Office of the Historian

225. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Kimmit) to Fred Wettering and Richard Levine of the National Security Council Staff1

Washington, October 15, 1984

SUBJECT

  • Secretary Shultz’s Evening Report of: 10/12/84

The following excerpt is for your information only. Please do not refer to it in any discussions.

1. Sub-Saharan Food Crisis. Recent crop information from Sub-Saharan Africa makes it clear that the drought, food shortages, and potential for famine will be worse this year than last. Information on food stocks and rainfall suggests the production shortfall could be as much as 8–10 million tons. The countries most threatened include [Page 611] Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Niger, Mozambique, and Ethiopia.2 Ten million people may be seriously affected. The situation in Ethiopia is alarming; we have estimates that 125,000 may have died already. We tripled food aid to Africa in the last twelve months, but even more will be required to hold down the human death toll, and limit the potential for instability. Peter McPherson has launched a high level interagency task force to coordinate the overall U.S. response.

  1. Source: Reagan Library, African Affairs Directorate, NSC: Records, AF Famine: [10/11/84–10/25/84]. Secret. Printed from an unsigned copy.↩
  2. In the left-hand margin, an unknown hand wrote the names “Wettering” and “Levine.”↩