A Deluge of New Trouble

By John Greenwald

For nearly seven years the starving, drought-stricken people of western Sudan yearned for rain. But when wet weather finally arrived this month, it proved to be yet another kind of curse. A heavy deluge produced flash floods that raced through long-dry riverbeds and rushed over brick-hard earth, turning airstrips into quagmires and rendering roads and rail lines impassable. The torrent washed out a vital railroad bridge that linked the region to Port Sudan, cutting off hundreds of thousands of famine victims from emergency food supplies.

The flooding was only the latest cruel irony of the severe famine that has plagued Africa. While Western donors have shipped hundreds of thousands of tons of food into the region, only a fraction has found its way to those in need. Civil wars and woefully inadequate transportation systems have prevented the aid from reaching the hungry. Without increased shipments to the interior, says Salim Lone, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for Emergency Operations in Africa, "we fear that 100,000 Sudanese will die in the next three months."

Against that stark backdrop, representatives of 49 nations gathered in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last week for the annual meeting of the Organization of African Unity. Delegates noted at the outset that an estimated 150 million Africans in 36 countries suffer from food shortages and for once, the O.A.U. leaders subordinated political differences to concentrate on solving their common problem. The group resolved to "get to the root of Africa's food and agricultural crisis" by developing crash and long-range programs. Sudan's leader, General Abdul Rahman Suwar al Dahab, told the group that Western emergency relief, "no matter how massive," could not cure the "inherent ailment in the economies of our countries." Said he: "Self-reliance is the most crucial factor if we are to address ourselves squarely and pragmatically to this issue."

In Ethiopia, the Marxist regime of Lieut. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam has at last begun allocating more trucks to carry food to remote regions of the country. Mengistu has also agreed to permit relief groups to set up several food centers in the northern provinces of Tigre and Eritrea, where he had blocked aid shipments to areas controlled by rebels.

Chad can point to fewer hopeful signs. Some 2 million people, or about 40% of the population, have been affected by the famine. A lack of roads has kept food-distribution rates well below the minimum needs of many victims. Meanwhile, a war between the government of President Hissene Habre and Libyan-backed rebels has disrupted planting throughout the country. The 1985 grain harvest will be off about 300,000 tons.

As the situation in Africa has deteriorated, some foreign donors have responded with more aid. A consortium that includes the U.S. and the European Community is helping repair Sudan's washed-out rail line. The Community and several member countries have agreed to provide air and truck transportation to meet shortages created by rail problems.

Perhaps no group has done more to dramatize the African anguish than Live Aid, which raised an estimated $70 million during rock extravaganzas in London and Philadelphia on July 13 that were broadcast to more than 1 billion television viewers. Live Aid plans to channel its funds into irrigation and other long-term projects. "Our concerts were trying to keep the starving alive," said Bob Geldof, the Irish rock singer who organized the events. "Now let us give them life." --By John Greenwald. Reported by Edward W. Desmond/New York and James Wilde/Addis Ababa

With reporting by Reported by Edward W. Desmond/New York, James Wilde/Addis Ababa