ABSTRACT
The overall verdict must be that famine was not averted, it was restrained; its impact was reduced by a massive foreign food aid operation. In particular, by 1986 this food aid distribution system was working sufficiently well to avert a repetition of 1985. 'Mass starvation has been averted' claimed the UN Emergency Operation in the Sudan (UNEOS) in October 1985.1 In its review of the situation UNEOS overlooked the massive problems faced that year in Darfur, though it was more candid about the lesser but significant difficulties of Kordofan. In making its claim it also overlooked the experience of refugees from Ethiopia as well as Chad, perhaps because they were the responsibility of UNHCR.
