Africa Death by Starvation

Of all the obscenities of war, none is as inexcusable as the deliberate slaughter of civilians. Yet much of the world is silent now, though millions of innocent Africans stand in jeopardy of extinction. These people will not die by the sword or the other traditional implements of war. Instead, they will be slain by one of the cruelest weapons of any era -- starvation. They will die slowly and painfully; in a world of abundance, they will die hungry.

And most of the dying will be done in the Horn of Africa. In Ethiopia upwards of 4.5 million people, more than four times the number wiped out by the great famine of 1984-85, may starve this year if food relief is not provided -- and soon. In Sudan, where as many as a quarter of a million people died of hunger in 1987-88, the most dire estimates suggest that 3 million could suffer the same fate by the middle of this decade. Once again the world may see those sickening images: skeletal children too weak to swat away the flies that swarm around their eyes; old people slumped against herding sticks, too weary to take another step.

Famine in Africa may seem like yesterday's news. This time, however, the prospect of mass starvation is not just the caprice of nature but is largely the work of man. Drought and crop failures have not gone unnoticed. Wealthy donor nations have pledged hundreds of thousands of tons of foodstuffs. Distribution networks exist to allocate the food. Relief convoys stand ready to move it. All that separates millions of malnourished Ethiopians and Sudanese from the food that could save their lives is a handful of stubborn men: President Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia, Lieut. General Omar Hassan el Bashir, the head of Sudan's 15-man junta, and the rebel leaders opposing them. All are more intent upon winning their wars than feeding the people they are supposedly fighting for. "If people die this time, it is not going to be because of the drought but because of the military and political situation," says Father Michael Schultheis, an American Jesuit based in Nairobi.

ETHIOPIA. The last time famine visited, the rains had failed for three years and people were already dying before the world awakened to the tragedy. This time most of the country had a better than normal harvest in 1988 and crop failures are confined to the northern provinces of Eritrea, Tigre and Wollo. Moreover, there is food in the relief pipeline; last week the United Nations' ) World Food Program announced an additional $8 million in emergency food aid, and the European Community raised its pledge $12 million.

Yet a hunger crisis may hit as early as March because most of the people at risk are trapped behind lines controlled by the three insurgent armies battling Mengistu's troops. Mengistu so far refuses to let relief convoys enter rebel-controlled territories for fear the food may go toward feeding the insurgents or the trucks may be ferrying arms to them. His obstinacy follows a year of humiliating defeats for his forces in Eritrea and Tigre.