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miles of varying degrees of desola–
tion stretch endlessly in this land
whose productivity once astonished
men of old.
Africa's Surprising Past
In past mi llenn ia. regions of
North Africa teemed with life in
areas that are now nearly desolate.
Going back far enough in time, evi–
dence shows that vast regions of the
Sabara were virtual jungles. In the
Natural History Museum in Trípoli
reside the bones of a giant masto–
don. This herbivorous animal, about
twice the size of an elephant, must
have devoured the foliage of an en–
tire tree at every mea!. Still, he lived
in what is now a part of the Libyan
Desert , where virtually nothing
grows today.
The historian Herodotus wrote of
North Africa and tbe Sabara in the
fifth century before Christ. He men–
tions forests , wild animals and areas
of land that "are equal to any coun–
try in the world for cereal
crops ...." Today, Herodotus's Af–
rica is a barren and near treeless
waste. The wild animals mentioned
by him are gone.
The soil of Nortb Africa was so
productive and the yields so great
that the historian Pliny wrote of it as
the "granary of the world ." Accord–
ing to Wellard in bis recent book
The Great Sahara,
it was a pros–
perous part of the Roman empire:
"The Romans had at least 2,500,000
acres of what is now full desert colo–
nized and under cultivation in
Soutb Algeria alone."
So abundant were the animals
that the Roman emperor Augustus
was able to import 3,500 African
animals for slaugbter in three
games. These animals included ele–
phants and lions - both of which
are extinct in North Africa today.
The enormous trees mentioned by
the Romans no longer exist. The
sand has now swallowed up thou–
sands of acres where trees once
grew. The destruction ofthe trees by
the Romans for construction materi–
als and fuel started soil erosion.
Topsoil was washed off the formerly
4
heavily wooded slopes.
As
the soil
declined, the peoples of North Af–
rica allowed sheep and goats to
graze on it instead of planting crops.
Since goats eat not only the grass
but also seedling trees, new growth
for forests was prevented.
The drying up of tbe Sabara ar–
rested black Africa's grasslands by
cutting it off from the Mediterra–
nean basin and the Middle East.
Until then, sorne historians think
parts of Africa were more advanced
than Northem Europe.
North Africa Today
The long decline ofNorth Africa
has
continued virtually unabated since
the Romans begao the destruction of
the natural environment. RainfaJl in
the Sabara seems to have lessened
slightly in the past 2,000 years. Prob–
ably overgraz.ing by animals, particu–
larly goats, has been the major factor
in slowly transforming the arable
land into desert.
The 1970's have brought this
long-term problem into sharp focus.
Sorne 25 million people live in the
present drought area of the soutb–
em . fringes of the Sabara. This re–
gion includes six of the world's
poorest and least known countries.
The nations that are severely af–
fected are Mauritania, Senegal,
Mali, Upper Volta, Niger and Chad.
In a 2,000-mile strip of Western Af–
rica south of tbe Sabara, millions of
cattle have died, and crops have
failed. Dust from the drought–
stricken nations has been detected
in increasing amounts as fa r away as
the skies over the Caribbean.
A look at sorne of the nations
im–
mediately affected shows the gravi ty
of the present problem.
Ofthe six countries, Mauritania is
probably the hardest hit . Govern–
ment officials estimated tbe cereal
crop was only one third that of a
normal year. Officials also state that
about half of the country's one
mil–
lion cattle have perished.
In Niger alone, the shortage of
foodstuffs is expected to be 300,000
tons in 1974. Eighty percent of Ni–
ger is arid desert, even in normal
times, and getting aid to this land–
locked nation is no small problem.
Niger is about 1,200 kilometers
from the Mediterranean and 1,000
kilorneters from the Soutb Atlantic.
Once food supplies arrive in the
country, the distribution problem is
severe. Sorne roads that are shown
on maps are in reality only tracks.
Under these difficult conditions,
the Intemational Red Cross
is
operating
a refugee camp near Niamey, Niger.
Here nearly 10,000 nomads from Ni–
ger and neighboring Mali eke out a
pitiful existence. The carnp manager
states that "we just try to keep them
a Jj ve on 850 calories a day," as the
refugees arrive daily.
Cbad, one of the world's poorest
countries witb a per capita income
of $70 a year, has problerns similar
to Niger. Chad is a poor, landlocked
nation where the earth is cracking
under the relentless drought as its
weUs continue to dry up. Nomads in
Chad have been forced to eat bark
and leaves to stay alive.
Two other countries not listed
among the six but experiencing in–
creasing problems are Nigeria and
Ethiopia. The Nigerian drought, af–
fecting sorne 4 million people. is
classed as serious. The main prob–
lem is in the northern portion of the
coun try where rains were in–
sufficient. "The rains stopped two
weeks short of a viable crop this
year," one Nigerian expert reported
early in 1974.
The government of Nigeria has
been forced to import food - and
this in a land where 70 percent of
the population is engaged in agri–
culture!
The drought has swung aJl the
way across Africa to the northern
region of Ethiopia. Famine condi–
tions prevail as a three-year drought
continues to plague the nation. For–
eign relief agencies estirnate that at
least 1.7 rnillion people in the origi–
nal famine area will have to be fed
for rnuch of 1974 to prevent re–
newed starvation. Another d is–
tressing factor is that the famine
seems certain to take a beavy toll in
eastern and southem Ethiopia as
PLAIN TRUTH June-July 1974