page_title: 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia
section_title: International view
hierarchical_section_title: 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia / Response to the famine / International view
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo i took whilst serving with 47 Air Despatch Squadron RCT in Ethiopia in 1985. Talskiddy 19:46, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
context_page_description: A widespread famine affected Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985. The worst famine to hit the country in a century, it left 1.2 million dead. 400,000 refugees left the country, and 2.5 million people were internally displaced. Almost 200,000 children were orphaned.
  According to Human Rights Watch, more than half its mortality could be attributed to "human rights abuses causing the famine to come earlier, strike harder and extend further than would otherwise have been the case". Other areas of Ethiopia experienced famine for similar reasons, resulting in tens of thousands of additional deaths. The famine as a whole took place a decade into the Ethiopian Civil War.
  The famine of 1983–85 is most often ascribed to drought and climatic phenomena. However, Human Rights Watch has alleged that widespread drought occurred only some months after the famine was under way. According to the organisation, and Oxfam UK, the famines that struck Ethiopia between 1961 and 1985, and in particular the one of 1983–85, were in large part created by government policies, specifically a set of so-called counter-insurgency strategies, and for "social transformation" in non-insurgent areas.
context_section_description: Close to 8 million people became famine victims during the drought of 1984, and over 1 million died. In the same year (23 October), a BBC news crew was the first to document the famine, with Michael Buerk describing "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". The report shocked Britain, motivating its citizens to inundate relief agencies, such as  Save the Children, with donations, and also to bring the world's attention to the crisis in Ethiopia.
  In November 1984, the British Royal Air Force carried out the first airdrops from Hercules C-130s delivering food to the starving people. Other countries including Sweden, East and West Germany, Poland, Canada, United States and the Soviet Union were also involved in the international response.
caption: Royal Air Force C-130 airdropping food during the 1985 famine
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