Talk:2006 Horn of Africa food crisis

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Contents 1 start? 2 map 3 terminology 4 Ambiguities 5 Eritrea? 6 Yves Engler 7 summary paragraph 8 Developments?

[edit] start?

When did this start? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.163.184.161 (talk • contribs) .

What can we do about it? Is there any way to send food/money over? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.14.140.160 (talk • contribs) .

http://www.wfp.org/how_to_help/support_wfp/individuals.asp?section=4&sub_section=1 -Aude (talk | contribs) 22:49, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] map

That's not Kenya! The fourth country colored green is Eritrea. So which country is being affected? Eritrea or Kenya? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.70.99.5 (talk • contribs) .

That's the general Horn of Africa map. There is not a map for this crisis in particular, apparently. - BanyanTree 14:19, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Eritrea is not even colored green. Eritrea is the small country above Ethiopia and Djibouti. --Revolución (talk) 22:46, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

In an earlier version of the map, Eritrea was green. But, the map has been replaced with the current one. Thanks. -Aude (talk | contribs) 22:48, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] terminology

The language is currently is bit loose. There are differences between "food crisis" and "famine", per famine scales. The linked FAO report states that it is an "imminent famine", which is not a famine. Is any organization knowledgeable about the technical differences calling it a famine? - BanyanTree 14:19, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Someone should clarify, when they put part of the blame for this on the colonial period, that Ethiopia was never a colony. Only Italy ever wanted to colonize Ethiopia, and they failed both times they attempted to do so. I know European colonial powers, are all a nice scapegoat, but perhaps it would be more correct to point to the Marxist revolts destroying the economy of this area. Not Europeans were already gone. - Kyujuni

I think that sentence you're referring to is now gone. Though, feel free to edit the article and improve it further. Thanks. -Aude (talk | contribs) 21:31, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ambiguities

---In "Ethiopia," How do you know that a certain 2 million people "require" humanitarian assistance? This doesn't seem like a fact. If it is some kind of classification, please explain it, the way you did with the other country sections.

---You say "Gulf States" but then make absolutely no distinction to whether you mean the US Gulf States or the Persian Gulf States. (granted, you probably mean the Persian Gulf, but still it's ambiguous)

If you want to get technical, don't forget to represent a worldwide view. How many Gulfs exist on Earth? 71.124.175.190 01:27, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

by Zaorish

I've added citations for the number of people that require food aid, in the various countries. -Aude (talk | contribs) 21:24, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eritrea?

How can it be that while Djbouti is effected Eritrea is left immune? --ScienceApologist 14:52, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yves Engler

Yves Engler has made more explicit claims about famines in the Sahel. He has claimed, consistently with Amartya Sen's general model, that the International Monetary Fund is responsible for worsening or actually creating famine in Malawi (2002), Ethiopia (2003) and Niger (2005) [4].

Is Yves Engler a valuable source for commentary? Does quoting him enhance the article? —BozoTheScary 23:11, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Helping people understand the causal (or exacerbating) factors is IMHO important. In any case, NPOV is to cite his work: it's an extremely strong claim, whether or not it's true. If we can find responses by the IMF, then of course we should add a sentence or two summarising the IMF's counterclaim and giving a source for it.

http://www.google.pl/search?q=site%3Awww.imf.org+yves+engler doesn't give anything relevant. If we can find other studies of the linking factors between drought and famine in this region in the last 5 years, of course we should add brief summaries and links to them too. Boud 20:18, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

minor comment: BTW, it's not actually a quote - Yves Engler has done a lot of work getting the facts together, what's in the present wikipedia article is just a very condensed summary, not a direct quote. Boud

I guess the real question is whether or not his opinion is respected enough to even elicit a rebuttal. I could reference the opinions of any number of crackpots here, but I don't know if that would contribute value to the article. I am not certain that Engler is a crackpot, but the stunning absense of responses to his prolific writings, his highly disrespectful acts, and his hyperbolic accusations suggests that he is. I am not campaigning against him here, except in that I have some strong doubts about the value of his opinions in this medium. The best support for his inclusion, assuming the legitimacy and accuracy of my concern, would be references to rebuttals of his accusations by those being accused or their prominent supporters. —BozoTheScary 17:31, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] summary paragraph

Kmf165 wrote 21:23, 11 January 2006 Kmf164

(→Causes - don't need to define drought and famine here, readers can click the link to those articles for more in-depth)

i agree that people should click on the links for depth, but IMHO the very brief definitions are also necessary, because people tend to think "drought=famine", without realising that there is a step in between. If there's no explanation, then IMHO the average reader will not understand the need to talk about a drought being transformed in to a famine. Why talk about transformation if they are the same thing? This is why IMHO we need brief reminders of why they are not the same thing. Dry weather does not necessarily mean people die of starvation. Failure to produce food does not necessarily mean dying of starvation: i don't produce food myself, yet i'm not starving. Boud 20:11, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I disagree with "people tend to think 'drought=famine'". I think "people" are smarter than that. Umm... Oklahoma and Texas have been experiencing drought and dry weather. I highly doubt the "average reader" think Oklahoma and Texas are experiencing famine. I think you are underestimating the "average reader", and stating the obvious. I think it's more than sufficient for people interested in drought or famine to click on those links. -Aude (talk | contribs) 22:52, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Developments?

This article hasn't been substantially updated in months. Haven't there been any significant developments in that time? Thanks.--Pharos 22:29, 25 June 2006 (UTC)