infected mud-holes. Up to 80 percent of the livestock​—thousands of head of cattle, goats, sheep and camels—​have given out and dropped to die on the parched, cracked earth.

The most crushing damage, however, has been to the people. Last summer officials estimated that if rain did not come, or if large amounts of food did not continue to be donated by outside nations, some six million persons would die. A catastrophe of such proportions seems to have been averted, at least for now. The exact number of persons who have actually died is not known, though most estimates speak of ‘untold thousands’ perishing.

Numerous factors make it difficult to determine the precise number of deaths. Many of the victims are nomads who live and die in the desert, far from the population centers. Then, too, deaths are often attributed to diseases made deadly by hunger rather than to starvation itself.

So severe have conditions become in the desert region that some tribes in Chad have begged not to be vaccinated against an outbreak of diphtheria. Why? Tribesmen reason that to die from the disease would be faster than by starvation. Severity of conditions is also indicated by reports of shepherds who deprived themselves of water and milk so that calves might have a chance to live. At one point even valuable camels are reported to have been punctured for their water supplies. Other nomads are said to have squeezed dung for moisture.

The Sahelian region is now in its sixth year without substantial moisture. Drought has perpetuated itself there, creating a seemingly endless cycle. As the soil gets hotter it dries out, becomes dusty. The relative humidity is lowered and this, in turn, impedes the formation of rain clouds. As a consequence, there is more heat; so the cycle continues. Major rivers, natural barriers to the encroaching desert, then shrink. As a result, the Sahara Desert now appears to be advancing southward annually.

There have been some slight breaks in the cycle of drought. Yet these have not been sufficient really to help. After a brief rain farmers might plant their millet, sorghum or peanuts, only to have the sun wilt the plants. Last season some farmers planted seed three or four times after a spurt of rain. Yet, because of a lack of continuing moisture, few of these crops came to full growth.

The drought cycle has been kept in motion in other ways​—by man. During the drought some farmers, in hunger and desperation, ate the seed they had stored away for the next year. One diplomat from the region commented on the unusual nature of this action: “In my country, a farmer keeps his seed religiously. Year after year, he selects the very best grain from his crop and keeps that for seed. But this year, they are eating the seed. I never saw that in my life.” When the seed is eaten, there is nothing to plant the following year, even if there are fine growing conditions.

Men aggravated the Sahelian drought in yet another manner​—by overgrazing. During the early 1960’s when there seemed to be plenty of food for the domestic animals, herdsmen were encouraged to breed far more animals than the pasture grounds could amply feed. These were also often very hardy animals, specially vaccinated to resist disease. Then, when rain did not appear for several years, people moved farther south with these large herds to where water and pasturage still existed. Vast areas of marginally fertile land were then slowly, but thoroughly, stripped of all vegetation.