In the mid 1980s Ethiopia experienced its worst famine of the 20th century, leaving 1.2 million dead and 2.5 million internally displaced. While record low rainfall and severe drought were the most immediate cause of the famine, rapid land reform, misguided policy, and years of underproduction created a disproportionate crisis. Government policies during the famine also played a significant role in exacerbating its effects. Resettlement often led to a decline in agricultural production, and most new settlements had still not yet become self-sufficient. Furthermore, international humanitarian organizations such as Oxfam and Human Rights Watch have alleged that Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime intentionally weaponized the famine in its fight against rebel insurgencies during the Civil War, withholding food aid from Tigray and Welo regions. Villagization emerged as one of the Derg's emergency policies to address the famine, with the intention of organizing underproductive agricultural sectors. Addressing the famine became the regime's singular justification for villagization to the public. In an interview with the German journalist Hannelore Gadatsch on December 16, 1986, Mengistu stated that the regime had intended to carry out villagization in stages over a longer period of time, but the drought necessitated a rapid implementation of the program. Some familiar with the regime's development plan instead saw this as a calculated act to gain political advantage from the crisis.