Ethiopia was taken over by a Communist regime in 1974. Under the leadership of Mengistu Haile Mariam, thousands, perhaps millions of people,
mostly Eritreans seeking independence, were allowed to starve to death while the government spent millions of dollars on military armaments. (25)
Cambodia was taken over by the Communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. During the next three years the government of Pol Pot was responsible for the
death of some 2 million men, women and children through a program of planned execution and forced starvation. (26)
Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979. Unable to subdue the Afghan countryside, the Soviets began a program of genocidal
suppression which included "killing of the civilian support population, terrorizing and driving of the survivors, and creating famine
conditions." (27)
As in the past, the Western press has paid relatively little attention to these horrors and when it has, as in the case of Ethiopia, the Communist
regime's culpability was hardly mentioned. In Ethiopia, the press reported drought as the major cause of the famine. (28)
As Western food and medical supplies flooded in, the Soviets sent arms. Grain rotted on docks and in warehouses because the only available
trucks belonged to the army which did not consider food transport for the starving a priority. Wheat ships were made to wait at anchor offshore while
Soviet freighters unloaded arms, ammunition and tanks. (29)
(25)"Murder by Hunger", Wall Street Journal (January 10, 1985). Also see Stephane Courtois, et. aI, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1999) pp. 683-695.
(26)The Twentieth Century: An Almanac, edited by Robert H. Ferrell, (New York: World Almanac Publications, 1985) pp. 435-436; Also see Paul Johnson, lvfodern Times: The Worldfrom the
Twenties to the Eighties (New York: Harper and Row, 1983) pp. 654-656 and The Black Book afCommunism, op. cit., pp. 577-635.
(27)Allen K. Jones, "Afghan Refugees: Five Years Later" (Washington: U.S.. Committee for Refugees, 1984).
(28)"Human Element, Not Drought, Causes Famine, US. News and World (February 23, 1985).
(29) Excerpted from Dr. Rony Brauman, "Famine Aid: Were We Duped?" Reader's Digest (October 1986)
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| 1932-1933: THE GENOCIDE FAMINE IN UKRAINE A Teacher's Curriculum Guide FOOD AS A POLITICAL WEAPON The genocide by starvation initiated by Stalin in Ukraine in the 1930's has had many Communist imitators during the 20th century. |